Spectrum passenger car loses lighting after running on DCC track.

[Traindude51]

I purchased a very nice set of Spectrum passenger cars with interiors and lighting. After running one car behind a loco on a dcc track the light went out. Was this due to the DCC controller, NCE powercab? Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Desertdweller]

I suspect your problem was due to exposure of the higher continuous voltage provided by the DCC system.

In DCC, the track carries a continuous voltage of about 18v. AC.  The DCC decoder in the locomotive converts this to a variable DC voltage of around 12v.  This DC power may be half-wave AC, I don't know.

The light bulbs in your cars were designed to operate at a maximum of 12v.  You may be able to install a resistor in the cars to lower the voltage going to the lights, or power the lights with a self-contained power source (battery).

Les

[richardl]

No idea what the electronics are like in the passenger car but my NCE Power Cab put 13.6 VAC on the track. Checked with meter and Scope. The NCE wall wart puts out a constant 13.9 VDC from the specs on the case.The decoders show about 12.2 VDC to the loco lights.
If there is a decoder in the car, it will drop the voltage by 1.4 volts. Again, no idea on what controls the lights in the car.

Rich