Electronic Track cleaners

[Hilux5972]

Can someone please explain how these work? Ive seen a lot of mention lately of Coreless motors not liking electronic track cleaners. Isn't the way to solve that just take the loco off the track when you use the cleaner? Am I missing something?

 

Regards

[NIK]

Can someone please explain how these work? Ive seen a lot of mention lately of Coreless motors not liking electronic track cleaners. Isn't the way to solve that just take the loco off the track when you use the cleaner? Am I missing something?

 

Regards

 

Hi,

 

Electronic track cleaners are wired directly into DC track supplies so are always ready to detect a high resistance between the track and a loco and start sending out high voltage low current until the loco reconnects with the track.

 

I think they are supposed to burn away the dirt on the top of the rail that may cause interruptions.

 

We used RELCO electronic track cleaners (there are other makes) on the last DC club layout I was involved with and they seem to hold off the need to re-clean the track for eight hours or so - just enough for most exhibition days.

 

 

Regards

 

Nick

Edited May 22, 2017 by NIK

[Legend]

Yes I use them on a large roundy roundy in the loft . I seldom have to clean the track and they work very well for me. Mind you I do think the materials getting used in modern wheels and track have changed compared to that maybe 20 years ago so there is less of a need to clean anyway .

 

I believe they essentially detect when your loco is not in contact with track i.e. Wheel on dirt and pass voltage through to until issue solved. This is ok for most DC motors but would fry your DCC chip. I'm uncertain about what it does to Coreless motors , so far I've been able to avoid them

[alan_parkes]

Yes I use them on a large roundy roundy in the loft . I seldom have to clean the track and they work very well for me. Mind you I do think the materials getting used in modern wheels and track have changed compared to that maybe 20 years ago so there is less of a need to clean anyway .

 

I believe they essentially detect when your loco is not in contact with track i.e. Wheel on dirt and pass voltage through to until issue solved. This is ok for most DC motors but would fry your DCC chip. I'm uncertain about what it does to Coreless motors , so far I've been able to avoid them

Yes, I am in agreement, I use the Gaugemaster HF2 twin track electronic cleaner, (see other posters for how they work!),  but I am completely satisfied with its use on my analogue roundy-roundy layout which has to live in a corner, making access for track cleaning using traditional methods difficult. It's use has transformed the slow running and tractability of all locos, old and new. No connection etc, just a satisfied customer.

[Andy Hayter]

Be aware that it is not just coreless motors and DCC that do not get on well with HF cleaning.

 

I have a Jouef TGV Atlantique rake that if put onto a Relco system, fails to run well and the lights flash on and off.

 

As for the OP's original question about just taking the loco off: no that does not work since the system cannot tell that the resistance at a point in the track would be increased if there were a loco there.

 

I have found a much better solution:

change all plastic wheels to metal tyred ones - strangely traction tyres do not seem to have the same negative effects on keeping track clean as plastic wheels do.

do not allow smokers near the layout - well not while they are smoking.

clean the tracks ( and sometimes the wheels) regularly with meths or Iso-propyl alcohol (IPA).

 

A bit more work but a better solution for my range of stock.

[kevinlms]

These are known as Relco's, by their manufacturer, and use a very high voltage HF signal to 'burn' the contamination away if it interrupts current flow. For a normal DC motor, that's not a problem, but for DCC decoders and coreless motors, it's essentially a death-sentence

You should be able to overcome this problem by soldering a low value ceramic capacitor across the motor terminals - about 220pF iirc. The HF Relco will see this as a short circuit and load the circuit, thus preventing motor damage.

 

It's a long time ago that I used a Relco, so not 100% sure.

[Crantock]

Just to add that these are available cheaply in the second hand bins as many users have discarded on moving to DCC. I would doubt many are sold brand new.

[The Johnster]

I would suggest that if your running is giving you enough problems to make you consider a Relco, you probably have issues that need sorting out anyway; check that your track is laid level and smoothly, especially near pointwork, that it is cleaned regularly, and that your tyre treads and pickup surfaces are clean.

[Richard Lee]

I use a Gaugemaster HF1 'electronic track cleaner' on my layout.  It reduces track cleaning a lot and improves low speed running.  I am very pleased with it.  However, as has been said above, don't use them with either DCC chipped locomotives or coreless motors.  (I put a switch in the AC power supply to the 'electronic track cleaner' so that I can switch it off whenever I want to use my DJM/Kernow O2.)  I would suggest that you clean the track after you see the indicator light showing when running trains more than a very small amount, because although it reduces the frequency that track cleaning is required, it doesn't eliminate it.

 

Edit: Having one of these doesn't stop you changing any plastic wheels for metal wheels, which I do on my layout.

Edited May 23, 2017 by Richard Lee

[SHMD]

I think the best way to understand how these work is not to call them "track cleaners" but to call them, more accurately, "dirt ignorers".

Even then they do not ignore it for ever. You still have to clean but less often.

 

I would also advise against their use if toddlers and young children have access to the trains/tracks. Pets even!

Also, some (very) olde alloy wheels can be spark eroded away.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like (and have used) Relcos but they are not a complete answer.

 

 

Kev.