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Test ran my first locomotive - kind of a bummer.
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[quote]QUOTE: <i>Originally posted by dinwitty</i> <br /><br />DCC is technically AC on the tracks, perhaps a higher frequency than AC, it carries the power as well as using the AC (digital signals) as information to the decoder.[/quote] <br /> <br />I do not believe that this is correct, although it is a common misconception. DCC is a square wave, which is not an Alternating Current (AC) signal "technically". Alternating Current is a sine wave. <br /> <br />The DCC square wave allows both for signalling the decoder and providing the voltage the decoder converts to DC to actually run the motor. <br /> <br />When you operate a DCC system on Address 00, I believe that it causes the system to stretch the length of the square wave to more closely approximate DC voltage. But it is not pure DC, so the motor performs poorly. <br /> <br />[quote]QUOTE: You can really have only ONE non DCC loco on the tracks but the motor is getting ALL the current as if it was running on DC all the time.[/quote] <br /> <br />Actually, you can have multiple DC locos on the DCC track at once being operated on Address 00, just as you can have multiple DC locos on one DC track at once. But they will all speed up or slow down at the same time, just as they would on a DC track without blocks. It doesn't make sense to do this, but it could be done. <br /> <br />DCC is powerful, but a little complex, so we should be careful to be precise about the information we give to newcomers. Some good sources: <br />http://www.tonystrains.com/tonystips/dccprimer/index.htm <br />www.wiringfordcc.com <br />http://www.nmra.org/standards/DCC/index.html <br /> <br />Based on my experience, it makes a lot of sense to buy an inexpensive traditional power pack to test run DC locos on a separate loop or test track rather than trying to run them on Address 00. This gives you a clear picture of how the motor runs on DC (which is what it will receive from the decoder when it is installed) and allows for some break-in before installing the decoder. I've found that this helps isolate any troubles a lot faster, because you can find marginal motors and other problems before installing decoders without wondering if the bad performance is caused by the Address 00 issues. <br /> <br />Jon
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