World's Smallest DCC Keep Alive-Let's Test It (362)
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- Опубликовано: 24 апр 2024
- and Keep Alives are great little DCC devices that provide backup power to allow locomotives to glide over dirty or unpowered sections of track. However in a lot of cases they are too big to fit into small HO/OO switchers and shunters, especially N-scale. TCS has addressed this issue with their new keep alive designed for N-scale models but I wanted to see whether it would have enough power to at least allow a HO-scale loco to get over dirty and dead spots. So in this video I'll install one in a HO-scale loco and give it a test.
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That's nice to know that an n scale keep alive will work with ho. I have soundtraxx larger current keeper and it works well. Alotbof my locomotives don't have alot of space in the shell, so I installed the smaller current keeper in 4 locomotives and they also work well. I was having stalling issues because of dirty track. Now all my locos with current keepers run great
We've seen short term testing, now we wait for the results of long term testing. Knowing what happens over time can be great information when comparing different keep-alives for model railroading to decide which one to buy.
Thanks. This may help with some HOn3 projects I have. Also a great test with the light bulb!
Thank you for all your helpful videos. Trying to catch up after putting HO MRR on the back burner more than 15 years ago.
Hi Larry, good to see you back.
This is an excellent keep alive video!
This small size is revolutionary, for possible HO use!
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Larry - I look forward to a follow up segment testing whether this unit will work with a sound decoder. I know that there are other issues with using keep alives with LokSound but I like the idea of sacrificing some keep alive time for much reduced size.
Thanks for this demonstration, Larry. This could be a game changer for N scalers IF we can make it fit in a locomotive. I look forward to trying one out. 👍🏼
Good to see you back.
I'll have to give this KA module a shot. I work in hon3, hon30, and hon2 using the smallest version of the LokSound sound decoders. Finding room to hide a keep alive, a sound decoder, and a speaker in something like an hon2 10 ton Davenport gas mechanical is a bit of a challenge. These will probably help my Grandt Line HO 23 and 25 tonners as well. Thanks for posting this.
Huh. If it works that well with HO. Then this is a pretty good advertisement for N scale performance. Might have to put it in a few of my problem children.
That's great info, Larry if you could show the different sizes between the n scale and ho keep -a-live sometime
Next is to find out if it will support a sound decoder or not.
That Keep-Alive will solve problems with insulfrog switches. 🙂
Thanks Larry, that’s some terrific information. Really appreciate it.
Test it on a sound decoder
always wondered if i could find one for my 44ton and GL-25T thank you
Thank you for sharing.👍
Very useful video, Larry. I slso has a few switcher and smaller diesels where space is at a premium. These will be very good additions.
Very nice video .well presented you the keep it simple and direct approach well.
Thank you. Smart video.
👍👍👍
Thank you Larry!
excellent information .
Hi Larry & it's is Randy and i like yours video is cool & Thanks Larry & Friends Randy
It seems to me, that every logo, DCC or not, should have this in it's circuitry😮
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Thanks for a very informative video. I have a Bachmann HO Alco S2 switch that stalls at one switch and I'm hoping this will solve that issue. Thanks again.
Looks like it's a convenient size for coach lighting too, such that you don't have to hide it in a toilet or the like, a common issue with the regular sized capacitors used for keep alive - and a problem for commuter stock that doesn't have such facilities!!
I would think it would be an even larger problem for the passengers with that keep alive in their toilet. Lol.
What would make it a specifically N scale keep alive? To my mind the only relevant parameters would be the maximum voltage spec of the capacitor(s) and the maximum current draw. Can you add another one (you have space in HO!) in parallel?
Larry Good to know I have some small switchers that this would work in,. Thanks for sharing
I need to give it a test in my GE 44 tonner.
That should work well in a GE 44 tonner.
It's nice to know there are small keep alives that work. I'm wondering if it will work with a sound equipped decoder. Considering sound equipped decoders pull more power.
I’ve tried this KA with scratch-built n scale locos that have coreless motors and found it to have negligible effect.
Hi Larry, Thank you for the video. As a N scale modeler, I'm been having very good success using the TCS Keep alive in most of my locomotives. As you mentioned at the end, "Non Sound Equipped". I've tried this Keep Alive in a Atlas GP38 (Southern High Short Hood GP38 to be exact) that I recently also installed a Digitrax SDN144A0 sound decoder, which sounds great, but this Keep Alive just does not seem to have enough current capacity to keep the decoder powered while running over dirty track. I can't fault TCS as they old saying goes, this keep alive is the best thing since sliced bread for us N scale modelers using DCC. Now a question, would it be possible to put two of these Keep Alives in parallel to provide more current to the circuit or would this damage the decoder? Kind Regards, Rich S.
A design question like that would be one for TCS tech support.
For those of us running old DC equipment, can the keep alive be wired to the pickups without a decoder?
No, only work with decoders.
The specs on those say a 10V output max at 1mF, also states max of 100mA input power too don't these locos usually pull more than that?
Most decoders are designed with a 5 volt mobile and 7 volt sound circuit so this should be enough in that respect. The real issue is the capacity of the capacitor and the current draw of the motor.A small,highly,efficient HO scale motor should be OK but it just won’t last for more than a second if that long. But in many cases that should be enough to get you over a dead frog or spot of dirty track.
Thanks Larry. That keep alive is really small but it did the trick. Those pieces of tape would definitely be longer than most spots of dirty track and it ran fine across them. The headlight test was not as impressive because it didn’t stay on that long at all. I would be curious to know how far the engine could travel prior to the keep alive running out of power. Can you try 1 long piece of tape and measure it and let me know? It doesn’t have to be recorded. Thank you.
It is hard to actually tell how much of a coast is due to the keep,alive and how much is due to the flywheels. That is why I did it with the 4 strips and compared the operation of essentially the same locos with and without the keep alive.
I wonder if there is any way to use this on an N scale ESU sound decoder. I use the version 5 Kato micro, but ESU keep alives won’t fit.
Off topic question.. I have a ESU decoder that works fine in run mode. But when I try to read any cv’s or write them I get a no decoder ACK ON MY DIGITRAX SYSYTEM. Any help would be greatly appreciated . Also I have tried to factory reset but it won’t write to the decoder. All other locos read and write
Because of the extensive use of complex indexed CVs and a voltage requirement of about 12 volts the ESU decoders can be a challenge for some Digitrax systems. In the most recent ones Digitrax increased the programming track voltage and improved the timing for programming but anything older than the DCS210/240 series can have this issue. Using a SoundTraxx PTB-100 may help but I suggest you try programming on the main as it uses full track voltage. You can’t read back the CVs but you still should be able to program.
Thanks I’ll give it a try.