I thought the DCS Commander was for HO and needed the latest 3 volt boards.
John, I was thinking of another controller from MTH.
Not to start a brand war. Couldn't he use a brick with a TPC controller and access a few Proto 2 functions as well as run his other stuff
without converting anything.
Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:
Originally Posted by AG:
Burlington Route.
The answer is YES! and the direction will be controlled changing the rails polarity.
here is the diagram.
Andre.
I think Boxcar Bill beat you to the answer. 
Sure, I am just 40 now!!
AG.
My impression is that everybody went to can motors before the advent of all this sophisticated electronics. One need not worry much about electronics and series- wound motors if that is true. A three dollar Radio Shack bridge, wired as the two posters above have shown, will do just fine, and the bridge will not waste that much energy.
if your model is can motor equipped, just connect the motor leads to the track pickup. You will not need the E- unit in either case.
Now this is my opinion only, and please do not take offense. Since can motors, the only reason to use AC power on the track is that it is traditional, just like the center rail. Nothing wrong with tradition, but DC has way more advantages.
bob2, you're probably right about AC vs DC on the tracks, but you still need electronics to run 2 trains in proximity.
Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:
I'll have to look at that. 
One issue with this scheme is typically the Pulmor motors suck down more power than the can motors. I wonder if the back-EMF speed control would work with the ERR Cruise Commander with this scheme?
I was going to attempt this some years ago, but Jon said it would not work. The problem is that when the power to the motor is interrupted to sense back EMF, there is not enough residual magnetism in the field to generate any back EMF.
Wow, wonderful input here folks...thank you! Somewhere along the new posts someone asked what I had for a layout. A fair question.....nothing yet to be honest, I'm in the planning stages of running an O and On30 combined layout. While I've got it down to 3 designs I though Id' swing into "Powering options".
Ok, someone sadi the Commander system w/ brick...not the lil remote one, could run AC "and" DC?!...I thought that unit was DC only unless you bought that extra TIU box.
Also, at the risk of looking like a dummy{oops- to late} what is this tape tach wheel I hear about?
Look, thank you all so very much for the input this far...I really appreciate it!!!
The DCS Commander (not the Remote Commander) only runs DC. You can power it with AC, but what comes out to the rails is DC. I don't know of any way to get AC from the DCS Commander to the rails.
The tach tape is illustrated in this picture, it provides the optical pulses to the encoder you see at the top of the flywheel to measure motor speed.
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Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:
I'll have to look at that. One issue with this scheme is typically the Pulmor motors suck down more power than the can motors. I wonder if the back-EMF speed control would work with the ERR Cruise Commander with this scheme?
I've wondered that too.
If you ran track power through a rectifier straight to the field winding wouldn't that essentially make it a permanent magnet? Then the DC motor outputs to the armature from the cruise commander might work?
Flash: As I read your desxcription, that would make the motor shunt wound, the armature & field coils being in parallel. I tried that once, and it did not run well, as well as drawing more amperage. Also, the field would be continually energized, even when not running. I did have a Lionel Pulmor in which the motor is set up series wound but running on DC, and that works fine.
I think the AC motors just aren't really suited to using for cruise control.
Yup.
Bottom line, if you really want cruise, buy the modern DC motored locomotive. Dont mess with the old Lionel AC Pullmor type.
