Cleaning loco wheels

[colin]

I just started in the hobby a few months ago and read here on "The Gauge" about the goo-gone and paper towel trick to clean loco wheels and to my amazement this was the answer. A few days ago I installed DCC. ? Can I still use this method with DCC. I still have an old MRC power pack. Is there any way I can use this and do the goo=gone trick?

Colin

 

[sammyd]

yeah just hook up the power pack to any spare piece of track you have laying around and use that.

 

[colin]

Running it on DC with a DCC decoder in it won't hurt the decoder??

Colin

 

[MasonJar]

Colin...

You should check with the manufacturer of the decoder to be safe. You could also try this question in the DCC forum.

However, I think you should be able to put your paper towel on the DCC powered track just the same as you (probably) did with the old MRC powerpack. As long as you have enough wheels on the track to pick-up power, it should work...

Andrew

 

[60103]

We did this for several years on a DCC layout with no problems.
It is even more important on a DCC layout to have complete contact between wheels and rails. Check your LHS for DCC intended track cleaners -- I found one of them did better than GooGone.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

I'm not sure about this, but I think part of the requirement for a decoder to be NMRA approved for dcc is that it must recognise when there is no dcc signal and operate on dc in that situation. At our modular club we use an alcohol spray on paper towels to clean wheels. It works fine with dcc.