6
Power Station LV101
When such a locomotive bridges the gap between isolated
power stations, the locomotive will stall. The solution to this
problem is to provide a common wire between all the power
stations. All systems of command control need to have a such a
common provided, if offset pickup locomotives are to be
operated.
Lenz has chosen to leave the option of the location of the
common up to the individual operator. The LV101 is completely
opto-isolated. This allows you to use one of the rails (called
common rail) for your common. Common rail wiring is also
compatible with many existing signaling systems. While
common rail is the preferred place for a common, you may
rather connect all the power station U or V wires together. This is
called common power supply wiring.
Caution: If you decide to install a common, it is important that
you only have a single common. Multiple commons (such as
common rail and common transformer) should be avoided.
Mixing Digital and Analog Operations
Conventional and digital track sections must be consistently
separated from each other by using isolating tracks or isolating
rail connectors between the digital and conventional (DC=) track
sections (double gapping).
At the gap dividing digital from analog operation, you must take
steps to prevent interference between the 2 systems when a
locomotive crosses the gap. One approach is to use a Digital
Circuit Breaker such as the LT130. If a locomotive bridges the
insulated gap, the module immediately interrupts the analog
power supply.
Warning:
Mixed digital/analog operations using both rails and catenary
(overhead wire) is not allowed. In this mode of operation, if the
locomotive is on the track in the wrong direction (for instance
after going through a loop), the built-in locomotive decoder could
be destroyed by excessive voltage! We suggest you operate
with current pickup from the rails (wheel pickups), since that
contact is more reliable (and thereby the transmission of the
digital signals to the locomotive decoder) than with catenary.
