American Flyer switched to DCC?

[Anonymous]

Has anybody had experence with switching American Flyer over to DCC?

I have read about DCC but still find it confusing. I also under stand AF is AC.

I'm more into creating semi scaled stuff and I'm not worried about devaluing

my trains. Any help would be appreciated.

Carpenter matt

Got S?

[Big_Boy_4005]

Interesting question. My guess is that conventional DC based DCC won't work, but you do still have two options. Use Lionel's TMCC, which is designed for AC powered trains, or switch to running your Flyer trains on DC. Personally, I have always wondered what the technical differences between the two systems signals were.

I know that Lionel sends its signal out over the ground rail, and the signal is coded ones and zeros. The commands are sent by the hand held remote to the command base via a radio signal, through the air, no wires.

This is a rather unusual subject, but is one that is near and dear to my heart, because I run Lionel trains, and want to use a computer in addition to TMCC. There aren't many of us out there, and information is scarce, because most people arent interested. Email me if you want to discuss this further.

[cacole]

I don't think this can be accomplished. I had American Flyer trains when I was young, and they ran on 16 volts AC. DCC is for 12 volt DC motors only, even though most command stations put up to 14 volts DC onto the track and then superimpose the DCC high-frequency square-wave command signal over that; however, you can't run an AC motor with a DCC signal. Another complicating factor is the motor direction relay that is in an AF engine -- at least the ones I had. There was a latching relay that had to be turned off-on-off-on to reverse the locomotive's direction. This relay also controlled the motor's speed according to the output voltage of the transformer. Keep in mind that I'm talking about the late 1940's to late 1950's here. I don't remember what year AF went out of business, but I assume that all of their trains were built the same. It may be that the motor in an AF train is actually a DC motor, and that the relay also had a rectifier circuit; however, I don't think it did because the only rectifiers back in those days were selenium rectifiers, which were very large -- probably too large to fit inside the locomotive. Diode rectifiers like we have today hadn't been invented yet.

[Big_Boy_4005]

This problem has nothing to do with the reversing unit in the train, since in either scenario I described, it would be removed and discarded. The American Flyer motor could be run on DC, but the issue there would be current draw. Those old motors would require heavy duty circuit boards, and it might be easier to remotor with a modern can type motor.

Lionel's TMCC is designed for use with AC track power, but actually rectifies it onboard.

[Anonymous]

I think i saw an article on the net about switching to a can type motor, I might look into this more so i can run at scale speed.

Carpenter matt got S?

[Big_Boy_4005]

Matt, just keep in mind that if you switch to a can motor, you will also need to switch to DC power. Can motors have permenant magnets in them, your Flyer engine has a reversable field type motor which can be run with AC or DC by removing the reversing unit. I have run Lionel trains on DC, and Flyer is basicly the same. Can motors are even better though. they run smoother, draw less current, and require no maintenance, the trick is to find one that fits and mount it in the engine.