DCC wiring on a runaround w/ insulfrogs

[Crumplezone]

Hello Gents,

I've got a few simple questions to ask about some wiring.

I have the following setup:



Red and black dot are where the power comes in from the controller before the runaround, blue squiggles are Hornby DCC powerclips on peco settrack pointwork. The DCC clips are carrying on the power to the correct sections from what I can see but I had a short happen on the first set of points from the powerfeeds when they were set to run onto the outer loop of the runaround.

My question is the following, am I causing a polarity short on the first set of double pointwork for the runaround loop if I'm setting the points to go around the outer loop to run a loco around?

Do I need to add insulated fishplates to the V for each bottom pointwork and then put in powerfeed droppers in the next track section?

I'm asking this as a dry run without fixing down the track causing a short in the loop and I don't want to fix all the track to underlay if I need to grab some insulated fishplate first.

Thanks.

[Crumplezone]

direct link to pic: http://i.imgur.com/PflK5Lm.jpg

[idlemarvel]

I like the simplicity of power clips but they fit Hornby points better than peco ones in my experience. They are a nice shortcut for quick layout build but not a good idea if you want a really reliable layout.

 

But to your main question, from my experience it is always best to use insulated rail joiners at the V of every insulfrog point (which is what settrack points are), otherwise you will get shorts at some point.

Refer to brian lambert's excellent dcc site for an explanation of why http://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/DCC.html#A

 

This does mean you will need more power connections, but this is no bad thing, from the point of view of layout reliability.

[Crumplezone]

Thanks both of you.

The power connectors weren't a issue, the image was just illustrating where it comes in at first and I was going to put droppers in each track section after the pointwork. I just wanted to ensure that I was wiring up correctly and that indeed there is a chance of shorts if insulated joiners weren't used at each V. I blew a decoder on a short while on the test track laying and its probably the reason why so this was just a generalised check.

The DCC power clips were mentioned to me by both the dcc gent in the model shop aswell as reading it around a few places just for giving a added boost of electrical connectivity which would benefit power droppers a great deal. I didn't find them to much of a issue with the peco pointwork, they are just slightly more fiddly to fit and slightly further down the pointworks as peco designs their points slightly different. I had swapped from Hornby insulfrogs to peco's versions because the throw is much more solid and the spring better, you get a good CLICK when you move them rather than the  Hornby ones which are soft and easily broken.

I also agree about more power feeds making the layout more reliable, I have a sound fitted 56xx so I would like to keep the power constant and reliable so it doesn't go silent or stutters. Guess I'll be off to the shop again for some insulated joiners.

Brian's site is really quite handy, I had read it but I just wanted to double check here as he hadn't mentioned the dcc powerclips in any of the text, only a wire to the next track section.

Thank you for answering my question.