Is there anyone using Gaugemaster HF-1 on your layout?

Hi BAZ Man,

Thank you for your detailed explanation.
I think I have solved  big mystery.
Although their two concept are different, I think that "using HF on DC track" and "the motor control by DCC pulse" can both work so-called "secondary effect of stack reduction". Does the CV9, or PWM frequency setting of a typical DCC decoder affect this phenomenon?
If you have time, I would appreciate your further reply. Because in Japan, DCC is not so popular at all....

Thank you cwrr!

These three contours were originally made in European style,
but since last year I've been obsessed with American loco.
So now, all catenaries have been removed.

Beautiful layout with lots of details, love it!

Your yard is huge! With American prototype trains, you could fill it up with lots of trains!

I will try to create some graphics (digital computer animation and video content) to explain. I am almost finished with reorganizing the train room.
What product did you first use. There are a few thoughts on it. But basically:
Motors are rated approximately 8-10 volts . . . .without load (no cars/wagons *and* friction (e.g. trucks, gears, linkage, etc.)
Motors not loaded are rated will run all day at those rated voltages.
Running DC motors at lower speeds are less efficient (at say half the volts, only 40% and at quarter voltage, 15%). The heat is still a large %

Motors have windings to create magnetic fields. “Permanent Magnet” motors like MTL and early AZL have thicker gauge windings and more metal mass, run warmer (the magnetic physics efficiencies)
“Newer” Coreless motors have much finer wire, less mass, somewhat better efficiencies.

The theoretical perfectly pure DC (e.g. a battery, not a transformer-type) you would think 9 volts is 9 volts, to the motor. No! Every time the Armature rotates around, the Brushes switch to another of the 3 or 5 winding on the armature. This release of energy is the same as your automobile spark plug, HIGH voltages! That is why there is Capacitor (Condenser) to ‘snub’ them.

The DCC ‘AND” the PWM power put (theoretically) digital 101010 on-off-on- but electronics on perfect, there are wires and such all over the place acting on the too. With a PWM controller supplied with DC, it should not matter at all (when the PWM moment is off, there is nothing to the track). If you supply, say 9V, the PWM Controller begins to turn on for a very short period time, then Off a much longer time, then back on for that same short period of time, etc. This is done ~50x per second (50 Hertz) with cheap 5$ or higher 200 for LED dimmers or up to 16 to 32KHz (!!!) in DCC to the motors.

Heat is #1. BY FAR! DC running For the ones that don’t maintain or run longer trains, on grades, mismatched loco speeds or turn up the Power, because thats where the like or needed to make them happy, are going to have high probability. “Over voltage” is way down the list. 1000’s of us with DCC @12 volts with ‘0’ problems. Loco motors are turned on 16,000 times/sec, 10-50%

In both DC, PWM the voltage applied to the motor contacts can be >100 volts with very short times (think microseconds) but a LOT and ‘all day’ so the motor windings with their enamel coatings survive extremely well. But a motor that that is not moving, that single winding in the motor that was designed to change (magnetically) is going to have HEAT.

In DCC, decoders have the ability to keep your trains running at the same “Speed” with a motor feedback feature named ‘BEMF’, Back Electromotive Force. DCC has 128 Speed Steps, to get each locomotive to run the same speed (by adjusting internal CV values), and especially to start your locomotive from a crawl all the way up to running speed. When starting at Speed Step 1, it will send 16,000 pulses that are only ‘On’ (~12 volt track power) for 1/128 of the time. So these tiny tiny tiny tiny little spikes pounding the motor 16,000 times a second will eventually keep moving the motor in micro increments. This BEMF function says “I don’t like the current in the motor e.g. “ I’m stalled, I’m not moving” so the decoder automatically overrides the Speed Steps to try to get the motor to run faster. It will change the Speech Steps up very fast, as much as 30 of 128 or even more! However, it does not work as desired with our small cordless motors, as the algorithms were designed for much more current, mainly in the HO locomotives. This can cause a problem of a locomotive having a burnt motor if Speed Steps in DCC were left at 1, 2 ~5 Steps when you thought you turned it all the way to 0.

Happy to discuss. I will find my oscilloscope pictures but need to make a few more for a long time.