Rachel, Let me relay an experience our club had with amps/not enough
amps that has to do with non-decoder equipped engines.
We were just starting to use DCC for our club modules--at least one
half. We had a two day show and the first day went just fine with the
usual 5 Digitrax Chief system. One of our members decided he wanted to
try a 4 unit SHS f-7 setup setup for straight DC. After only a few
minutes of running the circuit breaker shut the system down and the unit
was quiet hot. So we obviously removed the units but one at a time and
the same thing happened till we were down to 2 units.
We later tested the units at my home (obviously a more stable
environment than a temporary setup). We were able to run three
non-decoder units, but not the fourth. I also owned three F-3's with
the Soundtraxx decoders and all three would only draw 1.5 amps. So
there is something about decoder vs non-decoder engines when it comes to
current draw.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
On 8/27/12 11:33 PM, Ed wrote:
> "rcovington92" wrote:
> A. What is the minimum recommended Amps for S-scale DCC?
This is a little bit like asking "how high is up?"
Any locomotive that has an NMRA-compliant decoder installed can be
operated with
NCE or any other NMRA-compliant DCC system. Any opinions contrary to
that are
simply not true.
The NCE system is somewhat unique in that it does not encourage the
user to
operate a non-decoderized loco with it's system. It can be done, but
the user
has to jump through an extra hoop or two to make it work.
Good luck....Ed L.
