I have high hopes for this plank: it could save the project!!
Basically, I am overwhelmed and thus paralysed by the technical difficulties and confusion which surround wiring the various sets of points.
As previously reported: for DCC (and some say for DC as well) points cannot simply be joined to the rest of the track and the power switched on. They have to be wired up in a complex fashion and then have motors and polarity switches wired in. Also, the internal wiring of the points has to be modified ie snipped at a certain place.
AND I HAVE POTENTIALLY 8 SETS OF POINTS TO MAKE A MESS OF!
It's the sheer number of points which is crippling me.
But what makes things worse is that experts are divided 50:50 as to whether any of this palaver is necessary.
On the one side you have those who say that if you don't go down the re-wiring route then short-circuits will occur which will blow-up the expensive computer chips inside the DCC locomotives.
That's where the fear comes in.
On the other side you have those who say that they have examined the electrical issues concerned and are convinced that none of this re-wiring is necessary to prevent that disaster occurring.
I feel, I cannot take the risk and have to side with the pessimists/pre-cautionists but know I don't have the brain-power to follow their warnings..
Therefore, I have decided to walk the plank.
Or, I might set up a mini-layout on the aforementioned plank with only one set of points and practise re-wiring in this more circumscribed situation.
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The use of a cartoon as opposed to a photograph of my walking the plank reminds me of a humourous observation by Jack Dee who said that in the safety booklet one finds on aeroplanes he would prefer to see an actual photograph of a ditched plane floating happily in the middle of the Atlantic and not just an artist's impression.
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