2-6-0 tenders

[HojackChris]

does anybody know if the new 2-6-0's are going to have oversized tenders like the 4-6-0 did?  if they have the appropriate small tender with dcc a standing ovation will be required for bachmann.  also can't wait to get my hands on an s4.

[Country Joe]

It looks very good in the new items announcement.

[David Leonard]

Here's a photo posted on trainboard.

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/500/P1000877.JPG

[tweetsieengineer]

I wonder why there is not the usual black unlettered version in the announcement?

[HojackChris]

They do look good, but thats not why i want the engines.  I want them because they already have dcc.  I have also been in contact with tcs about using there keep alive decorders with these engines, and if it works then I won't be pulling my hair out whenever it looses power, the only problem with small n-scale steam, and will thoroughly enjoy running them.

[skipgear]

My guess, because of the size of the tender, that these will have a built in light board style decoder and doing a decoder swap will require replacing the whole thing, not just a quick plug in or solder job.

In order use a TCS decoder, I bet you will be the same as starting from scratch except the wires will be run from the loco to the tender for you already.

[HojackChris]

If they can stuff a decoder into that 44-tonner, i don't think they'll have a problem putting one in the tender lol.  I don't need to change the decoder itself, i just have to attach two wires from a small connector that connects to one of tcs' keep alive "decoders"( its actually a group of capacitors) that will be housed in a boxcar pulled behind the engine.  I will also be doing this to my model power 4-4-0 and 2-6-0, they will actually be converted to dcc with a decoder install.

[skipgear]

I can't see how that is going to work. The TCS keep alive caps solder to a spot in the decoder, not the track power. Track power going into a decoder is AC. When it sees DC, it switches to analog mode (if programed that way). The only thing the keep alive caps could output is DC. The keep alive is designed to work specificaly with TCS decoders and will not work with just anything.

All TCS decoders shipping with date codes from January 2012 support the Keep-Alive feature.

To enable the Keep-Alive™ feature place a value of 2 in CV 182. This essentially disables DC mode and the decoder will remain in DCC operation during brief power interruptions.

These KA's are designed for a maximum track voltage of 16v.

It will require replacing the decoder with a TCS to use the KA1 or KA2. In order to replace a decoder in these, I firmly feel that you will need to replace the entire lightboard/decoder in the tender, just the same way you would have to in a 44T.

With the amount of work involved, it would be easier to put trucks with pickup on a boxcar behind the loco (since you are going to have a boxcar tied to it anyhow) and just spread out the pickup across a wider area. that would make your entire pickup area 4" long which is about what the KA2 would keep the decoder going anyhow.

[HojackChris]

You are right in that it will only recieve dc power from the keep alive, the decoder will not be able to send or recieve commands from the control system while it is running on the keep alive over a dead spot.  The keep alive will keep the motor running and the light on using dc power until the engine is clear of the dead spot or the capacitors are drained, which ever comes first.  The ka1 and ka2's are not actually decoders they are banks of capacitors that you add to a dcc board.   Here is the the link to the tcs website that shows how you can use keep alive with a nscale engine.
http://www.tcsdcc.com/public_html/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/N_Scale/Atlas/C630/N_Atlas_C630_AMD-1.html

[skipgear]

You are right in that it will only recieve dc power from the keep alive, the decoder will not be able to send or recieve commands from the control system while it is running on the keep alive over a dead spot.  The keep alive will keep the motor running and the light on using dc power until the engine is clear of the dead spot or the capacitors are drained, which ever comes first.  The ka1 and ka2's are not actually decoders they are banks of capacitors that you add to a dcc board.   Here is the the link to the tcs website that shows how you can use keep alive with a nscale engine.
http://www.tcsdcc.com/public_html/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/N_Scale/Atlas/C630/N_Atlas_C630_AMD-1.html

.....And it shows installing the KA's to a TCS decoder, not to the rail pickups but to two addtional solder pads on the decoder. In order for the Keep Alive to work, you have to turn in on in the decoder. These will not work with any decoder. A TCS decoder with the Keep Alive function is required.

When a decoder doesn't see a DCC signal, it defaults to analog. Removing the DCC signal from a decoder will cause it to switch from DCC to Analog mode. In analog mode, it doesn't care what the last DCC command was, it runs a speed relative to the voltage of the input.

If it was as simple as adding capacitors in parallel with the decoder, it would have been done years ago. They are electrolitic capacitors which have a polarity. That would mean you could only run the loco one direction. I'm just trying to keep you from blowing things up. Tantalum and Electrolitic capacitors are polarized and can be quite dangerous when they explode and applying them directly to the rail pickup will help expediate the chance of that happening.

There are some keep alive lighting kits for passenger cars out there. They have a bridge rectifierin the circuit to change the incoming power to DC to work safely with the capacitors.