 | | DCC slowing? —John C. Moore
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| | | I have a question abuot DCC. I was first exposed to DCC at our last LUG meeting where some of the motors had been modified. They were running 2 motors on the track on different channels. Then we placed the two motors on the same channel and placed (...) (21 years ago, 13-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Rob Hendrix
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| | | | | Were you running any cars with gray wheelsets behind your locomotive? The gray wheelsets have a few known problems, and can make a train come to a halt after a few runs around a track. It normally takes a few hours, but the heavier the cars, the (...) (21 years ago, 13-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —David Koudys
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| | | | | (...) I say it's the overheating. When rtlToronto did NMRA a few weeks back, there were a few engines running for most of the weekend. I got stupid and put 8-10 cars behind one of my locos and, after about an hour, it started slowing down and then (...) (21 years ago, 13-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Mark Riley
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| | | | | Perhaps the speed of the two motors was mismatched for one reason or another. This would cause the two motors to generate more heat (because they're pushing or pulling against one another) and lead to a possible overheating situation. I've read (...) (21 years ago, 13-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Brian B. Alano
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| | | | | | Thanks for the reply, Mark. (...) Both motors had Digitrax DN121 decoders (...) I don't think the DN121 has this. (...) Both had the factory default speed tables. We ran both motors without loads (okay, 1 had a bumper on it) around the loop, and the (...) (21 years ago, 13-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.org.us.indylug)
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| | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Randall Crabtree
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| | | | | | "Brian B. Alano" <throwaway@insightbb.com> wrote in message news:HJKpvH.1IqC@lugnet.com... (...) over-heating. Also the bottoms of 10025 and 10022 seem to rub. I've had to replace some plates so i made them tiles... Randall Lee Crabtree (...) (21 years ago, 14-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.org.us.indylug)
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| | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Ross Crawford
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| | | | | (...) What was supplying the power to the track? An RCX or a commercial DCC controller? If an RCX running LDCC, it may have been the RCX over heating. ROSCO (21 years ago, 14-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Mark Peterson
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| | | | | | (...) The track was powered by a RCX. Also we only had 1 engine running and experienced this problem. mark (21 years ago, 14-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —James Powell
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| | | | | | | (...) Snip (...) Yes, I have experienced this. I'd suspect overheating- what were the room conditions? I had it happen at LLCA in 2000- ~30C (reasonably hot), and largish trains (5-10 cars). The best solution I could come up with was not to run the (...) (21 years ago, 14-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Brian B. Alano
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| | | | | | | | (...) At the Indianpolis LEGO Road Show this past Friday, we ran the same layout as John referred to at the top of this thread. All the heavy locos that ran the outer loop experienced the exact same symptoms as he mentioned above, to the point where (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.org.us.indylug)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —John C. Moore
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| | | | | | | | | (...) I was thinking that as long as we are modifying the motors in a manner to perform better, I was looking at the possible places we could open the motor box to allow ventilation for the motor. Perhaps we could cut a hole on the bottom directly (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Brian B. Alano
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) After we cleaned the tracks with steel wool, disassembled them, transported them to the road show and reassembled them, the coupler magnets still picked up a copious amount of steel wool fibers. I certainly wouldn't want to get *that* stuff (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Larry Pieniazek
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| | | | | | | | | | | Good info here... however... (...) Deep links end in .jpg or .gif or whatever the file type is, and give the real location of the file, they do not end in .cgi parameters. You need to click through one more time to get the deep link value. Hope that (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Rob Hendrix
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | (...) Mine either! How DARE these people cut, hack, and mod their LEGO!!!! (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —John Gerlach
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (...) You'd prefer they leave that job to you? *grin* JohnG, GMLTC fut ??? (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Larry Pieniazek
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | (...) Ya. Leave it to YOU to do that, right? (just everyone wait to see what Rob and I are cooking up... I'm going to make sure I have plausible deniability on any actual brickmods though... "it wasn't me, honest! It was ROB!" ) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Brian B. Alano
