I know most of you have been here before but…After quite a few years running DC block controlled I’ve just run my first train on a DCC track. I purchased a MRC Prodigy Advance system a few weeks ago which has just arrived and ran a Fleischmann Digital train on it which I’ve had in storage for a few months. WOW!!! Speed control is brilliant from a barely crawling to top speed, lights on/off with direction… What impressed me most was the inertia control. Must remember now that trains do actually take a little while to stop.
Inertia in DCC is independent of the type of mechanicals the locohas, and can be configured to be stronger than any flywheel you could possibly cram into the loco. ANd the REALLY cool part, starting inertia can be completely different than stopping inertia since each is controlled by a seperate CV.
If no flywheel is needed with DCC then the manufacturers could leave then out, correct? Then there could be more wieght in N-scale locos resulting in more pulling power, yes?
The flywheels themselves are pretty heavy. I guess they could gain a little more weight because lead is heavier then brass. (I don’t know much about newer N stuff)
I could be wrong about this, but I think the flywheel is a necessary part of the drivetrain, whether controlled by DC or DCC. The amount of ‘momentum’ that the flywheel provides is miniscule with respect to what things look like in operation. The flywheel is critical to helping smooth the train operation as it traverses voltage ups and downs, which still exist in DCC (although in different ways than in DC).
I’ve got an IHC SD24 with no flywheel that runs OK. I also have a newer Bachman GP35 DCC without flywheel that runs nice and smooth. I guess they’re not really necessary, but they do help.
No, you haven’t joined the dark side. You have walked into the light.
Flywheels have very little effect on model locomotives. Robert Schleicher disproved the flywheel myth for momentum in “Model Railroading” magazine in the early 1980’s. That was when “Model Railroading” was the best magazine in the model train world. The flywheel has become less viable with the five pole skewed armature.
I have removed the flywheels from locomotives to give more room for electronics and locomotive backheads and have seen no improvment in them. More reliable electrical pickup does more for performance.
DCC has finally given a platform for higher performance from model trains.
In addition, if there were little hiccups in the drive train that the flywheel helped smooth out, back EMF in a decoder can do the same thing. There is no substitute for fixing mechanical issues first, but a good motor drive in the decoder can work wonders.
Ya the problem with flywheels is that with most all small motors, as soon as the power goes off, the motor pretty much locks up. It is possible to build motors that don’t do that - that can “drift” - but you rarely see it. Somebody had an article on installing a free-spinning motor in an O steam engine in MR maybe 20 years ago.
The Life-Like E units seem to continue on for a ways after being shut down, perhaps that contributes to their overall smooth performance??
It’s not the motors so much as it is the type of worm gear drive typically used. Cheap 3-pole motors can ‘cog’ pretty badly, but a decent skew wound 5-pole motor is usually pretty smooth. And then there are the high quality motors like Cannon ones used in some Stewart locos. Even better are the coreless types, but they can be very expensive. And they need to be treated with care, since they have no heavy iron core to act as a heat sink it is easy to overheat one enough to damage it. With DCC< high frequency or ‘silent running’ motor drive is needed, the older low frequency pulse will quickly overheat a coreless motor.
Anyway, it’s as much a factor of the gears as anything. Bachmann as made some steam locos with spur gears, which should coast well, except the typically have a cheap 3-pole ‘pancake’ motor which negates the coasting ability of the gear train. In O scale and larger it is easy to use something other than a worm gear. But don’t forget, it is not ALL worm gears that can’t be driven from the worm gear side (the spiral gear is the ‘worm’ and the gear it engages is the ‘worm gear’). That was the point of an article years ago in MR. With the proper types of worms the system CAN be driven fromt he other side, which would allow a loco to coast.
I went DCC Dec of 2006, what I like and don’t like.
Don’t like, track to this point is harder to keep clean. I have a DC and DCC line, have not cleaned the DC line for say around 6 months. DCC seems to need care around ever 6 hours or so, just certain spots. I will added I run my bench around 4 hours a day, when I am off 8 hours.
What I Love?
The sound, not that is a good quality but does make the engine seem more a live. Plus being able to run 2, 3, 4 + trains on the same line, it willl all so keep you on the toes.
As far as the flywheels, I agree the main thing they help with is a dead spot.
Ashes68, when you go sound and you will you will hate and Love DCC. I said I would never ever spend over $60.00 for a engine! I have around $1400.00 in 6 engines with sound. Remember I went DCC in Dec of 2006.
Have fun, I am as the Big Boy hauls a fast moving freight train.
Track work not really Dave, I have had 2 problems 1 fixed it self. Decoder stopped making sound then started at a low volume then at the right voulme and has stayed that way. Tender wants to string on the 18" turn and that work is still in progrest but will be over came.
Yes, dirty track and wheels, and gaps, do get in the way between the track and the decoder and there could be momentary voltage gaps/drops; a flywheel will help move the engine over these obstacles.