Sources for suitable DCC motors

[yvesmary]

I'm looking for suitable DCC motors to repower a brass 4-6-4 locomotive in which I plan to use a Tsunami decoder rated at 1 amp. I've looked at a NWSL motor 20 X 32 but the stall rating is 1.7 amps.

Isn't that too much for the Tsunami?

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Espeefan]

I have used these with Tsunamis without incident. I also don't worry a great deal about stall ratings. If you think about it, under what operating conditions does your loco completely lock up and stay that way? I know that the decoder manufacturers have chosen this to make sure we never blow out a decoder, but I think it's overkill (I've got my flame retardent shorts on now ) A more practical test is to hold the loco's coupler and see if the wheels spin, or if they stop. If they stop, you might have a problem, either with too much weight, or an undersized motor. Most modern can motors won't give you a problem here. The only time I would worry about excessive amperage is if I were trying to keep an old open frame motor. The one and only time I ever damaged a decoder was due to this, and I don't do it any more. These methods have worked for me. YMMV

 

[jdetray]

What is a "DCC motor?"

As far as I know, the motors in our locos are the same whether we are running DC or DCC, no? When I converted my DC locos to DCC, I certainly did not change the motors!

- Jeff

 

[diburning]

Jeff, a DCC motor is one that can tolerate pulsed DC power. Most DCC decoders have the silent drive feature so instead of giving the motor straight DC power at low speeds, it pulses the DC power on and off over and over again many times per second to reduce motor noise.

Some motors do not like the pulsed power. Some A-Line motors can be destroyed by this type of power application.

 

[jdetray]

Thanks, Eric. Is this something we have to worry about when converting older DC locos to DCC? Are "non-DCC motors" common in older equipment?

- Jeff

 

[diburning]

The A-Line motors are the only ones that I know of that don't tolerate the pulsed power. Most other motors should be OK.

 

[yvesmary]

I didn't know that about A-Line motors.

The main concern with DCC is that the current of the motor, especially if it stalls, will not fry the decoder.

Many thanks for your inputs.

 

[bnsf971]

The theory behind the stall speed is that the decoder sends out pulses of 12v DC to the motor. When the pulses reach the motor, it is again in theory at a standstill, or stall. The decoder will be trying to overcome that with every single pulse of 12 volts. I've only ever overloaded and burned up one decoder, and it was the fault of a bozo that switched the power supply to G scale (22 volts). Man, it sure ran fast for that 5 feet before going up in flames...