I am in the process of finally working on a 2-6-0 I bought awhile back. I checked an old Model Railroader review that stated it only drew .88 Amps stalled at 20 volts and .14 Amps running freely at 20 volts. Has anyone had a chance to verify this; it will really help in decoder selection.
Thanks,
Jim
Locomotives may vary. Why not buy an inexpensive meter from Radio Shack and measure for yourself?
I'd go with at least a 2 amp continuous rated decoder. Never underestimate the lack of cooling of a board in a sealed tender or loco boiler.
Regards, Greg
I've put NCE 1.3 cont./2.0 max decoders in a number of big haulers, two Porters, and a 2 truck Shay without any problems, including some brief stalls that didn't blow the decoders. This is pulling 4-5 cars on flat track with a layout including 5' diam. curves. That said, I have a master switch to the track I throw pretty quickly if I have a problem so I can't say whether the decoder would blow if I left a loco stalled for long.
The continuous draw per train is between .4 and .6 amps at 14V measured using the PowerCab built in ampmeter.
I used these decoders based on measuring a stall current of less than 2 amps, but in retrospect my measurements may not have been correct because I think the voltage dropped with the power supply I was using. But, at $16 a decoder, they're a good deal for flat track and a limited number of cars.
I can't say whether my decoders are getting hot but I've run trains continuously for a couple of hours without any problems. I did install them such that they're getting as much air as possible - e.g. didn't pack them in foam.