I have an Atlas O AEM 7 engine. When I opened it up, I saw these items soldered in line with the motor wires.
Can someone tell me why they exist and what is their function?
Thanks
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I have an Atlas O AEM 7 engine. When I opened it up, I saw these items soldered in line with the motor wires.
Can someone tell me why they exist and what is their function?
Thanks
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Chokes? To help with interference in signal transmission?
I'm sure @GGG or @gunrunnerjohn will be along to correct me and give the right answer shortly.
@Jeff_the_Coaster_Guy posted:Chokes? To help with interference in signal transmission?
I'm sure @GGG or @gunrunnerjohn will be along to correct me and give the right answer shortly.
Thanks Jeff. Another fella outside of the forum suggested they are electrical noise bypass caps.
They're ceramic disk capacitors, they're there to reduce electrical noise from the brushes feeding back into the motor control circuitry.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:They're ceramic disk capacitors, they're there to reduce electrical noise from the brushes feeding back into the motor control circuitry.
Thank you GRJ. As always, I appreciate your inputs.
Ron
I thought the caps were too obvious.
I figured the question was what the black cylindrical things in line on the wires was. (or is that just really big heat shrink or a LOT of electrical tape?) It sort of looks like something other than just capacitor leads might be under there.
-Dave
I thought he was talking about the choke looking things...
Those would most likely be wire wound chokes, I thought he was talking about the caps. That's all done for noise suppression,
Similar look to the disc caps are sometimes polyfuses. (thermal, self resetting fuse/breaker, fast acting. raised wire lump is usually pronounced on them.
Similar look to the cans are thermal cut offs, like a fuseable link on your car. Mostly used in coffee pots and their warmers in case they overheat. a temp is often stamped on those.
Well, there ain't a PTC across the motor leads, that's for sure. Also, the "cans" aren't likely to be thermal cutoffs, I've never seen one of those on a model train motor. The only place you see something like that is in some smoke units.
The position of the caps and the likely chokes is proper for a EMI filter, and I'd bet dollars to donuts that's what they are.
And to answer the question: WHY?........This locomotive was equipped with a remote control system called Loco-Matic. It was designed by and still available from Dallee Electronics. It runs on a base frequency of 200kHz. The components keep the motor noise from getting into the decoder electronics as well as signal loss in the motor and drive components.
Lou N
@Lou N posted:And to answer the question: WHY?........This locomotive was equipped with a remote control system called Loco-Matic. It was designed by and still available from Dallee Electronics. It runs on a base frequency of 200kHz. The components keep the motor noise from getting into the decoder electronics as well as signal loss in the motor and drive components.
Lou N
That's Lou,
Follow up question... I'm going to remove all of the Atlas/Dallee Electronics and put in a BlueRail command and control board. The engine will still run on AC track power. Would you suggest I leave those components wired in or remove them?
vr
Ron
@Ron045 posted:That's Lou,
Follow up question... I'm going to remove all of the Atlas/Dallee Electronics and put in a BlueRail command and control board. The engine will still run on AC track power. Would you suggest I leave those components wired in or remove them?
vr
Ron
I'd remove the old boards. It's just a large single board in the top of the body shell.
Lou N
If you're talking about the filter components in the motor lead, you could go either way. I'm pretty sure the Bluerail guys would state if you need additional filtering for the motor if it was needed, so follow their recommendations.
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