Just the thing for those winter snows.  I have seen them listed, but Walthers does not say how fast the wheel spins.  How fast does yours run?  An easy way to tell is to stick a small piece of masking tape to the wheel and count how many times it goes around in a minute.  I would be very interested to hear what speed it is.

I suspect the problem is your DCC booster detecting a short circuit, or what it interprets as a short circuit.  If you connect a small lamp, like a grain-of-wheat bulb, across the rails, does it turn off and on as the locomotive stops and goes?  If so, it is your booster cutting out and cutting back in.

The DCC signal might be shorted by the capacitors in the locomotive.  This usually happens, if it happens at all, with the motor pulses put out by an installed decoder.  I have not heard of this happening with a non-decoder locomotive on a DCC track, but with a light enough booster, this might be possible.  What type of DCC system are you using?

It is more likely that a mechanical drag or a partial electrical short circuit is responsible for overloading your booster.  How much current does this locomotive draw on your dc track?  Running light at 12 volts, it should not exceed .5 amps.  If it does, you have a problem, either electrical or mechanical.

To measure the current, you can use an ohm-volt-amp meter.  Digital ones can be had for around $15, or even less on sale.  They are an invaluable tool when working on locomotives, not only for trouble shooting, but also for measuring motor and lamp currents and checking for proper isolation when installing decoders.   

Any locomotive can be converted to DCC.  Some are harder than others.  A few are much harder.  The Plus series of locomotives predate DCC so they will require more than just plugging in a decoder.  You will have to cut and solder wires and insulate these joints (use shrink tubing.)

As always, make sure the locomotive runs well on dc before you start.
Use an ammeter to measure the motor stall current at 12 volts by holding the motor shaft or flywheel stationary for a few moments.
Use this current measurement to help in selecting a decoder.
Isolate the motor from the wheels and make sure they really are isolated by using an ohmmeter or a battery and test light.  (You are not allowed to cry over a burned up decoder if you did not perform this test.)
Follow the wiring diagram that comes with the decoder.

If you do not already have one, consider buying a volt-ohm-amp meter.  These will help you measure motor currents, lamp currents, various voltages, and the resistance between wheels and motor.  Digital ones can be had for around $15 or even less on sale.

mac_daddy, my error.  Bachmann's combined DCC command station, throttle and booster has sometimes been referred to as an E-Z Commander.  But as Hunt has pointed out, the E-Z Commander set is a different kettle of fish.

As you have this set, you already have two locomotives with decoders and an oval of track.  So why not open it up, set it up, and learn about DCC the hands-on way.  The instructions can seem complicated, arbitrary and hard to remember when you just read the book.  But when you actually do the operations, following the book word for word, they become much easier.

Jake's suggestion is excellent too.  But reading up on DCC in general will make more sense once you have learned to operate your own system first, which is what Hunt was advocating above.

Sorry about confusing the issue with my own confustion - that will teach me not to be posting at 2 o'clock in the morning!

Thanks, lanny.  I am glad to see someone shares my slightly warpped sense of humour.  I was wonder if anyone would catch the "silicon ore" bit.  Silicon, the basis for all our wonderful modern electronics, comes from common sand, which they do have plenty of in Iraq.

And HOplasserem80c, don't be too upset with us.  The idea of a railroad in the heat and shifting sands of Iraq kind of tickled our collective funny bones.  Nobody lied to you.  Teased a little, maybe, but not lied.

Bachmann's E-Z Command is a good starter set.  Switching the speed and direction controls between locomotives is the easiest on the market.  And it is expandable, allowing you to add separate throttles so that you and your offsprings can each run a train.

There are no power issues, at least in a small layout.  If and when it gets larger, you might eventually want to add a booster for more power to run more trains all at the same time.  Or maybe not.  If you only want to run two or three trains at a time, there is no need for more power, no matter how large the layout.

Bachmann E-Z track is a good place to start with track.  The locking plastic base allows you to set up temporary layouts that will stay together for hours, weeks or years.  Rather than leave your E-Z Commander in its box, why not install a decoder in a locomotive, set up an oval of track, and start having fun right now.

These locomotives are pretty simple.  The backhead (back end of the boiler) lifts up to reveal the battery compartment.  It holds 6 size D batteries.  The transmitter uses one 9 volt battery.  Once these are installed, put the locomotive on the rails, turn on the switch on the transmitter, then turn on the switch on the back of the locomotive.  Move the transmitter speed control knob to make the locomotive go forward or backward.  If it works, it works.  If it does not, do not send it to Bachmann for repairs.  There are no spare parts available.

The range of the transmitter is not overly far - maybe 50 feet.  But if the locomotive goes out of range of the control signal, it will continue moving forward anyway.  In fact, if you are running it in circles and want to save on transmitter battery, just turn the transmitter off.

The tender plugs into the back of the locomotive and a second switch on the back of the locomotive turns the sound system on and off.  The sound is an electronically generated chuff that is synchronized with the drivers.

The motors in these locomotives are on the small size, I assume to conserve battery power.  If you do not overload them (2 freight cars plus a caboose or 2 passenger cars max) then they will last a long time. 

