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Capacitors

2677 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  SPROGman, 
G
We may have covered this before however it does seem that there is a lot of confusion over what to do with capacitors fitted to locomotives and other parts of the control grid.

It seems that some manufactures suggest that you can leave them in and others suggest that you can remove them and others are undecided what to do. Locomotives that are "DCC Ready" come with capacitors. Even locomotives that are "DCC Fitted" come with capacitors. Some power clips have capacitors although the "official" ones for use with digital control do not. It is a very confusing picture.

Is there a simple definitive answer or a set of rules?

Happy modelling
Gary
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I
I say cut 'em off!!!
Technically, the results will vary depending on what the decoder is sending to the motor and whether it uses back EMF, however not having the capacitors there will not have a negative effect on the performance whereas leaving them there probably will.
On principal, decoders should comply with whatever local RF suppression regulations apply to the area in which they are sold and should not rely on the manufacturer of the model having done so already.
Furthermore, any decoder manufacturer who refuses to state categorically (when asked) whether or not the capacitors should be removed is....

bad.
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