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How to tell if a loco is DC or DCC
Gene asks readers for advice:
“I have 9 HO scale locos (steam & diesel), that I have purchased over time. How can I tell if a loco I bought (don’t have the boxes anymore) is DC, DCC-Ready, or DCC inclusive? I can’t find markings on the locos themselves.”
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About the only way to tell is to take the bodies off and see what lays beneath.
if you put a locomotive on a dcc system and it makes a buzzing sound it’s a DC locomotive.
if it does nothing crazy then its a DCC locomotive, if you didn’t use it’s road number as it’s address you might need to put it on your test track and reprogram it .
Take a look under the body. If you see only the wiring for the motor and lights then it’s DC.
If there is a small circuit board usually mounted on the chassis with a section of pins ( anything between 8 and 21 ) then it’s DCC ready.
If you find a small decoder chip mounted on the circuit board then it’s DCC fitted.
Best to check out what you have got before running the loco on analogue power as there is a risk of shorting out on ,say a set of points. This can sometimes damage the chip if fitted.
Good luck.
DC loco on DC track: speed and direction (roughly) proportional to DC track voltage.
DC loco on DCC track: no movement, might hum, take it off immediately ! (DCC power is 12-18V AC)
DCC loco on DC track: most DCC locos have an automatic DC capability: but it will start only moving at a higher voltage, about 9 – 10 volts.
DCC loco on DCC track: loco will respond to commands from the controller.
What about rail pro by ring engineering
Is anyone using it?