I guess it depends on the engine it's installed in and the track it runs on. If you've got a 6-axle diesel with all-wheel pickup and well-laid track with plenty of feeder wires and soldered rail joiners, you might not need a keep-alive capacitor at all. On the other hand, if you're running a two-axle Dockside, and you've got Atlas Customline turnouts with unpowered frogs, then the biggest capacitor you can squeeze in is what you want.
Of course, what I'm saying is that you need a big capacitor if the engine is small enough that you don't have room for one.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
calldrin Is there any advantage to increasing the "stay alive" capacitor on the Digitrax SDH164D decoder? If so how large have you tried? I know Lenz decoders us a large stay alive circuit and would like to use the SDH164D because it has sound. Thanks, Chuck Chico, CA
Is there any advantage to increasing the "stay alive" capacitor on the Digitrax SDH164D decoder?
If so how large have you tried?
I know Lenz decoders us a large stay alive circuit and would like to use the SDH164D because it has sound.
Thanks,
Chuck
Chico, CA
There can be an advantage but also a disadvantage for reading back. Some DCC systems act up with larger stay alive caps. Stay alive is not plug and play but experimenting quite often.
Store the below link as you will need it. Read everything.
http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/mainnorth/alive.htm
Clean track, wipers, wheels can solve most of the issues. All wheel pickup is an advantage. Not LOOKs CLEAN but has been cleaned.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.