[Doug]

QUOTE (Sol @ 8 Mar 2007, 21:53) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks for all of this info - it is for a modelling friend who is starting up in DCC after being in analogue.
He has no computer so I am the interface.
He has purchased Lenz & is looking at having no panels at all with all control from the hand units if route setting can be done easy. Otherwise he said, he will instal push buttons on the layout at the baseboard edge opposite the points & use his analogue CDU.

Ron

Lenz doesn't have route setting. It does however integrate well into a PC based control system that can of course have route setting.

Another way of doing it - if your routes are not too complex - is to use Tillig point motors that can switch other motors up-the-line. Say you have 4 destination sidings, and 3 points leading from a mainline to the 4 sidings (one leading to two branches and then two points leading to the 4 sidings). You can, once the points are wired up, select one of the 4 sidings. This will switch the two up-line points accordingly.

 

[Doug]

I haven't found a DCC system with simple point control. The best is to have a dedicated push-button system like my Arnold or the Roco keyboards with one pair of buttons per point. When you are pushing a button to throw a point, you may as well switch a toggle switch - and for that you don't need DCC. You have to have a simple layout or either enjoy controlling everything on a computer or be interested in automation to go the whole hog and have all the points controlled by DCC.

I have a relatively complex layout with DCC, but I have opted for the moment to control the points with toggle switches. I may over time digitize some or all of them, it depends how the layout is used when the track-laying is complete. I have the stationary decoders and I have 3 keyboards for the job, but at the moment, I am preferring to do it by hand.