The other night I took one of my trusty SD-7's to a club layout. Before I went, I double checked to see that the decoder was set to allow for DC. it was. when placed on the DC layout, it was not possible to detect the loco in the block. I was told that DCC engines sometimes do not pull enough current to be detected. I had another engine, DC only, that ran just fine, so it was a good evening of running trains. Afterwards, I am now thinking that if I had a small resistor in my pocket, that I could place across the tracks when attempting to have the DC layout acquire my loco, the increased current load would trick it into working. Your thoughts?
You could use a resistor wheelset on one of your cars if more current is required to detect your train.
Pardon my ignorance. Is the DC system supposed to recognize the decoder'd engine? or is an occunacy detector supposed to "see" it? DC won't see the anything including the DC engine. It will just run because the current coming through the rails is what it needs to move. Your DCC engine may not have run because the club's power system may have a pulsed output. Decoders don't respond well if at all to pulsed DC. That's because they run on pulsed power but the pulses have a digital meaniung. Since the decoder cannot interpret the DC pulse, it operates exactly as it should and stays put. When the throtttle is turned way up and the pulse dissappears, it will move- fast. Martin Myers
Thanks for the replies. I "think" the club setup identifies/acquires the "load" (current/engine)in the block you tell it to.(you type in the block number then it senses the loco, then gives you a green light to proceed) it then can follow your travels as you travel from block to block. I did not think to ask if it is "pulsed DC"
Sounds like their system applies a low voltage (not enough to move a DC loco) to the track and checks for current flow to detect occupancy. A decoder's electronics probably wouldn't pass any noticeable current at such low volts, hence the non-detection. Odd system though - isn't there an override so you can tell it to give a green regardless?
