Capacitors
Frequently I hear: “Well, if 220 µF comes with my decoder,
why not add another 10,000 µF? I’ve got the room.”
This approach is effective and inexpensive. I recommend the
circuit in figure 4. It is slightly more complicated than just
adding a big capacitor in parallel with the existing ones. It
adds a resistor and diode to the mix. Why? The resistor limits
the inrush current, reducing the load on the DCC system. The
diode bypasses the resistor when the track voltage drops so
the capacitor can supply power to the decoder.
Here’s how to select the components for figure 4.
4: Circuit to add more capacitance to any decoder
See text for component values and connections.
4
DCC Impulses Column - 4
MRH-Mar 2013
