Which 3-rail trains will run on straight DC?

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Moonman posted:

Well, how about the other obvious answer - LionChief and LionChief+ are designed to run off of AC/DC.    THUNDERSTRUCK

I believe the LC uses FET drivers for motor control.

yes, John, but it is an answer to the OP's question:

 "How many, if any, 3-rail trains will run on a ho-style DC transformer?" 

Which followed the first obvious answer of the MPC era DC motored engines.

I used to tell my students (company sponsored classes) to think of SCR's and TRIAC's (in DC circuits) as toilets -  where the chain or flushing handle is the gate. Once you pull the chain to flush it (activate the gate) it will run (remain on) until the water tank (the supply) runs out.

Alex

These trains will run off 3R DC:  NYC Subway, Metro North, Long Island RR, Chicago EL.............Of course, these are REAL 3R  trains!

Of course it is not the best solution, but that was not the original question.  On to the next problem, unless you want to flay some more flesh off the horse.    G

OK, I should have been a bit more clear about what I’m trying to do.

I want to run these automatically, running each train for about 20 min at a time on a schedule.  I do not want to have a party and have to sit in the train room all the time.  Basically I want to set it and forget it.

The sets I have…

• Polar Express
• North Pole Central
• A Christmas Story
• Santa Flyer
• Holiday Subway (Basically 2 car NYC subway repainted in Red/White/Green)
• Trolley Car

All were bought new within the past 10 years, probably since 2013 or 2014.  All came with a CW-40 or CW-80 and no remote control.

They need to run forwards, most likely no reversing.  I don’t need any bling/effects like sound or smoke.  I can rewire if need be.

I said HO Style so that people understand what I’m using for power, basic DC.  I am making four 10 amp, full wave rectified power supplies that will go through a pulse wave modulation motor controller to the track.  The PWM units will be controlled by a Raspberry Pi.  Hench I need to control the locos with DC.

The motor's in all those are DC.  As long as you're willing to rewire, yank out the electronics and wire the motors directly to the rollers and frame.

Rusty

I concur with Rusty on this one.

I started a similar thread quite a while back in the "S" forum (because I was referring to the "universal" motors in my AF 300 and 310, which have neither smoke or sound). I had often heard these engines would run "better" and cooler" on DC and wanted to see for myself.

I came over from HO, and have several nice "power packs", but I found that the amps(?) needed to run these old open-frame motors would typically over load those packs. I eventually found an older (pre-zip code) MRC unit that, for whatever reason, is fully capable of running those Flyer locos without shutting down...it also works great with my DC-powered All Nation Ten Wheeler.

Having said all that, I usually run those Flyer engines in AC with a small-ish MRC 027 unit; I like it because unlike post-war Flyer or Lionel transformers, it begins at 0 volts...

Mark in Oregon