Model Railroading > Walthers crossing controller with DCC

My friend bought one of the Walthers crossing controllers for the cantilevered signals he has. At the same time he bought it, he and I were changing our modular layout over to DCC. I thought I remember reading on here a while back that these controlleres wouldnt work with dcc, but my friend went and bought it anyways, thinking we might figure out a way to make it work anyways.

I see on the paperwork that came with the unit that it needs to be connected to the track, which is why its not useable with dcc, due to the constant voltage. He and I are thinking if we have a spare dc power pack we could use that to substitue for the track input. Then the photovoltic sensors would be placed as normal.

One other thing, though, is he was wanting it to work on our double track main line, and the controller was meant for single track. Think we can add a few more sensors for the other track, or would that make the rest of the sensors not sesitive enough?

Steven

In all honesty, I would use a LogicRail crossing controller for these signals. They can be teamed up to work on double tracks and don't use the track voltage to determine direction.

Hope this helps!

Vince in Aransas Pass

Here are the posts from a year ago:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,1325163,1325163#msg-1325163

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,1379488,1379925#msg-1379925

I thought there was another post that said it is doable and someone tested it. More searching...

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

ok thats helps, I think I have an idea about how to hook it up. I will try it and let everyone here know the results. Steven

After reading through the information my vote goes for the LogicRail design, the other designs seem to key off the track polarity to determine if the train is approaching or going away. The idea of using the sequence of the sensors may require another logic chip or two but would seem to work more appropriately.
Was having trouble with the LogicRail website, doesn't seem to have a complete list of products that are on the market, not sure that is an issue either. Thanks to 'kestrel' for mentioning them, anybody else deal with LogicRail?

Isn't it funny how some topics get derailed just like trains? Hee, Hee.

Me Bad.