Minitrix protects all sound models with buffer capacitors to maintain driving fun if, for example, track contamination interrupts the current pickup. But electronics need space!
In the design of the Ce 6/8 III 14305 crocodile, for example, it was decided after initial running tests to protect digital operation not only with three small buffer capacitors on the circuit board - a larger buffer in the locomotive body doubled the capacity to approximately 80 microfarads. "We have four technologies available for buffer capacitors in different designs, with different voltages and capacities," explains Ulrich Seifert, electronics developer at Märklin.
"The classic is aluminum electrolytics, which are inexpensive but take up a lot of space - and we don't have that in Minitrix locomotives. Then, rising dramatically in price, come tantalum and polymer capacitors. "In these generations of devices, we have higher and higher capacitances for the same volume and voltage, so we can precisely equip a model according to its requirements." Not to be used are ceramic capacitors, although multilayer ceramic chip capacitors (MLCC) are blessed with the highest packing density: "Their capacitance is voltage-dependent - if more voltage is applied, the capacitance decreases. That's not a problem in smartphones, but it is in our field of application." Another important point for the electronics developer is that this struggle for installation space begins anew with every locomotive with sound. "The only welcome exceptions are the tender boards on trailing tenders of the standard designs."
