I’ve hooked up powered LC+ B unit with a traditional switcher and they run great in tandom
to pull my twelve streamlined ACLs. But, will the lowered voltage (to control speed) do damage to the LC+ B unit?
Wally
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My recently completed battery powered LC+ is running at 12VDC and I have encountered no problems so far.
Are you running the B unit in conventional mode? If so, and there doesn't seem to be any dragging of the B unit and it doesn't look like the B unit is pushing the other loco, should be fine. If you are running in command mode and adjusting the B unit's speed with the remote or the Lionel app, that should be fine too, as long as the B unit isn't being dragged around or pushing the other loco. Bottom line, if it looks OK, it should be OK.
No, the lower track voltage does not hurt them. I have all the LC Thomas trains and they have always been run at reduced track voltage so the little kids don't race them off of curves on O27 track (But still somehow managed to smash poor Thomas to bits.).
Just noticed this one a bit late. As others said, as long as the conventional engine isn't pushing or pulling the LC+ engine you shouldn't have any problems. Even a small amount of push or pull can cause problems over time as it will put added stress on the drive train as well as the electronics. With the LC+ speed control it will likely vary between pushing and pulling the traditional engine as it speeds and slows with varying track power. I wouldn't be too worried about it to run once in a while, but I don't think it's a good idea to do for too long.
As for lower voltage harming the LC+ engine, this could actually be an issue if running the LC+ engine at higher speeds, or pulling heavy loads, on lower AC voltages as the engines power supply has to 'work harder'. The lower the AC voltage, the more work the power supply has to do to 'fill up the tank' so to speak. I wouldn't be too concerned about this for normal use, but it might cause a failure sooner than running at 18VAC would. Big L chose to use some cheap capacitors in many LC/+ engines, and if longevity is the goal, I wouldn't make them work harder than they need to. From the testing I've done 13VAC seems to be the lowest voltage that has no effect on the engine's functionality. (incidentally, at 13VAC, the engine has the same amount of 'power' as it does off of 18VDC)
