Michanglais Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 Hi everyone, this is my first time posting in this part of the forum so I hope I'm in the right place! I've got a few HAG DC re460s I would like to digitalise - mostly just for lighting but maybe one or two with sound. However, I am a total novice! (Foolhardy?) Anyway, I bought second-hand a loco that someone had retfrofitted with DCC. No sound, but lots of different lighting effects. Really, I'd be quite happy with just white lights all round (the loco is for a diorama and you'd never be able to see both ends at the same time). Anyway, I attach a photo with a component - don't know what it is - and wondered if it was a necessary part of DCCing? I don't think it's a 'stay alive' because the loco stalls rather easily at low speeds even on clean track. I was kinda hoping to use his work as a sort of guide but really, I think I could make things simpler with just white lighting (his DCCing allows all the different Swiss white/red lighting configurations, which are numerous). I realise this is perhaps a bit left of field, but any advice/words of wisdom would be gratefully appreciated! Cheers, Michael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Cane Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 On the assumption that there are two components in the red sleeve, a diode and a resistor, this appears to be a "stay alive" circuit. This is intended to power the decoder through brief failures in the supply from the rails. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinRS Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 It looks like a stay-alive capacitor which maintains voltage to the motor on dead frogs. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium mezzoman253 Posted March 12, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 12, 2023 Yes that looks like a self made stay alive. However unless the capacitor is of very high value (15,000uF or so) the run time won't be very long, a second at best. Hence your problem. Unfortunately the capacitor doesn't show its value in the picture. Rob 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium JimFin Posted March 13, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 13, 2023 22 hours ago, Michanglais said: Anyway, I attach a photo with a component - don't know what it is - and wondered if it was a necessary part of DCCing? I don't think it's a 'stay alive' because the loco stalls rather easily at low speeds even on clean track. It is a stay alive - which is an optional component, you don't need that as a matter of course, especially not with a loco of that wheelbase. Stalling at slow speed suggests the stay alive is possibly not working, poor/dirty wheels/pick ups are the next possible reason or the decoder has not been optimised for the motor. To resolve that you would need to start investigating/changing CV's but have a good look at the connectivity between the rails and the motor first. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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