D500 posted:Wyseguy posted:. While I was boxing up some Marklin HO stuff he mentioned that it ran on AC which he preferred over DC - frankly it had never occurred to me before that there that some brands would use AC instead of DC.
To my knowledge, all DCC systems (all scales) need AC to the track. AC has some advantages in the real RR world of "electric trains" - AC will travel over a greater distance without a need for a booster substation.
I do not believe that the above characteristic applies to our little world, but DCC uses AC for some reason. Don't know what.
Standard (non command control) Marklin still uses good old traditional variable sine wave AC, just like traditional Lionel. Except Marklin uses a higher pulse of AC to activate their reverse units.
AC in DCC is a different matter, it's not a fixed frequency like traditional AC and it is a square wave. The width of the AC pulses of the square wave IS the data. DC is a fixed (although variable) level. You cannot use a fixed DC level as data.
Rusty
