Ok maybe the title caught your attention, I have some up coming weathering projects that need to be done on some steam locomotives and some may or may not have read in other psts. It was suggested to me to put power to the locomotives to spin the drivers so when I spray them with the air brush yo get full coverage. I've got a few idea's on how to build a jig of sorts to handle this task but my question is can I power it with DC without hurting my decoders? Granted the locomotive should only be running now more then a minute or two at the most but that guy Murphy likes to live in my basement so every time I think nothing can go wrong he pops up and proves me wrong.
So yes or no can I power it with an old DC power supply?
http://www.micromark.com/HO-and-On30-LOCOMOTIVE-ROLLERS-ASSEMBLED-SET-OF-4,8274.html
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Cheaper if you assemble them.
http://www.micromark.com/HO-and-On30-LOCOMOTIVE-ROLLERS-KIT-UNASSEMBLED-SET-OF-4,8380.html
Gil
Where ever you go, there you are !
Most decoders will work on DC as well as DCC. If you have already programmed your decoder you may have disabled its DC operation. If so, you will have to reprogram it by setting the CFG to allow DC ops. Easy to do and no problem.
As an alternative you can use wires with alligator clips to provide DCC power from your track to the loco. That is a cheap and easy solution.
Personally, I would disassemble the engine and paint the parts separately.
Typically when I weather an engine with my air brush It's fully assembled and operational. I thought about those rollers from Micromark but I think that possible after prolonged use the paint is going to find it's way into those little bearings and cause problems . Unless they are sealed bearings I'll have to look into it.
Right now where I do my painting I do not have DCC near the spray both hence my reason for powering a length of track or clip power leads right on to the tender trucks or where ever the pick ups are and spin em with an old dc power supply.