DCC and very small locomotives

[Nick_Burman]

Hello all,

 

 

Does DCC have any bettering effect on the performance of very small locomotives? I read somewhere that because DCC puts out 18 to 22 volts one gets better running from small locos, does this tally?

 

 

Cheers NB

[marknewton]

Nick, my own experience is that it does. The constant voltage on the track seems to overcome a lot of the problems associated with poor pickup due to dirty track, and tailoring the CVs allows you to optimise the locos performance. I have a tiny 0-4-0ST that has a resin body running on a Hollywood Foundry Bullant mechanism, which was an erratic runner on DC. Since converting it to DCC it's a much more reliable loco.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[kvp]

Using DCC has the same effect on locomotives as using any PWM based DC controller (like Tomix ones). The only difference is that in case of DCC, the controller is in the locomotive, in case of PWM the controller is next to the layout. Both solutions send the same chopped constant voltage pulse width modulation signal to the motors. Also N scale DCC should be run between 12 to 16V. Giving 16V input to the DCC central gives around 14V to the tracks and into the decoder, and the decoder gives out roughly 12V PWM to the locomotive motor, which is exactly the same voltage as the output of a PWM controller. Using higher voltages will burn the japanese N scale motors, which are usually (especially for Tomytec motors) were designed to be used with 12V controllers only. (Kato ones are 16V tolerant, mainly because they support DCC)

 

In short, it's not DCC that helps, but the PWM output of DCC decoders. A DC power pack with the same PWM output will run any old DC loco exactly the same way, except you don't have to take them apart to get a decoder installed.

[railsquid]

Kind of related to this - would DCC help locomotives which perform poorly on inclines? Some of my British locos are pretty lousy at going up them, though in most cases I can work with the throttle to keep them at an optimimum speed which is where I imagine, in my naive innocence, that the DCC coder might help.

[kvp]

 

would DCC help locomotives which perform poorly on inclines?

Only with decoders that are feedback capable and with motors that are noise free enough not to confuse the decoders. Some of the PWM DC throttles have the same feedback functionality.

[railsquid]

Thanks, noted.

[Nick_Burman]

Nick, my own experience is that it does. The constant voltage on the track seems to overcome a lot of the problems associated with poor pickup due to dirty track, and tailoring the CVs allows you to optimise the locos performance. I have a tiny 0-4-0ST that has a resin body running on a Hollywood Foundry Bullant mechanism, which was an erratic runner on DC. Since converting it to DCC it's a much more reliable loco.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

Mark and all,

 

 

Thanks for the reply. I have a few very small locos (Tsugawa 7t diesel and World Kougei Ueda Kotsu GE steeplecab) which I'm thinking of adding decoders to (CT Elektronik DCX16z). However given the price of these decoders I wanted tpo know if the locos would actually benefit fro  their installation before plunging in.

 

Cheers NB