A piece of history:

Why was the DC-Car Booster developed? A number of users find it (too) much work to mount a large number of LEDs on the side of the road, so that the cars can be a digital central can be controlled. For a long time, Claus Ilchmann thought about an possibility to send the DCC commands to the cars via some kind of remote control. Until recently, the possibilities were limited due to the speed of data transfer or the too small bridging distance. Until a point a suitable receiver was found in the form of the<a href=”../../prestashop/product.php?id_product=356″> TSOP7000.</a> This proved to be the ideal receiver for the cars to receive the DCC protocol directly via infrared transmitters.

Now all we had to do was develop an infrared Booster that would make it possible to control enough infrared LEDs. These LEDs are mounted above the model runway in such a way that the cars can receive the signal anywhere. Instead of many leDs on the side of the road, only a few LEDs are needed above the model runway. The distance to be bridged is also no longer a problem as the Booster does its job up to a distance of 5 meters. If there are reception problems at certain locations, LEDs can also be installed on the side of the road or an LED of the booster can be mounted directly above this location.

The short-range infrared LEDs are a diode and a resistance connected to the rails connection of the digital power plant. The cars react both to the long-range infrared LEDs, on the short distance LEDs and on the function building blocks. A mix of all possible infrared controls is therefore possible. What does it take in a car to receive the long-distance infrared? The DC-Car Booster only works with the DC04 decoders (software version from April 2008) so the optional TSOP7000 receiver must be connected to the serial input of the DC04. In CV21, value 4 must be programmed.

What else is needed for the DC-Car Booster? 12-16 Volt acs changed voltage. A digital power plant that works with the DCC protocol. The infrared LEDs: All 7 outputs may be charged up to 1 Amps in total.

At each output, an infrared LED or a chain of max. 5 infrared LEDs are connected.

The front gear resistances (2 Watts) can be calculated in accordance with the LEDs to be applied. You can keep the following values for this: 1 LED: with 220 OHM 5 LEDs in ‘series: with 100 OHM

The DC-Car Booster is easily connected to the rails output of the digital power plant.

Operation: The red LED has a control function. If there’s a DCC signal, it lights up.

The resistances R4-R8 are 2 Watts and are the front-gear resistances for the infrared LEDs

The value can be determined experimentally and depends on the infrared LEDs used Example:

With an LED that can be loaded with 100mA, the resistance is 220 Ohm.

With a chain of 5 LEDs, the resistance becomes 100 Ohm.

As a transmitter LED, any infrared LED that has a wavelength 870-890nm can be used. For LEDs with a wavelength of 940nm, the range is reduced by half.

For the best range we recommend the LEDs from our webshop. You will also find the kit of the DC-Car Booster.