@T Ansley posted:One other thing, the signal on the rails doesn't change at all for forward or reverse! The DCC decoder handles all that. It reads the commands from the command station then the processor in the decoder does the work, it reads the command and will reverse polarity when it is instructed to reverse. A DCC decoder is nothing more than a digital communication device and digital computer. It reads commands, in a specified communication protocol from the rails, then performs an action (basically a small microcontroller then does the action). It also has the circuity to perform the actions, like voltage regulator for output voltage or logic to turn off/on lines like to lights, etc. One more note. Let me clarify some things. Essentially DCC is not AC, because it does not have a negative combined voltage between rails. It is a square wave (not sinusoidal) from 0 to the top voltage ( can vary by scale from 12v-24v). Essentially embedded in that power wave is digital bits sent as phase changes, similar to Modems and other digital communication. However, that power is there and can be measured. If you use an AC meter it will be off by about 10-12% due to square wave vs sine wave. You really need an RMS volt meter. However, the reason it's not important is LionChief engines use a bridge rectifier anyway to convert AC to DC voltage, so any sine wave or square wave will be smoothed out to DC by the loco, as it really runs on DC. Yes, it can be confusing by I'm 99% certain that DCC power is perfectly fine for LionChief and engines.
Ted
@T Ansley Now you are saying here what Ed Rappe said on that other thread that DCC is not AC but @Darrell is saying that it is AC. Which is the answer? Below is a picture of the DCC Wave form. Assuming the dotted line is O volts how can it not be AC? Here is the definition of AC:
Alternating current, abbreviation AC, flow of electric charge that periodically reverses. It starts, say, from zero, grows to a maximum, decreases to zero, reverses, reaches a maximum in the opposite direction, returns again to the original value, and repeats this cycle indefinitely.
