Hi friends
I have a Roundhouse 40 Ton Critter that stalls in the turnouts. I want to install a mobile decoder with some kind of "keep live' system.
Has someone did this kind of installation?
Which one is the smallest mobile decoder with keep alive?
Thanks for the replies
Currently, the smaller decoder out there WITH keep alive built in would be TCS's KAM4 decoder ....
http://www.tcsdcc.com/public_html/Customer_Content/Products/Decoders/HO-Scale/KAM-Series/KAM-Series.htm
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
I think TCS is pretty much the only game in town for built-in keep-alive. I was at the Springfield show in January, and the TCS rep lifted the engine off the track, put it down on the flat part of the layout and it kept running for several seconds. It was a larger decoder than the KAM4, but still, it was in a Thomas.
I've got a little Bachmann 0-6-0T tank engine that's slated for a KAM4, when I get around to it.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I believe Lenz Gold decoders were the original "keep alive" version, and were on the market for a couple years before TCS's Keep Alive decoders, but whether either brand will fit into a critter is another matter.
.
Yes, but the Lenz keep alive is a seperate module that plugs in to the Gold decoders, and it pretty large. Like the first TCS keep-alives. And it's rather pricey. The new TCS decoders with keep alive built-in are in many cases the same size, just thicker, than the non-keep alive version.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
This is a good link for information about wiring your own caps. I have not tried this yet, but I also have an 0-6-0 that seems prone to dropping in DCC (pick-ups are iffy on these). I want to try this but not sure where to put the capacitors. Not much room in these once hte decoder in installed.
http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/mainnorth/alive.htm
lesklar This is a good link for information about wiring your own caps. I have not tried this yet, but I also have an 0-6-0 that seems prone to dropping in DCC (pick-ups are iffy on these). I want to try this but not sure where to put the capacitors. Not much room in these once hte decoder in installed. http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/mainnorth/alive.htm
While being a good idea for the do-it-yourselfer, you would need a fair bit of room to install a capacitor even close to doing any good. The TCS versions use the new super-caps and provide many times the capacitance in a fraction of the space. The TCS units are rated at 1 farad (the KA1 and KA2 - not sure on the built-in version). The capacitor in that article is 250 micro-farads.
One farad equals one million micro-farads, so it would take 4000 of those capacitors to equal TCS's product !
Super-caps are something else. Normally, if you need more capacitance, you wire them in parallel. The Supercaps in the TCS keep-alive are wired in series, because while they have a HUGE capacitance value, they have a very low working voltage, so multiples connected in series add voltages, allowing them to handle the rectified DCC power at the connection point. That's also why they caution on maximum track voltage - some systems push 18V to the track, or have a setting that you could put 18V or more to the track - that would be very bad with the TCS keepalive units.
Thank to everyone, but last night I made a fake "decoder" with a piece of wood in order to checke the available space and it,s impossible put a TCS KAM4 inside my critter.
I'll try to improve the electric pick up adding some kind of trailer car.
Do yo have ideas?
Best regards to all of you
topito
Why not put the TCS KAM4 in the trailer car? Then you will get additional power from the trailer wheels and the keep alive function. It is a bit of overkill perhaps but it should be able to run over your cat's tail without stopping, assuming you have a cat of course.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thanks Dave: I don't have cat, only a dog and it's a "bobtail" !!
Do you have ideas or pictures about which kind of SHORT trailer car could be?
Best regards
topito:
Lets follow this on the thread you started in General Discussion. Have a look at the post I made there.