Very interesting

I don't know much about this as yet, but I did a little looking.  It's not on the main TCS web site, but it is on their store

http://www.tcsdcc.com/Zen/index.php?main_page=products_new

Also, I'm not sure if it's legal to post this here, but here's the link to the discussion on the MR forum:

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/200878/2195391.aspx

Caps

In their pictures it looks like nothing more than ganged electrolytic capacitors which is what you would expect it to be I suppose.

Can you kill a "Keep Alive"?

So, from the suppliers web site:

"KA1 will power an HO-Scale locomotive at speed step 10 of 128 with headlights on for approximately 3 to 6 seconds (depending on the locomotive and motor)."

Question:  What if I've got a loco that isn't responding to my throttle and it in the run-away / smash into something mode and I press the emergency stop on my Digitrax throttle - killing track power - will the loco keep going for that 3 - 6 seconds?

Rick

I can see it now... a engine

I can see it now... a engine goes into a dirty spur track and just runs off the end into the nicely built structure.  Oh the humanity!!

I think that if the track is clean, the packets will instruct the train to stop... but if the track is dirty it will keep running till it receives a packet or uses up the capacitor.

Staying alive

Exactly.  There's no substitute for clean track and plenty of wipers on the wheels.  All the keep alive capacitor does is provide that little bit of juice to coast past a dirty spot.  If the track is clean, it will do absolutely nothing to affect the way the engine runs.

Clean track a must anyways...

   I agree that clean track is a must. I use the Digitrax Super Chief since 1998 or so . I have a track slider car on just about every train I run. Not some of the intermodals or Empire Builder passenger train on my BNSF layout. I really don't have any issues with my engines. The only times I do are around switches. Mine are currently Atlas code 83 of Super and Custom line types. Once in awhile the sound engines will cut out at the switches and have been running flawlessly until then. It doesn't happen regularly at all. I will be using Peco code 83 switches when I get time in place of these. I already have thses bought. What are your thoughts.

   Patrick Waltz

Not enough details

There is not enough information in these product listings; there's no information on compatibility with existing decoders.  Normally items like these will not work on standard decoders.  There needs to be a place to connect them in a suitable location, like a plug or some terminals within the decoder.  They will not attach between the track and any old decoder.  Presumably TCS will be modifiying their decoder line to be able to make use of these components, and other companies' decoders will not work without modification.

Typically, any decoder could have a capacitor wired in, but it would need some micro-soldering skills to be able to wire it into the circuitry of a decoder, as well as knowing exactly where it has to be connected.

Seconds...Not (well, actually, yes...)

Actually, ESU (Germany) has a couple of locomotives they sell with the stay-alive feature installed, and their one video shows a sound equiped loco lifted off the track with the wheels spinning and the sound working for several seconds while it's hanging in mid-air.  It will last a lot longer than a few micro seconds.

Rich - RCC...

Rich, that's wher eyou need RCC to communicate Directly with your engine, because in that moment that the locomotive is using battery backup, you are essentially NOT in communication with it Too!

This is the Achilles Heel of DCC - it's still relying on DC to transmit information.  In DC, the information transmitted was brutally simple [if you could call it information transfer!!]  Today, it is sophisticated, but it is still tethered to the same problem.

This device from TCS - yes, it's a good thing to see it!  It's the "Voltage tank!" Add in the Stranton NWSL "RCC Reciever" to your decoder and you've fully modded your engine! 

ESU Power Pack...

The ESU Power pack, which is basically a repackaged capacitor, may be overkill, but it sure works nicely on the lightset.

I'm not quite brave enough to cut into the Loksound 4.0 shrinkwrap to hook it up to that. Perhaps the LokPilot I've got sitting around though....

Keep Alive is nothing new

Lenz have had it since at least 2004. They call it USP, Uninterruptible Signal Processing. You don't lose control of your loco when the power is interrupted on dirty track. If you read the full article on the Main North website you will see that he could change the direction of his loco while it was completely insulated from the track by a 12" piece of tape. He has a video of a loco doing just that. 

http://members.optusnet.com.au/nswmn1/USP.htm

Zimo and DCC Concepts also supply decoders with a stay alive feature.