Farish class 14

[engager]

Hi has any body any advice on chipping the Farish class 14 please, I am reluctant to remove the body and cock it up, I will be using a naked Bachmann651 6 pin decoder with the cables soldered on.Yours in hope Tony R.

[engager]

Not to worry it packed up after 2 minutes using a Bachmann ez controller on anologue testing!So it is going back. Tony R.

[Nigelcliffe]

One easy way to fry an N-gauge motor is to subject it to 18v AC.

The E-Z sticks out a very high track voltage for a DCC controller. In "analogue" mode the controller is still putting at least 18v AC onto the track, biasing the AC to create a pseudo DC signal which will drive the motor.

 

Don't use the "analogue" setting on DCC controllers. Its a bad idea all round. If you want to test N locos in analogue, get a small DC controller, they are very cheap. Or use a 9v battery.

 

 

Fortunately for users not aware of how easy it is to break stuff with the "analogue" setting, the whole lot is badged "Bachmann", so you have reasonable cause to complain about their products.

 

 

 

- Nigel

[engager]

Thank you Nigel, I am now enlightend, on a meter test it does indeed read 18v ac,the irony is that I have a Bachmann dc controller, unused, that I purchased in a Farish 150 set for 78 pounds, solely for the loco! regards Tony R.

[Nigelcliffe]

Before the pedants jump in....

I should say that I used "AC" loosely. The DCC track signal is alternating (AC), but its not a pure 50hz sine wave like normal mains AC. You can't measure it accurately with a cheap multimeter, though the AC setting will give a rough measurement.

 

But, bottom line, no matter which maker of DCC system, the "analogue loco setting" (otherwise known as Address 0) is to be avoided. The damage from putting an un-chipped loco on the track will occur much more quickly on small motors.

 

The cheap Bachmann trainset DC controller is ideal for loco testing before fitting chips.

 

If wanting to slow the overall speed range of the E-Z, then using a lower voltage AC power brick will work. I have a friend using an E-Z with only 9v AC. 12v AC might be a good place to look for N running. The net effect is to drop the top speed and make the lower speed range more controllable. You can achieve much the same with CV settings in locos (though need something other than an E-Z to make those changes), but I think its better to have the track at about the "right" voltage before using CV's to tune finer details in running.

 

- Nigel