@T Ansley posted:This is how DCC works. This is exactly how DCC boosters work. They take a lower power digital signal and combine it with a higher power signal. The low power signal has zero impact on the actual power that runs the motor.
I am not saying you're wrong but I have never heard it explained that way. Using the word "power" doesn't make sense to me but maybe that is just me.
Did you know that some early DCC systems could run one Analog DC engine? It was a similar setup, but much different, it would throw extra DC on the track for that one engine.
That is exactly what I was trying to explain earlier. The DCC system (I think todays systems no longer do this but I am not 100% sure) would lengthen either the top of the wave for forward or the bottom of the wave for reverse. The problem was that the wave would sometimes overheat can motors or make them whine loudly and I think this is why they stopped trying to control a conventional locomotive (no decoder) this way.
Those low power digital signals will have zero effect on a lion chief engine. All the lion chief engine needs is power from the rails. Plus, lion chief conveniently works on DC or AC. LionChief sends it commands over air, via Bluetooth (early LionChief may not use Bluetooth?, it only gets power for the motor from the rails.
Ted
Agreed on the LionChief. One time I put a MTH PS 2.0 locomotive on a track powered by DCC and I heard a loud whine coming out of the speaker. I immediately turned off the power. No damage occurred to the engine. I decided I didn't want to chance ruining the electronics. I wonder what Lionel does differently than MTH so that you don't hear that same noise in the LionChief locomotives? Most likely a much better rectifier? I guess what is important is that they will work with the DCC wave.
