Marklin ABA

Hi everyone.
I got a new toy a Marklin ABA UP set. I know it rattles and grinds but I got it pretty cheap. Anyway I wondering how to get more power and other options.
I was thinking about finding another F unit and use that to power the B unit. I was also thinking about putting DCC in it. I like the idea of all wheels picking up power. Should I get one chip for all 3 engines? Should I cut all the cables and get the drop in dcc units for 2 (or 3, if I get the B powered)? If I had one chip I would have to run additional wires to the lights.

I would use traction Tires on the Märklin Set to give it enough power to pull a lot of Cars.

Kelley, I would use a seperate decoder on each engine. Those Marklins use a lot of juice, and may pull more electricity then the decoder can withstand. Jeff knows more about this. He is having problem mu Marklins.

NO WAY can you use 1 DCC decoder for 2 (or worse, 3 ! ) motors. The Märklin's draw a much higher current than the quality coreless Falhauber motors. You will likely have a decoder or motor go anyway as permanent motors are just not friendly to DCC decoders. Another issue with the Märklin's is that you have to cut or remove the top board and then jumper the rear-to-front truck pickups (emulate the original board).

Electrical performance will get better when you have 2-3 power units as one is pushing or pulling the other.

2 A's will pull about 20 Märklin metal wheel cars on level ground (or 20 AZL metal wheels or 15 MTL plastic wheels). Less on grades. Powering the B unit is good. If you can find someone to traction tire the Märklin wheels, great.

Jeff
SF Bay Area Z

Exactly, NO WAY,

and not only for the power story.

The decoder needs feedback from the motor, 1motor! to run.
With 3 motor, you will have unpredictable beheavior, because
he would have feedback depending of the positon of the rotor in
every motor. 3 times the normal frequency, with Doppler effect,
because they will not run synchrone.
I would like to see this

Wow thanks for the expert advice!! Ill just keep them dc and try to pick up another motor and add some weight. I wont get my nice mars lights but I can always throw in a Hightech lightset. Only other thing would be to add an MTL coupler set. I had really good results with the Titanium putty on my german diesal (Again thanks for that advice folks) so i will try it with these too.