Question about leaving command control engines on track with variable voltage?

It won't hurt them.  OTOH, if they don't see the TMCC track signal, the second power interruption they'll start running like a conventional locomotive.  I'd park them on an unpowered siding for running conventional.

Thanks John, I will take the conservative route.

One of the early selling points of TMCC was you could run TMCC engines and conventional engines at the same time. You would vary the track power to control the conventional engines and use the CAB1 to run the TMCC engines. Obviously the TMCC engines would be limited by the power coming into them from the track.

In practice it didn't work real well, but it didn't harm anything.

It's not that it'll hurt anything, but if somehow they get started in conventional mode, they start moving on their own.  Best to just turn off the power to the siding.

John, no end to do that.  I run transitional often.  If the command or legacy base is powered the signal is present.  So the command engines will be fine, regardless of track voltage.  G

I have run command and conventional.  As everyone above posted the command engines will not move (unless for some reason they do not see the command signal) and no harm will come to them.  I just found it annoying having them turn on and off as I was running my conventional engine, so I put them on sidings that I can control the power.  I control the track sidings with an SC2, so it is all through my remote and very seamless.

                 Won    Loss

Floor            1         0

Engine          0         1

Not good

Rookies....:-)

Truthfully, I see absolutely no reason to leave them on powered sidings, it can only do harm.  If you're not running them, there is no upside.

I'm not sure what everyone else observes but my TMCC will not work well below about 15 to 16 volts. This is pretty fast for any of my locos in conventional mode.

  In other words: It would be hard to do both at the same time.  Don

Trying to run command and conventional on the same tracks at the same time is an exercise in futility.  I can't imagine why anyone would seriously attempt it.  I have tried it, just so I could intelligently comment on it, and I was not impressed.

The question here is leaving the command engines on powered tracks while running a conventional engine using the same power.  As I said, I can't imagine any upside to doing this, and I can imagine bad things happening sooner or later.  If nothing else, you're accumulating hours on the engines and subjecting them to any transients that occur on the powered tracks from the conventional operation.  The simple question is why would you do that?

Running command and conventional on the same layout.

If your blocks are separated so that you can power conventional engines on one section and command control on another using separate and isolated power supplies there should not be a problem. Otherwise run all your engines in conventional mode.

I believe several on this forum have experienced run away engines when the TMCC signal was lost.  There seems to be  less issues with signal loss in the Legacy system

 I believe that during the most recent LUG meeting, JZ of Lionel referenced that a recently installed smart meter on his home interfered with his legacy system and he also suggested checking on any WiFI devices.

  I am of the opinion that the smart meter on my home still randomly interferes with my Legacy system, causing operating engines to go haywire

  As gunrunnerjohn has suggested and I do in practice, command engines that are not in use sit on unpowered sidings, yards, and turntable tracks.

  When I need to hit the emergency stop on the remote, thankfully the TPC 400 kills the power.

Chris Cook

Chris Cook

Wow... lots of feedback.  Based on every ones comments I think it best to park my command ready engines on a non-powered block of track while running my conventional engines.  I have to agree that "why risk an anomolie or extra wear on the electronics".  I like the idea of the SC2 (need to get one).  Thanks for all your feedback!

Brian

This just seems like an incredible amount of extra trouble for limited gain.  You'd be as busy as a one armed paper hanger doing this!

Ok, getting off point maybe, but this scenario is where the functionality of the BPC comes into play.  I have 8 blocks on my layout.  2 loops in 3 blocks, the other blocks on sidings.  I can run a conventional train on a loop, while the rest of the layout is still TMCC.  Or any combo. Running both conventional trains and command on the same block doesn't work so well.  Even having a TMCC engine in the same block stationary it is constantly turning on and off with the conventional power input, which I always found a tad disconcerting.  Better to have the TMCC engines out of the loop, so to speak,  the conventional loop, and on a siding.   If you want to run both on a decent layout get 2 TPCs and a BPC and invest in a small screwdriver. 

Well excuse us for not operating our trains your way john:-)!  Maybe some of us have more dexterity with the remote;-).  I may have mis read the original post, and I don't recommend leaving trains powered up indefinitely.  But running them together has worked fine for me, and I have conventional and tmcc engines on my 4 loops.  I do use sidings I can power down, but i have not had issues with simultaneous operation.  G

I agree, GGG. I use and run both and have no trouble. It's neat running both by remote.

I almost never run the trains at 18 volts, I usually dial down the voltage to 14-15 volts anyway to save light bulbs and plastic shells.  No problems.  I have noticed that any engine with cruise control is more likely to be affected by the lower voltage because the cruise "reserves" some of the voltage and cuts the actual operating power to do that.   Transitional control is difficult but not impossible to manage and it does require that you pay more attention and expend more effort.

Re original question, shut em down if they're not being used.  I can't think of a good reason to not shut them down.

Our home has a smart meter, but it's at the opposite end of the house.

There is, however, directly outside the train room, a smart gas meter which uses RF to report usage to a roaming truck with a receiver.

Wonder if the gas meter one could cause problems?

one thing about the SC2, it works great, but I noticed Lionel has planned for next year an ASC2 and a BPC2 as part of their new LCS control components.  If you are in no rush it might be worth waiting to see what the prices are on these and what they have to offer.

http://www.lionel.com/lcs/styled-12/index.html