In fact NO! I have 3 of those and use them witout a decoder on my DCC layout... And I do not have any problems at all.
Paul: You can run your track cleaning car without a decoder if you set the track voltage between 11-11.5v on your command station. Stay cool and run steam.....
I want to get one of these cleaning cars.. but I was thinking instead of a decoderr, a full wave retifier bridge and a 79L12 voltage regulator... Anybody try this?
Instead of the regulator, maybe you should think about just installing a dropping diode? As I understand DCC, the track voltage is a constant square wave of varying frequency and waveform length. If the voltage isn't all that much higher than what you need, here's what I'd do: 1. Install a full-wave bridge rectifier. Install it and check the voltage to the car. The bridge rectifier will give you a 1.2 volt drop by itself. If it's close to what they call for, you'll be fine. "12 volts" for trains is really 9 to 14 volts on the track, as that's what you can see on a DC system during normal operations. 2. If the voltage is just a couple of volts too high, I'd install a couple of diodes in series. You get 0.6 volts drop per diode. 3. If you've got more than a couple of volts to deal with, THEN I'd look at installing the regulator. The regulator wants at least a few volts drop to operate properly. Hope this helps. Mark in Utah
