DCC Choices: Again.


T

Tankengine389

New Member
So while working on the lamps I've resin printed for my coming model of Thomas, a thought suddenly struck me. "With the decoders, I've presently got, it'll only work on DCC." Now, while filming and modeling, this wouldn't usually be an issue. However, at some point in the near future, I would like to head to the "Thomas and his Fans" event during one of the Greenburg train shows, which previously had a sector where visitors could run their ho scale/oo gauge customs and models. And personally, I would probably do the same with the Thomas that I'm so focused on making if I ever get there. True, I could talk to people in charge and see if a DCC-only layout could be made, or form one of my own. But with the miles between my home in Southern Arizona and the train show, I can already figure that traveling there alone would be a bit pricey. So, in an attempt to not sneeze on the lovely decoders I've already purchased, I settled on the plan of making my mainly used and personal favorites of my models with the Analog compatible Decoders. I'm presently looking at one of TCS's decoders, with them without any sound, and ability with LEDs. However, with that said, will Seuthe 22 smoke unit work fine on any of them? Or Should I look at another Decoder? If I do have to look at another decoder, which one would be best for my case?
 
Check out the Railpro system by Ring Engineering and see what you think, it might work as you described.

Oh, be sure to post some pics of your project!
 
Rico said:
Check out the Railpro system by Ring Engineering and see what you think, it might work as you described.

Oh, be sure to post some pics of your project!
Click to expand...
I looked that up, it's a control system. I already have a Roco Z21. I'm looking for a decoder for the loco. (Also, excuse me if my tone seemed blunt. I don't mean for it to be so.)
 
No worries.
Sorry but I don’t have any experience with Seuthe smoke unit.
Kepp us posted on your progress!
 
EDDITED

I hope I've understood you correctly, it's a little hard reading such a mass of questions and queries all in one go, it's not a criticism but adding paragraphs helps the rest of us oldies keep track. :)

A Seuth smoke unit will work with any 4 function (and above) DCC decoder.


If it's they will only DC (which I doubt) then there's no point in you fitting a decoder, two reasons, under DC even after fitting a decoder, you only have control of the direction of travel, nothing else, and two you would have to wire the unit (and lights) to either your pick-up or motor wires, which would mean the smoke unit and lights would be permanently on.

If you wire the smoke unit directly into your pick-up or motor you will need to do two things, add a switch somewhere on your loco to switch the smoke unit on and off, secondly you need to fit a resistor so you don't burn out the smoke unit, you'll need to fit a resistor to the motor(faster the loco goes more power to the unit etc.)
Smoke units don't play well on DC as they require a lot of power, so you would have to run the loco on 1/2 or 3/4 throttle to achieve any smoke.
By adding a resistor to the motor, you can apply more power, which allows the smoke unit to work without your loco going so fast it'll derail itself.

Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
Hutch said:
What value resistor?
Click to expand...
Hutch
I've had to amend my original post.

In DC the resistor value you use is dependant on the loco itself and your controller, some controllers are 12 or 14v others higher, so you have to experiment as what will give you the best result. But I suggest using 1/4W 1k5 to start with, and go from there.
 
I'll experiment with the value. It ran at 130mA withe no resistor. I'll be surprised if it still makes smoke with 1.5K resistor. That's less than 10mA. The heat coil calculated resistance is around 92 ohms.if I was at my computer I'd show my calculations.
 
Hutch said:
I'll experiment with the value. It ran at 130mA withe no resistor. I'll be surprised if it still makes smoke with 1.5K resistor. That's less than 10mA. The heat coil calculated resistance is around 92 ohms.if I was at my computer I'd show my calculations.
Click to expand...
You are running DC correct? and are you fitting the resistor to the Motor or the Generator ?
 
Last edited:
I'm running DCC. This will be run from track voltage and a decoder controlled relay. If I find it can make smoke well below 100mA, I'll skip the relay. I'll experiment with that today.
 
Hutch said:
I'm running DCC. This will be run from track voltage and a decoder controlled relay. If I find it can make smoke well below 100mA, I'll skip the relay. I'll experiment with that today.
Click to expand...
When I experiment I just about always get smoke, even when I'm not trying! :rolleyes:
 
Hutch said:
I'm running DCC. This will be run from track voltage and a decoder controlled relay. If I find it can make smoke well below 100mA, I'll skip the relay. I'll experiment with that today.
Click to expand...
You definitely don't need the relay as you switch it on and off from the decoder.
Rico said:
When I experiment I just about always get smoke, even when I'm not trying! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
what coloured wire have you wired into, blue and ?
 
Tankengine389 said:
So while working on the lamps I've resin printed for my coming model of Thomas, a thought suddenly struck me. "With the decoders, I've presently got, it'll only work on DCC." Now, while filming and modeling, this wouldn't usually be an issue. However, at some point in the near future, I would like to head to the "Thomas and his Fans" event during one of the Greenburg train shows, which previously had a sector where visitors could run their ho scale/oo gauge customs and models. And personally, I would probably do the same with the Thomas that I'm so focused on making if I ever get there. True, I could talk to people in charge and see if a DCC-only layout could be made, or form one of my own. But with the miles between my home in Southern Arizona and the train show, I can already figure that traveling there alone would be a bit pricey. So, in an attempt to not sneeze on the lovely decoders I've already purchased, I settled on the plan of making my mainly used and personal favorites of my models with the Analog compatible Decoders. I'm presently looking at one of TCS's decoders, with them without any sound, and ability with LEDs. However, with that said, will Seuthe 22 smoke unit work fine on any of them? Or Should I look at another Decoder? If I do have to look at another decoder, which one would be best for my case?
Click to expand...
You may want to think about installing a Blunami It has all the same functions as a normal decoder but it is controlled from a cellphone app. All it needs is dc track current.
 
Update: A person from TCS got back to me and said that the decoder I was looking at can handle a smoke unit. So, I bought it, and now it's in my possession.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top