I have a soft spot for these locomotives as they were my first introduction to Bachmann large scale, and I still keep a couple of them in operating condition.  I have since gone on to track power, DCC control and heavier duty locomotives.  And more recently, a couple of battery powered, radio controlled locomotives with multi-function transmitters and receivers capable of controlling complex sound systems and other electrical  accessories.  So be warned - it starts with one simple locomotive, and it's all down hill from there!!  I for one would have it no other way.

Yes.

But it is more than just a plug-n-play job.  You will have to trace the wiring to be sure which leads come from the power pickups, which come from the motor, which from the lights and so on.  Not as hard as it sounds, but it does require opening up the locomotive.  If you make notes and keep track of the screws, reassembly will be relatively easy.  The bottom of an egg carton can be used to keep the screws in groups and can be labelled with a ball point pen.

I feel it is a good idea to measure the current draw of YOUR locomotive before selecting a decoder for it.  One way is to place your locomotive on a piece of tack and put a brick or two in front of it.  Connect your track, your dc power pack and your ammeter all in series then slowly turn up the pack and watch the current.  The maximum current, just before the wheels slip, is an indication of the maximum operating current.  (If the locomotive moves the bricks, add more bricks.)

After taking the locomotive apart, you can measure the motor stall current.  Set your power pack to about 18 volts (or whatever track voltage you plan to use) then measure the current as above except hold the motor from turning.  Many decoders have two current ratings, the smaller one is for operating current and the larger one for stall current.  If the decoder of your choice does not list stall current, you can estimate it as 50% higher than operating current.  Make sure you have an adequate rating for both currents.  If the operating current rating is inadequate, your locomotive may stop from time to time to cool off.  This is most likely to happen if you run it with heavy loads or up steep grades or on hot days.  If the stall current rating is inadequate, then the decoder will fail sooner or later.

If all of that sounds too complicated, talk to your supplier for a recommendation.  He will be happy to sell you a decoder with lots of excess capacity.  It will cost a bit more than one more closely rated to your actual load, but you can consider it cheap insurance.

Decoders normally come with instructions for installation.  If you need more help, there are a number of us who regularly read this board and are willing to help.

There should be a dot or a number 1 near one of the corners of the socket.  This is where the pin connected to the orange decoder wire goes.

As I understand it, Dessert Storm and his brother Sand Storm had a contract to deliver silicon ore from Bagdad to Silicon Valley. Iraq has lots and lots of silicon ore.  But they ran into problems when they tried to cross the Atlantic Ocean.  So they ended up just running their train round and round in circles.  I understand the Athearn train set models that aspect rather well.  But maybe it was just as well.  The Storm brothers had planned on bringing back box car loads of compasses and protractors and straight edges.  A few years later that would have got them in trouble for spreading instruments of math instruction.   

I think there would have been a great deal of Shock and Awe if they had manage to run a train in the desert.  To bad they were a generation too early.

If MRC's sound decoder is a silent drive decoder, that is, uses high frequencies to drive the motor, then yes, you should remove the capacitors.  But MRC may not tell you whether or not their decoder has silent drive.  I was thinking of your question this morning while installing an MRC 1650 decoder.  Nowhere in MRC's literature does it say "silent drive" or "ultrasonic drive" or any of the other buzz words and yet it was much quieter than most non-silent decoders.

Bottom line, if you know it is a silent drive decoder, you can leave the capacitors in.
If you know it is not a silent drive decoder, then you should take them out.
When in doubt, chop them out.   It won't hurt anything and may save a trip back into the locomotive.

Quote from: murfling on March 16, 2007, 09:26:33 AM
Its not so much the trick mounted part as the ITTY BITTY hole in them that I was concerned about.

I have some Kadee couplers that came with a plastic insert.  The insert fits in a standard size hole in the coupler and has an itty bitty hole in the middle.  Although I no longer have the envelope they came in, I suspect they are Kadee #28.  You might want to visit Kadee's website and peruse their charts on Coupler Conversions.

http://www.kadee.com/index.shtml

I have been using Kadees ever since they used trips pins instead of magnets and have never seen or heard of one that was designed to mate with an horn hook.  There have been other brands that were touted as coupling with both Kadee and horn hook, but in practice, they never uncoupled properly.  HOplasserem80c, how about posting a photo of what you have so that the rest of us can see them.

I have to agree with Brad and others - solder is the way to go.  If your soldering skills are not up to par, spend some time and practice until they are.  Over all, you will spend less time learning to solder properly than trouble shooting non-soldered joints.

Quote from: msowsun on March 15, 2007, 08:03:51 PM
I don't think this is really a "Walkaround" throttle. I would call it a "Tethered" throttle. You can only walk until you run out of wire length.

A true "Walkaround" allows you to unplug the throttle and plug in at a different location while the train continues moving.   

The product under discussion is definitely a "tethered throttle."  But also a "walkaround throttle" in my books.  They were originally named "walk around throttles" because they were not fixed in place like a regular power pack or a Marnostat.  You could walk around with them and still control your train.  Throttles that would keep the train running even when the throttle was unplugged were called "memory throttles."  And when unplugged, they could not control your train.

If we really want to change the definition of walkaround, let's apply it only to throttles that you can unplug and walk around with, still in complete control of your train.  In other words, wireless throttles.  I think we could all agree that these are "the true walkaround."