HO vintage set question

[Ahamm001]

I have a question for those of you that might know.  I have an old vintage HO scale santa fe set from the early 80's.  If I buy the new speed control and ez set track setup, will I have any problems getting it to work with the old locomotive?  Thanks for anyone that would know. 

[jward]

if your locomotive is in good working order it will work with ez track and any dc (analog) controller. it is not adviseable to use this locomotive with ez command of any other dcc (digital) controller unless you first install a decoder.

[electrical whiz kid]

Jeffrey;
Why do you say that?

Rich C.

[jward]

why do I say what?

[electrical whiz kid]

not adviseable to use this locomotive with ez command of any other dcc (digital) controller unless you first install a decoder.


This.  Elucidate, please.

Rich C.

[jward]

as you know the DCC standard is to have a form of ac power applied to the rails at all times. this tends to overheat dc motors exposed to it especially if they are just sitting on it. I won't go into the details here of how it works, there are plenty of books out there that do a good job of explaining this. suffice it to say that just because you can run a dc locomotive on dcc with ez command or digitrax, it is done at the risk of weakening the motor or even burning it out. given that 1980s train set locomotives usually had cheaply made motors that often burned out running on the dc they were designed for, it seems foolish to purposely expose said motor to ac guaranteed to damage it.

[Jerrys HO]

as you know the DCC standard is to have a form of ac power applied to the rails at all times. this tends to overheat dc motors exposed to it especially if they are just sitting on it. I won't go into the details here of how it works, there are plenty of books out there that do a good job of explaining this. suffice it to say that just because you can run a dc locomotive on dcc with ez command or digitrax, it is done at the risk of weakening the motor or even burning it out. given that 1980s train set locomotives usually had cheaply made motors that often burned out running on the dc they were designed for, it seems foolish to purposely expose said motor to ac guaranteed to damage it.

Well said! I still to the life of me don't understand why this question was asked...

Why do you say that?

Why do you say that?[/quote]
Please elucidate.

[jbrock27]

Ahab001, what brand set is this?
If you purchase EZ track, do your self the flavor and buy the nickel silver rail variety, which is the EZ track with grey roadbed.

[electrical whiz kid]

Well said! I still to the life of me don't understand why this question was asked...

Quote

I asked the question for two reasons:  Firstly; I have a great respect for Jeffery's knowledge of this subject-and secondly; I asked it because I can.

Rich C.