i ran an engine around the track and noticed the headlight flickering and at a few places it would slow down to almost a crawl. How can I fix these issues. Ho scale DCC
Two questions:
Wiping down your track with a lint-free cloth and some 70% or 91% alcohol should take care of the flickering problem. The slowing down could be due to too few feeders or faulty rail joiners not making good conductivity with your track and your DCC system.
You might also want to check to see how clean the wheel pickups are on your locomotive. Sometimes lint or dirt can get wedged between the pickups and the wheels; giving you poor or spotty conductivity to your motor.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Wheels get dirty too.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Ugh - Can't believe I forgot to include that one, Henry.
If cleaning... or gleaming... the problem areas doesn't work or isn't convenient, I would strongly consider installing at least a small keepalive. I note the OP does not complain that there is crippling dropout or LOS of the DCC signal indication, so continuous voltage drop in the track voltage reaching the decoder but not either arcing noise or complete dropouts might be in the differential diagnosis.
I've got one or two spots on the layout where the train stops. =-(
I will preface my comments by saying I'm not a DCC person. (run DC block control) However, I agree that it sounds like the power/signal just isn't reaching those spots. The more feeders you put on you tracks the better. (i'd imagine that works the same for DCC as DC.) One almost can never have too many feeders. (I will admit one every 6" is probably too much but you get the idea.) If you can reach those spots, with the power OFF, check your rail with the ohms setting on an electrical tester. That setting checks for resistance. If there is not continuity or not a full reading, something isn't connected completely or at all.
Outsailing86I've got one or two spots on the layout where the train stops. =-(
1. Consider soldering some or all the rail joints in these sections.
2. Read some of the threads on track gleaming that have appeared here over the years (go to the Community Search bar and try a few combinations of terms to get started). What this calls for is good 'lining and surfacing' of the rail running surfaces (railhead around the gauge corner to the inside flange face) and then careful shaping, cleaning, and polishing of the railhead followed by burnishing.
The idea is to get things as clean and electrically conductive as possible, throughout the running surfaces. A fringe benefit will be smoother guiding and running of engines and cars.
I'd agree with the general principle of dropping a feeder wherever you find you have a dead or intermittent spot after you've cleaned and prepped the track. But adding feeders to dirty or poorly-aligned trackwork won't solve much.
Outsailing86 I've got one or two spots on the layout where the train stops. =-(
If the locomotive runs everywhere else, then it's the track.
If it's the track, it's a continuity problem.
If it's a continuity problem, it could be dirt, it being a barrier, or poor mechanical connections from power to the rails.
If it's dirty tracks, or tires, you can clean those. Might be time.
If it's poor mechanical connections, improve them, or make more of them. Sometimes, all it takes is robustly attaching a pair of feeder wires to the rail segment where the train stops reliably.
Sometimes, all it takes is improving the supporting surface under the rails if the rails are allowed to sag under the weight of the locomotive. Joints that are unsupported will sag, and the sagging action splays them and introduces contaminants, even if human skin fragments.
Look, you HAVE TO enjoy this hobby...or you'll quit eventually. Unfortunately for some, it means work. It means brainwork, it means determination, it means doggedness, it means learning. But, with a modicum of those, you can have a ton of fun operating trains reliably.
Add keep alive to your loco's and cars. No cleaning will fix small dirt patches. Keep alive is the best.
Depending on the duty cycle/frequency of the filckering, you could add a sufficiently large electrolytic capacitor between the positive headlight wire and ground.
-Matt