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So a few friends gather--talk of DCC comes up. Well, I just happen to have a
DCC compiled RCX in my dufflebag and 3 converted LEGO motors (with engines that
look remarkably similar to mine--oh wait, they were mine...)
So we set up an impromtu layout demonstrating the wonders of LDCC (again, thanks
Mark) and we play for a bit...
Then Derek says, “Well, isn’t this AC in the tracks?”
Well, this I do not know, but me thinks it’s pseudo AC, but whatever, what do I
know?
So Derek gets the great idea that mayhaps we could finally do a true
back-loop--looping the track back into itself.
So with paper insulators between the track tabs, Derek proceeds to fry my RCX.
Well, not really. Actually the reverse loop worked surprisingly well, except
everytime the actual train motor would cross the insulated part of the
track--then there would be a brief short in the track as one set of wheels is on
one polarity, and the other set is on the reverse polarity.
Not liking that, I get home, take two straight pieces of track I have kicking
around, cut the metal such that there is a non-conductive gap just the length of
the two wheelsets. Then I proceed to make a double reverse loop setup in my
living room (get pics up hopefully tomorrow).
Let me tell you something--works mostly flawlessly. Yes there are a few
quirks--when the motor is going superslow, it basically stops on the insulated
gap--momentum carries it thru to the other polarized rails, but the chip seems
to take a half second to realize it has to go again--the light picks up
instantaneously, but the motor doesn’t start driving again for a brief moment.
At medium speeds, for the most part, you barely notice a shudder in the train as
it crosses the gap--the train has a tougher time with the switches, but that’s
nothing unusual.
At very high speeds, sometimes around the corner the wheelset on the inner rails
lifts off and therefore loses communication anyways and pauses--has nothing to
do with the gap.
But watching the train go around these reverse loops continously is much fun.
Again, caution about the wiriing--it has to be right or there’ll be shorts
and/or big dead spots b/w the switch and the insulated section. As well, the
best place to put an insulated section is amongst a long straight section--if
you do it around corners or right after the arm of hte switch, the motor has
difficulty about half the time on medium speeds.
Anyway, was fun playing with it.
More to come :)
Dave K
Sparky’s Space--Where Sparky has his Space...
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Message has 3 Replies:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Woo Hoo!!!!! (part deux...)
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| In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Mark Riley wrote: <snip> (...) Well, after a few hours of "extensive tests"... I have come to the following conclusion-- This is the greatest thing since LEGO came out with 9v trains and the RCX. Forget the track cleaner (...) (21 years ago, 31-May-03, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, lugnet.trains)
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