Went DCC say around 2 months ago. Small E-Z from Bachmann and 1 amp of power. The E-Z will run 3 BLI's with sound with no problem when it is working right but on start up I have stall after stall after stall. With DC and a MRC 9500 I did not have the problem. Is DCC more pron to have this problem? Plus all my DCC engines are BLI Steamers 4-8-4, 4-6-4 and 2-8-2.
Rails have feeders about every 8 feet and worked fine when I first went DCC.
1 What about the brass tracking cleaning car's? Hard to reach the rails on the back side.
2 Best way to clean BLI steamers wheels? I have ran them of a heavy paper towel with acid a tone. Have used 600 grit paper and bright boy's with them on there backs as well. Other ideas?
3 Brass track cleaning cars?
Ken
I hate Rust
cudaken wrote: Went DCC say around 2 months ago. Small E-Z from Bachmann and 1 amp of power. The E-Z will run 3 BLI's with sound with no problem when it is working right but on start up I have stall after stall after stall. With DC and a MRC 9500 I did not have the problem. Is DCC more pron to have this problem? Plus all my DCC engines are BLI Steamers 4-8-4, 4-6-4 and 2-8-2. Rails have feeders about every 8 feet and worked fine when I first went DCC. 1 What about the brass tracking cleaning car's? Hard to reach the rails on the back side. 2 Best way to clean BLI steamers wheels? I have ran them of a heavy paper towel with acid a tone. Have used 600 grit paper and bright boy's with them on there backs as well. Other ideas? 3 Brass track cleaning cars? Ken
DCC operation must have good contact or you will have problems. You have mentioned more than once the Brass track cleaning cars. Do you have brass track??
If you are using brass track, you can expect problems with DCC for sure unless you can solve the oxide problem with brass.
No Cazephyr, my track is nickel code 100. Cleaning car that K-10 Train is brass.
I am dumb, but not that dumb.
Running fine for now again Cuda Ken
I dont think 1 amp is enough power for 3 sound equipped locos tbh!
Do you still get probs with just 1 loco?
If not, theres your answer!
1 amp is not enough.
You probably can run em but wont get far with them.
Brass track is bad. Nickel Silver is good.
Plastic wheels bad. Metal Wheels good on all your rolling stock.
Easy on those driving wheels with the steamers. I have not yet touched anything to my BLI steam drive wheels and they run fine.
Oil them up, check the nuts and bolts, look for drive rod binding or other trouble.
Clean that track. There are a variety of ideas on these forums regarding track cleaning.
Check each and all your track joints and switches.
Are your engines stalling in one specific spot every time, does each of your engines show a similar behavior at one spot or does every one have a fit anyway?
Assuming you are not trying to run more than one engine with another engine are you using insulated couplers between the units? They would fight each other for sure if you had a pure metal kaydee between em, My M1a and J1 did that once, it was a sight to behold.
Im half tempted to run up my 4 BLI F7's at once and read the amperage output at the power supply (Digitrax 2012) today.
All track needs to be clean or nearly so.
Are you simply having dirty track or are you shorting something somewhere? Like maybe crossing a switch frog? Are you hearing beeps and seeing shutdowns from your system?
You'll get lots of comments on cleaning track vs. using metal polish.
Personally I use a Clean Machine from Tony's, with acetone (is that what you mean by "acid a tone"?) I ususally run it once, then replace the pad and clean its wheels and run it a second time.
And don't use any sort of abrasive on wheels, especially drivers. I find Q-tips dipped in acetone do just great. And yes, replace any plastic wheels -- they're gunk magnets!
Some folks don't like acetone (it's a great solvent, but is not friendly to lungs, etc., so if you use it, be sure you have good ventilation.) Rubbing alcohol is good.
But whatever you do, clean everything at once. If you clean the track and engines, then run a train with some dirty car wheels, you'll have dirty track again in a New York minute!
Environments vary, and so will the need for cleaning. And the more often you run trains, the less you should have to clean. I just finished cleaning everything, for the first time in about two years (except for areas where I got paint or glue on the track). But I've got a pretty clean room, temperature controlled, with only metal wheels. A previous layout about 100 feet from the beach in central Florida (some of the most corrosive air anywhere) had to be cleaned every few weeks. And there, the polish was no help.
First I have two lines A and B, A is still DCC and running PK2 BL2's with the MRC 9500. B line is the DCC line and just Steamers. I still have yet to have to clean the DC A line or the wheels of the PK2 BL2's.
I will have to check, but I am 99% sure all the rolling stock has PK2 wheels now.
Right now the engine that is having the problem is the BLI Class J and 80% of the problem happens on one section that is around 12 feet long. I run a bright boy over that section and the problem seems to go away till the next day.
Well, I just tried the J by it self, same thing stall's. I am going to clean the wheels and see what happens. When ever thing is working right the small 1 AMP seems to do just fine so I don't think lack of power is the problem.
What is a "Clean Machine from Tony's"?
But the main question is why I have not had a problem with the A DC line and DCC needs more cleaning, same bench and same temp. Never had to clean the B either till I went DCC?
Time for bed with visons of Big Boy's dancing in my head.
cudaken wrote: First I have two lines A and B, A is still DCC and running PK2 BL2's with the MRC 9500. B line is the DCC line and just Steamers. I still have yet to have to clean the DC A line or the wheels of the PK2 BL2's. I will have to check, but I am 99% sure all the rolling stock has PK2 wheels now. Right now the engine that is having the problem is the BLI Class J and 80% of the problem happens on one section that is around 12 feet long. I run a bright boy over that section and the problem seems to go away till the next day. Well, I just tried the J by it self, same thing stall's. I am going to clean the wheels and see what happens. When ever thing is working right the small 1 AMP seems to do just fine so I don't think lack of power is the problem. What is a "Clean Machine from Tony's"? But the main question is why I have not had a problem with the A DC line and DCC needs more cleaning, same bench and same temp. Never had to clean the B either till I went DCC? Time for bed with visons of Big Boy's dancing in my head. Ken
After some thinking I ask you this:
Why not two wires to the track with a feeder set every several feet. Have one power bus to feed all of your feeders. Have your DCC and DC powerpacks behind a switch where you can flip from one to another? Or better yet just establish a Analog address of 00 on your DCC and run your DC engines? (The ones without decoders etc)
When you use the words "I have two lines" I dont know if you refer to two seperate loops of track isolated from each other or... each of your power packs have wiring going to the track. or... a combination of both.
Makes it very difficult to answer these forum questions without actually standing over that stalling J Engine and watching the durn thing at your home.
Safty, they are isolated lines from each other. A and B have there own bus'es. There are turn outs that will let the engines go from A too B and I have used plactic joiners where they hook up. There are two reason's I have not made a switch where I can go from DC to DCC so both lines would run off DCC.
1 Not sure if the 1 amp supply would power another 90 feet of track.
2 A line is on the edge of the bench, had a GS-4 take the leap of death ($79.99) sure don't want an BLI too go SPLAT! All my DCC engines are BLI's.
I think I have a idea as to what is cuasing the dead spots, arching of the wheels. My rails are lined up well so there are no derails, but there are spots that have slight dips. With the longer wheels base of the steamers I guessing the center wheels are not making great contact and causing a small arch.
Reason I don't want to run the DC engines on DCC is the hum they make drive me nuts.
Cuda Ken
cudaken wrote:>>>> snip <<<< What is a "Clean Machine from Tony's"? >>>> snip <<<<
>>>> snip <<<<
http://www.tonystrains.com/products/tteexclusive_cmx.htm