DC loco idle on DCC, how long until the motor burns out?

Is it making the Buzzzzzzzzzzzz?

I think that for many motors this will be the case.  They draw very little current, hence they don't get hot.  If the motor drew a bit more current, it would get hotter, and it would need to turn to cool it down.  I think the lesson here is that SOME motors will burn out, SOME motors won't and it might be difficult to predict which is which.  All of which makes the recommendation to remove power from a DC loco that is stationary on the DCC layout a good one.  The noise makes it unlikely one would want to operate that way in the long term anyway, I think!

Are you killing your SP RS-3?

BAD JEFF! BAD!

Hoople wrote:

Are you killing your SP RS-3? BAD JEFF! BAD!

jeffrey-wimberly wrote:

Six hours and some change and it's starting to make some wierd noises.

YTou realize ypur power bill is about to hit the floor

UP2CSX wrote:

Keep a fire extinguisher handy. It'll probably burst into flames when she finally blows.

steemtrayn wrote:

What's you're next experiment gonna be? Worms in the microwave?

Jeff, don't you know that running a DC locomotive under DCC is WRONG! Stop before you are hit with a bolt of lightning. Besides, once you "go DCC" you aren't even supposed to HAVE any DC locomotives. ALL your fleet must be DCC now. And so it was written. And, to top it off, you don't REALLY have DCC, you have a Bachmann!! So it DOESN'T COUNT!!

Just a side note, I once let one of my Bachmann engines idle all night (forgot to turn the power off). Didn't seem to hurt it. The only one I ever hurt was that little (N scale) Galloping Goose by Con Cor. First symptom, it STANK (melting rubber/plastic smell). A few engines won't run at all under DC over DCC. Most run fine. Some will burn up. All depends. Not sure why all the differences, must be different engine designs.

jeffrey-wimberly wrote:

Eight hours, fifteen minutes. Catastrophic failure! With a very visible arc, the motor finally died. I think one of the brushes is welded to the commutator. I won't know for sure until I take it apart. Now we know for sure, Athearn motors are TOUGH!

Now we know for sure, idling DC motors on DCC isn't a good thing to do.  The first motor you did was a weak one, but the second one proved that even a solid motor shouldn't get this kind of treatment.

Y'know, you should write up this scientific experiment and send it to MR.  The idea that idling DC motors on DCC would eventually fry them has been kicking around for years.  It's been campfire lore for a long time, but you've finally proven it conclusively.  While they might not publish it as an article, certainly a Letter to the Editor is justified.

You're right up there with Albert Einstein.  And with Heisenberg, I think.

Get this. I took the brushes out of the motor, or should I say brush, one of them was completely gone, I replaced the brushes and put the motor back in the loco and tried it on the layout. It still runs! Don't get me wrong though, the motor is damaged. The armature windings that were a bright deep green are now a dull, blackish green and the commutator is burned, but it still runs, albeit a bit slower than it did before. I'll put a new motor in it tomorrow and put it back in the display rack.

Before:

After:

dinwitty wrote:

has it gotten out of its chair and start terrorizing the countryside, Dr. Frankenstein?