Converting a Cable Car to DCC

[rbryce1]

Well, Bachmann received my Dynamis and agreed it was bad.  They are sending me a complete brand new unit under the warranty, which was shipped on Tuesday, I believe.

rb-

Why did they ship you a new warranty?

Guess it was already on top!!

                                                   -- D

[rbryce1]

Based on the dozens or hundreds of problems regarding getting the Dynamis, Pro Box and 5 Amp Booster all to play well with each other (see the MANY posts in the General Discussion area), I elected to scrap the Dynamis-Pro Box-Booster combo and go over to running an NCE system with their 5 amp booster on my permanent layout and shift to using the Bachmann EZ Command controller and the Bachmann 5 amp booster for the Christmas layout.  Selling the newly received unopened replacement Dynamis and the unopened Pro Box.

Now that my new equipment has arrived and the whole thing is again working properly, I tested the Cable Car with it's newly installed DCC decoder.  Works Great.  Runs like a little banshee!  Only problem is going over turnouts without powered frogs.  Since it only has one power truck and it's not that long, loosing power to one wheel of the truck kills it.  Works fine over a powered frog, but a plastic frog, forget it.  Even at warp speed, it can't jump the frog.

[Doneldon]

rb-

How about a huge flywheel? There should be plenty of room for one. Or, why not adapt the second truck for electrical pick-up? That would not only solve the stalling on turnouts problem but it would keep a sound decoder from rebooting at every turnout should you later decide to add sound.
                                                                                                                                                                                                      -- D

[rbryce1]

I am looking at that, but the problems are many.  First, this is not an electric trolley car, it is a very small San Fransisco style Cable Car, which is only about 5" long total with about 3" of inside working space.  Second, the non-powered  truck is very small and in a really confined area.  The powered truck and motor are all one unit, about 1.1/4" in total length.  The motor is only about 1/2" in diameter and 1/2" long, too small for a flywheel.  The output shaft on the motor has a worm gear on it instead of a drive shaft, and this gear fits directly into a cluster of other gears to drive the same wheels that are picking up the power from the tracks.  There isn't enough room for a U-joint let alone a flywheel!

Also, now that it is all back together, I really don't prefer to take it back apart again! Pain in the rectum to reassemble.

The track it will be running on only has 2 switches for a passing siding at the station to deal with, and the powered frogs look like they will solve the problem.  If not, the track will probably get modified instead of the Cable Car!

I'll try and post some photos this evening if I get time.

[Doneldon]

Well then, how about the quick and easy solution, pick up shoes?

[rbryce1]

Not sure what Pickup Shoes are, but the easiest method for me is the powered frogs!