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| | | | | | | | | | | | (...) Oops. Sorry. Didn't know what I was doing. Anyway, the folder is public now... (21 years ago, 23-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —James Trobaugh
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| | | | | | | | | | | (...) Steel wool? Wow! I would think that would be a bit harsh on LEGO track and I can imagine lots of fibers getting caught on the studs of the ties as well. I found that using a small dab of Brasso on a cloth rag and running it down the rails (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Brian B. Alano
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| | | | | | | | | | | | (...) Neither my idea nor my track :) It worked, though. (...) Sounds like an excellent idea. (21 years ago, 23-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Ross Crawford
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| | | | | | | | | | | (...) I think this has been mentined before and I wish LEGO made the train motors like this! Oh well, maybe one day. Another option for the lead to the decoder is to take a standard 9V lead with 2x2 end, slice the conductors on the bottom in half, (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Brian B. Alano
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| | | | | | | | | | | | (...) Yup. What's your opinion of the best place for the wires to exit the case? Either side of the accessory connector? Out the front? (...) and most do (...) (21 years ago, 23-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Ross Crawford
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| | | | | | | | | | | | (...) Hmmmm not sure, never tried this. Possibly remove the existing wires, and try to fit 4 thinner wires out where the 2 currently exit. The standard wire is probably heavier than necessary, another case of LEGO over-engineering (in a good way!). (...) (21 years ago, 23-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Mark Riley
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| | | | | | | | | | | | (...) a (...) Indeed, you should see the way my 5 year old liked to tug the wires off the motors and battery boxes - good thing they use heavy cable and a strain relief! He knows better now. :-) Mark (21 years ago, 23-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —John C. Moore
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| | | | | | | | | | (...) I was thinking that one could make the seal with a thin foam gasket to allow air to still move somewhat freely (...) I was thinking of this as well...just a matter of finding such an item. (...) Sounds good to me! I did some testing on my (...) (21 years ago, 25-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Brian B. Alano
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| | | | | | | | (not really replying to my own post, but adding the 2 cents of Robert Miles and my reply to him...) (...) This does explain exactly why the long, heavy trains had such trouble on the curves, and why the banked curve in particular would be (...) (21 years ago, 23-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Chris Phillips
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| | | | | | | | (...) During the DCC conversion described by Tom Cook, there is some kind of semiconductor that gets removed from the train motor. I wonder if this component is somehow responsible for preventing excessive current in the motor windings? Judging from (...) (21 years ago, 23-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Ludo Soete
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| | | | | | | | <SNIP> (...) Hi Chris and all others, If you open a Lego train motor, you'll find there 3 electrical components in it. First, and largest part, is the motor itself, second is a 'black cilindrical' piece witch is placed in parallel with the motor (...) (21 years ago, 23-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —John C. Moore
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| | | | | | (...) Is it possible we may have in some manner damaged the RCX, the motors or the decoders when we had the steel wool flame-up? Prior to placing my train on the track the track was cleaned with steel wool and the power to the track was accidently (...) (21 years ago, 14-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Brian B. Alano
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| | | | | | (...) I think the RCXs are okay, as they're internally protected against shorts. Don't know what a brief short might do to a decoder/motor, though. The current has to get through the decoder before it can get to the motors, and the decoder regulates (...) (21 years ago, 14-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —Frank Filz
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| | | | | | (...) The short should not affect the motors or decoders. A short will suck most of the current through the short instead of the proper load. Of course an intermitent short might cause voltage spikes that could damage the decoder (but would be (...) (21 years ago, 14-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | Re: DCC slowing? —John Hill
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| | | | I wonder if this is a caused by low track voltage? The DCC decoder does not put a steady voltage to the motor but rather pulses the motor with the duration of the pulses increasing for increasing speed. Although the motors are no doubt vulnerable to (...) (21 years ago, 25-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
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