We have an H0 modular group on display at a local mall. One of the operators always changes his DCC engines out every hour so they won't "get too hot." Is this reasonable? probably does save wear and tear since he has several engines anyway. can you run a DCC engine too long? We used to have a DC display and we ran that engine 7-9 hours a day with no problem. Thanks in advance for the ideas and opinions.
Hi I have run DCC N scale locomotives (non sound) for 3 to 4 hours without an issue. I usually try to vary the trains I run on the track. Uusually two to three I can swap from time to time by using interchange tracks. Also run two trains on the same track same direction when the crowds are not too big! My biggest issue is reliability of the loco mechanisms themselves. Regards,
That's interesting - I usually do the same thing on my display layout as your DCC operator does, only I run straight DC. I had a bad experience with a loco trying to run it 8 hours once and decided 1-2 hours was enough and started rotating locos every hour or so. Have no idea if it's necessary or not or if it was just that one loco.
Overheating is a function of two things, excessive resistance and poor conductivity. DCC decoders only really heat up when the connection is poor from the decoder to the motor leads. The reason is they try to pull more current to overcome the poor connection. As an example: Using a Kato F3 DCC ready locomotive, the decoder is just held in and all contact is made by the little gray button. This is a pressure physical connection. After 1 hour of constant running, this locomotive decoder became hot. Using another Kato F3 DCC ready locomotive, in this case the motor leads are soldered to the decoder board directly. This is a physical electrical connection. After 1 hour the decoder was slightly warm, and after three hours the temperature of the decoder was still slightly warm. Excessive resistance would have to do with the mechanism and either electrical or physical resistances or bindings. If the frames are warm from running, the decoder will be warm too, and this heat becomes additive to the heat generated by the decoder itself. If the locomotive itself is generating that much heat, it could harm the decoder. I should add that I routinely run sets of DCC locomotives on NTrak layouts for several hours at a time. Never have had any heat related decoder issues since I always solder the decoders in place.
Back at the club in Ohio we used to run one long train for the entire duration of railfair during a given year. Last two years have had my trio of genesis F3's running on DCC for about 10 hours a day for 3 days. No overheating issues. When I was still working at the hobby shop, I would bring in my DCC system (power cab pro) on my first day of the week, and run trains for about 8 hours a day for 5 days. never had any overheating issues with normal operation. Now if your running equipment with sound and at the same time lugging a heavy load, I have seen those engines get a little warm, but not hot. Usually at the club around here I swap engines every hour or so just to keep things different.
