DC motor with DCC

[Hunt]

. . .Hunt-
What is this about- "Informative pictures Rich for those understanding what they are seeing."
. . .

Barney

Someone familiar with the waveform produced by DCC likely will recognize what Rich's pictures illustrate. Other folks may draw an inaccurate conclusion.

[richG]

. . .Hunt-
What is this about- "Informative pictures Rich for those understanding what they are seeing."
. . .

Barney

Someone familiar with the waveform produced by DCC likely will recognize what Rich's pictures illustrate. Other folks may draw an inaccurate conclusion.

You are so correct. That is part of life and I realized that before posting.

Rich

[Robertj668]

Hi again
Trying not getting too technical here but when I run a DC engine new or old on my Bachmann EZ Command (then one that allows me to run 1 DC engine at a time) after the engine comes to a stop it still sounds like the motor is running (still getting power). It almost sounds like the actually running at idle like a real engine. Yes I know that not possible.  It this a by product of running it in this mode meaning a DC engine on a DCC system. Now the question is can it be fixed.

Can you retrofit an older engine to DCC? I like some of my old engines and would love to keep them running.

I did notice that the newer DC engines i run do not seem to get as overheated as the ones from I got as a kid that would be 30 yrs ago. I unfortunately have slightly damaged one DC engine already.

Thanks for any input.

Robert

[Jim Banner]

Can it be fixed?  No.  The noise is inherent in the system.  It has to do with the DCC track power being applied directly to the motor instead of through a decoder.  (That is the non-technical answer.)

You can convert any H0 locomotive to DCC, but some are harder than others.  And a few are very difficult.  While DCC often improves the running of locomotives, it cannot make silk purses out of sows' ears.  Old train set locomotives that have the motor built into one of the trucks will still have only 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel pickup, no flywheels and coggy motors.  But a lot of us old timers have a sentimental attachment to our old locomotives and that is reason enough to keep them in runnable condition, including installing DCC.

I am not sure what you mean by "slightly damaged" but I am going to guess that means it does not run as fast as it did before.  Overheating may cause damage.  Lack of lubrication causes overheating (among other things.)  Make sure you use plastic compatible oils and greases from the hobby shop when you lubricate.

Jim

[Robertj668]

Jim
Thanks for the great input. As for the damage it melted part of the plastic on the engine.
I would love to see a video on Youtube that shows how to give and engine a maintenance checkup.  I have read the advice and handout stuff on doing the maintenance but I am a visual person. Though I am now getting rather good at converting my old stock to the new Knuckle couplers! I was think of making a littel video on that to help other too. I need to also thank Yampa Bob on his advice too! Again Jim Thanks! You might see that I have a lot of questions as I am home sick with Pneumonia and cannot do very much this week.
Robert