My passenger cars have interior lighting and the ddc says it will control lighting but how if the passenger cars are not wired to the decoder
The instructions are referring to the lights in the locomotive. As you surmised, the car lights get there juice right from the track.
Some folks, have asked in the past, about DCC voltage on the track (15 volts) and whether or not the passenger cars can handle the voltage. If you try this experiment, please let us know how it goes.
Regards,
Jonathan
(http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu146/jsnvogel/Larger%20Layout%20Photos/DSCN0372.jpg)
well what would I do about the lights in the passenger cars when I switch to dcc...will they work or burn out because of the voltage ...the first set I got says dcc on board so if there was a problem with the lights in the passenger cars running dcc why would it not say so....
My guess and it's only that, is that if i's a DCC ready set, there is a resistor of sufficient value to limit the current from the DCC 15v to the necessary voltage for the lights. Otherwise the lights are capable of handling 15v. I will venture that in the case of an other passenger car with lights you can find out what voltage the lighting is rated for and add a resistor as needed. Otherwise you are looking at replacing the lighting with 15v capable lamps.
ok the acela says dcc ready so that means that it has the plug for the decoder ...so are the lights in those pass. cars also capable of dcc
The passenger cars, could be wired for DCC, but when you place the decoder in the locomotive it will only control the locomotive and not the passenger cars. The passenger cars would require a separate decoder and for you to hard wire the lights to the decoder, and would entail a lot more work just to turn the lights on and off. Also, if you run this set on DCC there may be an increased rate in which the bulbs will burn out as opposed to standard DC. The locomotive has an 8-pin socket for the decoder, so all you would need to do is insert the decoder in the correct orientation, there usually is a number or color corresponding to one of the pin holes indicating which way is correct.
thanks for the info...just one more question ... will the Acela handle 18' radius curves
No the passenger cars are way too long, they would likely derail or come uncoupled. 22" radius would be the absolute minimum, but they still will look terrible, but you don't have the option of running them on 30+ inch curves.
For the most part, the cars will light on DCC. You should have a 5 amp booster.
If a reversing section is too short for the loco and passenger cars. you will get a short and the booster will shut down. The complete train has to be in the reversing section.
Below is a link to some DCC lighting I found from A Google search. I would rather not give an opinion as i do not use lighted cars.
http://books.google.com/books?id=muvUGCV_3zUC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=dcc+passenger+car+lighting&source=bl&ots=vBVjv4_kvJ&sig=11F-z9R_ShG3fknJc-nQ6iOILsU&hl=en&ei=TmFvS4uvBIeY8Abnz5CEBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCsQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=dcc%20passenger%20car%20lighting&f=true
Some people use a full wave bridge rectifier, super capacitor and voltage regulator to convert the DCC to straight DC to prevent flickering.
Nothing more annoying than a passenger car with flickering lights. You need clean track at all times.
Drives the passengers crazy. I assume you have passengers in the cars and crew in the loco cab.
Miniatronics sells a kit for good constant lighting in passenger cars.
lex
Quote from: lexon on February 07, 2010, 08:27:14 PM
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Some people use a full wave bridge rectifier, super capacitor and voltage regulator to convert the DCC to straight DC to prevent flickering.
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Make sure you add a resistor to the above so that there is not too much load on the DCC booster after a shut down.
From the wheels, it should be current limiting resistor, bridge rectifier, small capacitor, voltage regulator, super capacitor, lights (LEDs or low voltage bulbs).
On another matter - Kato had some lighted passenger cars a few years back that would melt due to light bulb heat on DCC, the bulbs did not burn out.......
if the set comes dcc equipped how could there be problem with the lights...
Quote from: full maxx on February 08, 2010, 12:21:38 AM
if the set comes dcc equipped how could there be problem with the lights...
Your first question.
"My passenger cars have interior lighting and the ddc says it will control lighting but how if the passenger cars are not wired to the decoder"
You asked the question in the first post. I guess you will just have to try it and find out. This has nothing to do with the decoder in the engine. There are pickups on the wheels of the cars.
lex
what I meant is , is it possible for the lights to over heat on dcc vs dc as suggested above
Quote from: full maxx on February 08, 2010, 12:45:30 AM
what I meant is , is it possible for the lights to over heat on dcc vs dc as suggested above
It is possible, I've seen it happen, but it dependent on several variables. Also, it takes a lot of juice to run a full lighted passenger set and on DCC they are more sensitive and may flicker more (like someone said earlier I think).
the dcc should be here today but all I have is the double oval so far...gonna expand soon tho, so we will only be running one engine at a time for now...I need a couple of switches and there are no #6 left on ebay right now and I also need to build an addition to the table to make it bigger to accept the additional track
well dcc hook up and the lights in the pass. cars do flicker and the bulbs do get hot so I need to figure out a cure for this...maybe the resistors like mentioned above
concerning the Acela Express w/o a decoder...can it be ran as #10 on ez command with out damage, I have read that older locos will not take the track power from the ddc system but it is dcc ready as in it just needs a decoder plugged in or should it not be ran w/o a decoder
You can run it on address 10, but do not leave it idling for more than a minute, or run it for a extremely long period of time as it may also cause the motor to overheat.
I found this thread helpful (in combination with a couple calls to Bachmann USA (215)-533-1600) and thought a summation might help:
The current ACELA kit is a DCC "A" (powered) Unit and a dumb "B" (non-powered) Unit with three cars: Club, Business and First Class.
When run with the "out of the box" DC Controller ALL lights respond to throttle input as do both the "A" and "B" Unit Head and Ditch lights. "A" and "B" Head lights also change from white to red according to direction of travel. All this is due to the voltage/current on the rail and the polarity of the rails.
On a DCC track the behavior is: The "A" Unit is the only piece where the lights will recognize the DCC "Function 10" and reverse of direction. Club, Business and First Class cars interior lights will ALWAYS be on as the track is always "hot". "B" Unit Head and Ditch lights will NEVER come on as they are not connected to ANY DCC module (and therefore know nothing about "Function 10").
On any DCC layout I'd think cutting power at the wall outlet (or the equivalent) when not in use would be advisable or else the rails will stay "hot" pushing up the electric bill and presenting the potential for inadvertent cross-rail shorts.
maxx-
You can put an inexpensive, non-motion control decoder in your passenger cars to control their lights. One decoder will be needed per car unless you will keep the cars forever coupled in which case one decoder will work for the whole shebang. Just wire the lights together between cars. If you connect the power pick-ups as well you can eliminate problems with flickering lights as you'll have many pick-ups spread over a long distance. If you decide to use individual decoders in your cars, use the same address for each and you'll be able to turn the whole train on and off with a single signal. (Sorry.)
You'll pull a lot of power if you connect all of your cars together using one decoder, maybe enough to exceed the decoder's output. This would be most likely with incandescent lights but I can imagine eight or nine cars with three to five LEDs each also nearing a decoder's capacity. If that's the case (do the math with your decoder and lights or experiment) you can use one decoder per three or four cars instead. Having fewer cars wired together will also make handling them a little easier when you must remove them from the railroad.
-- D