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Me being thick again!


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i have probably missed it in the 1.55 guide, but an embarassing thing happed today... A friend came who has been listening to me wittering on about the rm and elink.. He bought with him an analogue loco. 

With the select I could push 0 and away the loco would go.

With the elink?? No idea!

Help please?..

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@WTG - Many people had DC rolling stock before they switched to DCC or (like this poster) have friends with DC locos.  Many decoder manufacturers (like ESU) go to great lengths to accomodate mixed DCC and DC layouts.  So it is not unreasonable that a DCC only product like RM should at least note that this product does not support DC.  Not sure if Fishy had tongue-in-cheek, as we would soon be in the realm of Donald Rumsfeld's  "unknown unknowns"! ;-)

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WTD, Surely not, john. On a more serious note If it had not been for this forum, i would not have known that you could not run DC locos.  its also a bit confusing, as all HO Bman   are equally at home on either , but it is not recommended for hornby DCC. presume its to do with chips.

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While some DCC systems allow you to run a DC loco on a DCC system, it is never a good idea to do so because it can burn out the motor in seconds, especially if the loco is stationary.

Track voltage on DCC is on Full all the time. While your loco might not be moving, it's still getting thyat full voltage.

See Mark Gurries page on this subject. https://sites.google.com/site/markgurries/home/technical-discussions/dc-loco-on-dcc/dc-locomotive-damage-risk

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To clarify the question of interoperability between DC and DCC systems:-

Most new DCC locos or loco decoders will work on analogue (DC) layouts.  This is quite simple to achieve as the logic within the loco decoder can detect a non DCC (i.e. DC) signal coming from the track and simply diverts power directly to the motor.  This is why DCC locos will run  nice and smoothly on DC layouts and have no adverse affects on other locos, or the layout generally.

Running analogue (DC) locos on a DCC layout however, is a completely different ball-game.  Since the track is energised for DCC control, pulses are sent within the track voltage, which are picked up by DCC locos.  Where an analogue loco is introduced it, in effect, causes a very mild short circuit, which is why you hear the motor in the loco buzzing and this can affect the DCC signal running throughout all track on the layout.  Analogue locos on DCC track are not a good idea as they can interfere with the DCC signal.  The more DCC-enabled locos and devices present on a layout the more likelihood of problems arising by introducing an analogue loco.

This is why the eLink does not support analogue locos at all.  It is a completely digital system and therefore is capable of running many more locos and devices than a normal DCC controller.  Things need to be kept reliable and the use of analogue locos on a DCC computer-controlled layout can reduce reliability and are not recommended.

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