@KarlDL posted:3R DCC is very interesting. It offers better sound and is not proprietary to any one manufacturer. There are two major downsides: (a) the cost of converting a large loco inventory and (b) the incompatibility of Pullmor motors with DCC decoders currently available.
The curious twist on this is the Blunami product, which can provide Bluetooth control of a suitable can-motored loco without a DCC power source, yet incorporate the normal DCC decoder functions. Most implementations of this, to date, use "dead rail", e.g., rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in the loco as the power source.
My Blunami card arrived today. It will be installed in a Weaver Baldwin Sharknose diesel. The key to making this work on 3-rail, AC-powered track is to determine the degree of filtering and regulation needed in an onboard AC-DC converter (glorified rectifier), as the Blunami card cannot be powered directly from AC track voltage. I will examine this in detail, since Soundtraxx could not provide me with a maximum 120 Hz ripple specification for the card's power source. If my pilot project is successful, I will probably convert my several pre-TMCC/DCS dual-can-motored diesels to Blunami/DCC (well, to the extent that their motor stall currents do not pose an overload problem for the Blunami card). My two can-motored steamers' motors have a stall current well above the Blunami 4A limit, so they aren't conversion candidates.
I'm also looking at Blunami in the context of my club's S-gauge travel layout, for control of American Models and S-Helper locos. Motor stall current is far less of an issue in S-gauge.
Karl, I am using a less than $4 DC-DC 5 amp switching convertor to power my Blunami with a full wave bridge. Amazon and the bay have many more low dollar options. I set it to 18v but the Blunami will handle up to 26v.
Coupler and synchronized smoke working now. Almost time to pour the epoxy as we say.
One of the purposes of this exercise is to see if a DCC engine will run on the same track at the same time as TMCC/Legacy and DCS engines.
Pete
