and DCC too. Al Kramer says I can run it with regular DC.
John,
DCC equipped engines run on DC have a tendency to run hot (motors). But your mileage may vary. 
maybe it could be the catalyst to get me moving forward.
HJ, where did you get that idea?
So you are saying that since the decoder gives PWM to the motor, it will make it hot?
(or are you implying feeding DC to a DCC decoder makes the motor hotter than running on DCC?)
People have been using PWM for YEARS on G scale locos, look at all the people who run the Aristo TE.
HJ, don’t you use DCC? Isn’t the output to ALL of your locomotive motors PWM? Therefore aren’t all your motors running HOT?
Yeah, running an electric motor on PWM vs DC makes more heat, but so what? You statement implies that John will have a situation out of the ordinary and is negative.
Greg
Relative to DC vs PWM, I postedthis over on the Bachmann forum. I am very ignorant on how DCC works, but I assume it is similar.
"If I understand PWM controls, it is quite simple in concept. The voltage is constant. To obtain the appearance of lower voltages, the controller turns the voltage on and off at different rates. For perceived low voltages the pulses of voltage are shorter with larger times of no voltage. Wikipedia has a fairly good treatsie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation
As for sound cards, or back EMF circuits, they may not like PWM much. The idea of very quickly turning the sound card on and off sounds like a bad idea, and that is how the card would be seeing the voltage. I don’t fully understand Back EMF circuits, but i would think they would respond in a similar manner to sound cards.
The motor itself doesn’t care, so long as the voltage being supplied does not exceed the rating of the motor. If motors cared I doubt some of the old (1950ish) Mantua, etc would have lasted, yet I know some that run on PWM controlled track quite often - and not re-motored. Consider that part of the development of PWM control was to give finer control, especially at lower speeds, of those older open frame motors.
I have personally run my Bachmann ‘Thomas’ on an Aristo pack on PWM without ill affects. I would not per se advise this simply to avoid liability concerns - your mileage may vary."
Greg or anyone else with better electronic knowledge, please correct/enlightem if I am off base.
Big OOOOOPS brain fart.
It’s the other way around; running a DC engine on a DCC layout will generate the motor heat. Something about that “stretched” zero.
I will now go back to listening to the radio and cleaning up the garage aka work shop, while anticipating further comments.
Yes, running a DC locomotive on DCC can make the motor run warmer then it normally would. This is something we are cautioned about when we use DCC systems. Whether it will cause the motor to fail, no one has ever said, to me, that it will, just that it might.
As for PWM and sound systems. Supposedly most sound systems will run fine on PWM. However, I did have a Sierra board fail on me once when I ran it on PWM from my TE. I do not know for sure if the PWM fried the board or not, but that board had run for years without issue. The board I replaced it with has been running for years without issue. Since I only ran PWM that one time, and that’s when the previous board fried, I am afraid to run PWM again with my Sierra boards.
Back EMF is used to read and control the speed of the motor on some systems. It can also be used to control sound on some systems. The motor will produce a voltage when its turning, a voltage opposite of the input voltage. And the back EMF is dependent on how fast the motor is turning and how hard the motor is working.
Thanks HJ I was getting worried about you!
We all know that PWM generates more heat on motors, and we all remember LGB (as well as some other mfgs) threatening invalidating warranties and all other kinds of threats when “pulse power” first came about.
Fast forward 10 years to today and even LGB will work on all kinds of pulse power.
Yes, certain devices designed for DC cannot determine “voltage” from PWM, notably sound systems.
Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
Thanks HJ I was getting worried about you!
…
Could also have been the fumes from the Crazy Glue and the MEK. 