Marklin engines.....AC power, not DC?

[ondrek]

I purchased a Marklin over a year ago,
http://www.vermontel.net/~kevin_ondre/G%20scale%20Train/Marklin%205454B_01.jpg

and I never really looked into them before i purchased it. I never did any reasearch on it or anything. a total whim purchase. I have ran it on my Aristo-craft track with a Control Master 20 and it seems to have run fine. one odd behavior. it only runs in one direction, forward. its better than just reverse i told myself and i never tried to figure out why.

Then one day my MRC 20 decided to go waco on me. its still pretty messed up, anyhow, so i took one of my other MRC controlers out and hooked it up. the controler is meant to run HO not G, but i figured that it would still run it fine, since it was a real small layout for my kids to watch for the afternoon. well, it did work, but oddly enough, the train would only run in one direction, Backwards! everything i tried gave me the same results. So scared that i damaged the Marklin from the MRC 20, i took it to my local train store. he put it on his small loop laout and ran it fine, forwards only. I was happy.

So i was talkin with my dad on the phone, and he told me that an AC motor will run off DC power. it may just do some odd thing, like go in one direction only. ding ding. So, now i am thinking that my Marklin is AC motor equiped. Is that correct?

thanks

Kevin

[bman36]

Hey Kevin,
Nice Loco! Seems to me there was a thread on this very topic a while back. Maybe that or it was on track power. Not sure. I too will be watching the replies on this one. Interesting. Later eh...Brian.

[grandpopswalt]

kevin,

I don't know anything about Marklin equipment but it sounds as though you have a universal motor in that loco. A universal motor will run on either DC or AC, hence the name. I doubt seriously that you have a true AC motor.

There's probably a relay in there that reveses the polarity of the motor's shunt field with respect to the armature. This then would cause the motor to run in the opposite direction.

BTW, your reversable electric drill uses a universal motor, however it runs on 120volts and when you flick that little lever to change direction, you're doing the same thing as that relay in your loco that I mentioned before.

Walt

[Rene Schweitzer]

Kevin,

I compiled a starter set article last year. The Marklin set they sent us (#54413) was indeed AC powered. The MAXI section on their web site says: "Many of the locomotives have realistic prototypical sound and every locomotive is equipped with a built-in DELTA electronic circuit for multi-train operation and an electronic circuit board for operating the locomotive with DC power is included. "

Rene

[vsmith]

Soooooo....If I'm reading this right....

In order to reverse the engine... you have to step away from the powerpack , physically flip a switch somewhere on the loco, then come back to the powerpack to move it, then walk back to the engine, flip the switch back, go back to the powerpack and go forward?????

WOW! Just like the old Lionel locomotives....except that those are over 40 years old!
Talk about switching HELL, I hated those little levers on Lionel trains.

You would think that for the price that they are asking for those engines Marklin could add a stupid $10 circuit so that you wouldn't have to flip a stupid switch to get into reverse like a 40+ year old Lionel dinosuar. Someone needs to tell Marklin that that kind of technology went out with the B&W TV. No wonder they're not very popular. I'll have to check that out at the next train show I see them at.

[grandpopswalt]

Vic,

If I recall correctly Lionel and Marklin as well used a latching relay of some sort that would reverse the direction of the motor each time the track power was cycled. Or it could have been that the third rail was used to manage the state of the reversing relay. In any case the direction reversal was pretty much a "hands-free" operation.

Walt

[Anonymous]

Here's my[2c], Sounds like the Marklin is like Lionel or American Flyer AC powered trains. Lionel and AF require you to stop the train turn the power off and on twice, twice because it actually goes into neutral, then back on and the direction changes via a thing called an "E-unit" in the AF stuff anyway.
I've actually looked into coverting my AF stuff to DC by switching to a "can" type motor but then this Garden RR thing came up and some how it's just not [:D]important anymore!