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after a couple of nudges. I took the loco home and removed
the shell. I then disconnected the SoundTraxx external capaci-
tor and connected a KA2 to the capacitor black (power supply
negative) wire and the blue (power supply positive) decoder
connections. I taped the KA2 down on the loco with double
sided tape for a quick check. I let the loco rest on powered
track for a few minutes to assure that the KA2 was charged
up. The second segment of the video shows the loco running
smoothly through the yard ladder. After resting a bit more
to assure a full charge, I shot the third segment of the video
where I removed the running loco from powered track and
set it on plastic running beside the track. It ran about a full
loco length on plastic – no power applied. When the charge
in the KA2 was depleted, the loco stopped gracefully and the
sound quit. Nothing dramatic.
7
7: Hybrid Drive Circuit diagram. Connect it just as you
would a capacitor.
DCC Impulses Column - 6
The TCS literature tells the installer to set CV182 = 2 on TCS
decoders. I called TCS and talked with JD about that. TCS has
a “stop on DC” mode enabled by default. That is, if a TCS
decoder sees no DCC waveform, but has power to run, it
assumes that it is on a DC section and will stop. Well, that’s
exactly what it will see with track power dropout and a KA
module connected. Setting CV182 will override that condition
for TCS decoders. JD confirmed that KA modules have been
used on almost every sort of decoder with no ill effects. CV
changes were only needed on decoders made by TCS.
There have been reports of the KA2 units taking so long
to charge up (several minutes) that they would prevent
the decoder to which they were attached from being pro-
grammed on the programming track. Either program on the
main (remember, no read back on the main) or disconnect
one wire of the KA unit when programming. I have had no
problems reading from, or writing to the RS27 shown in the
video with the KA2 connected with my PowerCab.
What’s in one of these modules? The heart is a bunch of
Super Caps, as I discussed in my December 2012 column
. They are low voltage, requiring about five to
make up DCC track voltage. The module also has the neces-
sary electronics to prevent over-voltage from damaging the
capacitors. They will not stand being hooked up backwards,
so be watchful with your wire colors.
Multiple KA modules can be connected in parallel for even
greater storage capacity.
The only caveat I’ve seen is most important to large-scale
users. Although they will stand any input voltage allowable
in the NMRA standard, their output voltage when supplying
power to the decoder will be about 14 volts, maximum. So, if
you are using a KA on a layout with the track voltage set for
MRH-Mar 2013
