Any damage caused ?

[roythegrass]

I have a DCC layout.

I have two identical locos, one DCC and the other analogue. By mistake I placed the analogue loco on the track thinking it was the DCC model, entered the address code and naturally it didn't move and non of the sound functions worked.

I just heard a buzzing noise coming from the loco. Apart from being an old duffer the previous day I had my booster jab and was not thinking clearly.

Will I have done any damage to this analogue loco ?

Thanks

Roy

[The Doc]

People claim that you will destroy a DC motor in seconds if you apply a DCC alternating current to it, but I haven't had that experience. My layout can be switched from DC to DCC and the other day I accidentally left an old Mainline J72 on the track when i swapped from DC to DCC. It must have had at least a minutes worth of digital signal going through it. Once I realised my mistake I switched back to DC and the loco was just fine - running very smoothly (unlike most old Mainline J72s these days). Obviously it's not to be recommended but motors might be more robust than we imagine.

[morairamike]

If you don't have a 12v DC power source put a 9v battery across the main wheels one side on the +ve one side on the -ve.

If the motor is ok it will drive the wheels.

[96RAF]

When a DC loco sits on a DC track it feels + and - 15 volts alternating rapidly peak to peak at about 10 MHz. The effect of this is to apply a switching current to the motor armature coils, but as it is rapidly alternating the motor does not get a chance to turn either way, so it just sits there and vibrates and this resonance causes the tell tale buzz.

The effect of applying this constant current is to heat the motor coils and this is when the damage occurs, thus depending upon the robustness of the motor depends upon if any permanent damage is done or not.

In normal use the heating effects of full draw is negated by the motor turning and self cooling, which is why you can run a DC loco on DCC but it is still not recommended.

You can see why it is definitely not recommended to stand an analogue loco on a DCC layout for more than a few seconds as a test.

[roythegrass]

Thanks folks.

I tried with a 9v battery and the wheels stutted and move slowly.

I've just remembered I have an old analogue controller which I'll connect tomorrow. (Too cold in the garage to do now!) This is marked 19v input whereas the DCC controller is marked 15v input. Will this make any difference?

Roy

[ColinB]

By the sound of it, it wasn't on the track for that long so shouldn't be an issue. I did that with one of my locos the other day that I hadn't got round to chipping, it still works. I think it will last longer than a few seconds but I wouldn't push it. From 96RAF's description it is about the same as a loco stalling at full voltage, so not recommended. I imagine if you did damage it you should smell the dreaded burning smell from the motor.

[96RAF]

@Roy

The analogue controller uses 19v which is regulated by the speed knob to 12v max. The 19v output is on the Aux for use by accessories. The power supply for this has a different size jack plug so no chance of wrongly connecting to another controller.

Please note you must disconnect your DCC controller before connecting the Analogue unit. You must not have both connected at the same time.

[VESPA]

This brings back memories from many years ago. A friend had a Marklin trainset and I ran my 3 rail Duchess of Montrose on his track with his controller. It was a bit jerky but ran. I believe Marklin was AC then (probably still is) Another thing was I also used a Duette controler with half wave rectification, which I understand to be half AC half DC for slow control of movement. I would never dream of running new models on AC without DCC as I could imagine that they would heat up. I wonder if the older motors were better.

[roythegrass]

As RAF said the jack plugs are different sizes and I've spent hours searching for the correct transformer. Now found so will try again tomorrow.

[roythegrass]

Now up and running and the analogue loco is working perfectly. I've learnt my lesson!

Thanks to everyone for your help.

Roy