I believe I have read specific cautions against applying DC power to TMCC installations? What exactly is the potential for damage in that instance? i.e., which parts are gonna be fried?
George
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Specifcially Railsounds version 3 prohibits use of DC. This is because the railsounds 3 power board and sound board need AC to properly generate the voltage for the amplifier. At railsounds 4.0- a switching mode regulator was used in the power board and a lower voltage (only 5V DC) is fed to the sound card.
But the other point being missed- Railsounds- especially versions 1 through 5- are often used in conjunction with the OTHER modular electronics or LCRU series- all containing TRIACs for the outputs of couplers, lights, smoke and so they must have the zero crossing of AC power to turn off. Otherwise an output gets stuck on.
I damaged my Legacy Crane car when I first started powering my track with a Lionchief 72 Watt DC supply- because I fired a coupler, and it just stayed fired and sat there cooking away. The smell and smoke is what made me cut power.
So even some Legacy items will NOT tolerate DC.
I cannot stress this enough. In general- power Lionel products with AC unless you specifically know beyond a shadow of doubt. The chance is- you probably have dozens or more of items in your collections that absolutely are AC only and will be damaged by DC. Given that it is harder and harder to find and source these 20+ year old electronics- let alone any chance of repairing them with obsolete components or firmware that cannot be replaced at any cost- why take the risk?
Also watch how voltage you feed any Lionel product. To be safe, I'd limit everything to 18 volts. I've had some modern items with fried electronics come across my workbench because they were pushing 20 to 21 volts from their postwar ZW.
Thank you Vernon and H1000, You made some excellent points!!
George
Lionel is actually very specific as to AC or DC.
All TMCC and any Legacy prior to the current LCPx boards are strictly AC
Here's one of the later RCMC equipped locomotives, AC only.
With the LCPx board, there are specific cases where you can use DC, but only when running with Bluetooth. Of course, you can always run with AC, including with Bluetooth.
