What DCC System are people running


I personally only use a few of them
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Thanks kennedy, that brings it back down to earth, seems to be common sense settings you're using, however (CV6 = Midpoint) midpoint of what? An open draw bridge no problem rails will be dead, now derail is another matter since a lot of the train could end up on a long trip to the floor.

Cheers Willis
 
Midpoint of the speed curve. The speed setting values are 1-255, irregardless of the number of speed steps you are using. I personally use 28speed steps; the controller goes from 1-28. However, internally to the decoder, 28=255 for the speed value. Controller value 14 is half of that, which is 128.

What the Mid/Max does is to set up what I'll call a pseudo speed curve. This uses only two setting values. If you set the MID value to, say 75, that means you get to the middle speed value faster (say Controller value 9 or so, vs 14); it won't be a straight line curve. If you set it above 128, then your midpoint will be higher, say a controller value of 20, let's say. This means overall, it'll take more increases to get to half speed.

The Max is a bit different; at max value, full voltage gets to the motor. Cutting the value back means your top speed won't be as fast, since you don't get the full voltage to the motor. I used this on one of my Walthers Rotary Snowplows. The motor that rotates the cutter wheel is only rated at 5-6 volts max (there's a current limiter soldered in line to limit it). So, when I installed a decoder to control the speed of the wheel, I set the MAX at basically under half value. This limited the current going to the motor as well as cutting down the speed to more realistic levels.

Kennedy
 
Thank's Kennedy, OK if I have it right, the higher I set the midpoint, the more steps it will take to reach half speed, and from that point a lesser amount of steps to maximum speed. Like say if it was a yard switcher and the mid point was 20 it would take 20 speed steps to reach the loco's actual 1/2 speed and only 8 more steps from there to max speed. Now the way I'm seeing it, is this should give greater control of the lower speeds which would be great for a loco of that type. ( Right :) ) ( Wrong :( )

Cheers Willis
 
Good so far eH! OK just one more, Why I would put a $40 decoder in a $15 loco I have no idea, but supposin I did.
1- Set the kick Start to realistic value ( I'm assuming this sort of a pulse )
2- Using the MAX speed values and the MIDPOINT values
I could get the piece of junk working pretty good, say very much better than with a good quality throttle.

Cheers Willis
 
I suppose you could spend that much for a decoder on an engine that probably cost you half as much :confused: Maybe it might run well.

Seriously, with the exception of one engine, which i had probably spent more in parts than the engine was probably worth, i have put out to pasture most of the older equipment. From the get go, especially if they are Athearn, the units are not DCC ready, which means an entire dismantling to isolate the motor unit. :eek:

Not really that hard, just time consuming.
 
I have a handful of $30 decoders, but don't put them in the $15 locos. Though I have a $100 decoder in a $25 loco......

This one is an older Athearn Blue Box SD40T-2, dummy unit. It's got a Soundtraxx LC EMD decoder in it, plus 3 oval speakers inside. No motor, the entire interior is crammed with speakers. It could be a lead unit, but most likely it'll be a trailer MU'd with a powered unit; the idea being that all it's going to do for the consist is crank out sound.

BTW, most of the cheap-o locos have the cheapest decoders around (mainly TCS-1s, $15ea).

Kennedy
 
Hi guys, I guess what I was after is, will the variable settings of the DCC systems allow one to enhance the operating characteristics of a locomotive? All my operational loco drives are Blue Box Athearns,( no matter what they resemble now ) and I have just about 8 finished now. Rebuilding the fleet with upgrades is out of the question because I've countless hours invested building the locos I have. Isolating the motors will not be a problem since they are now mounted on plastic ( the rubber mounts are gone ) remove the chassis wire from its post and the motor is isolated from the chassis, so decoder installation shouldn't be too difficult now, will just have to find out which wire from the decoder goes to where :D

Cheers Willis
 
Willis,

I've only done one blue box and it seems to run fairly fine and since it is assigned to local switching assignments overall performance has not been an issue. I am sure that by tweaking the variables should provide you with as best performance you will need. The key will be to make sure that the engines that you plan to run in the consists run well together.


As far as installing DCC in Athearn bluebox units, Digitrax makes a DH series of a decoder that comes with the harness necessary to hook up the engine probably as easily as can be accomplished. I believe it is a DH163AT. :confused: Haven't bought one in a while.

Just please remember to coat the well in the frame where the motor sits with some kind of insulator. I have heard horror stories even in the Genesis series of dead shorts. :eek:

Bob.
 
The main thing on the Blue Box motors is the power pickup on the bottom of the motor. Those two little prongs are the culprit. Some folks break them off, others swap it with the top pickup, either way works. And, some electrical tape on the bottom of the motor well helps.

Kennedy
 
Those two little prongs are the culprit
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Yeah I just pounded them in, as they are no longer needed. The post I refered to, is a 2mm brass screw threaded into the frame the motor pickup is wired to that. These latest locos will also have the associated truck pickup with a wire soldered to the frame, much better than the stock friction connection between frame and truck. The motor itself is mounted with screws to plastic plates cemented into the indents where the rubber mounts went, but as you say a little tape wouldnt hurt so I'll do that to the 630's presently under construction. Thanks.

Click on the pic the bottom Motor pickup wiring and the hard wired trucks
Cheers Willis
 
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Well, you won't need a dh163AT as the kit that come with it is designed to connect to the clips on the athearn frame. You have already either eliminated them or cut them down. That will save you a couple of Dollars. :D A Regular 7 wire decoder will suffice. Either NCE's D13SR or one of the other brands standard decoders.
 
7 Wire :confused: ok two to the motor, two to the pickup from the track. Now I'm going to make a guess, one common and two for front and rear lights. how close am I, or am I way off base?

Cheers Willis
 
good assessment. :D

Black and Red are track power.

Grey and orange are leads to the motor.

White is for the Front light, and yellow to the rear light

The Blue is the common for both.

Not home so I don't have one in front of me, but the instructions in most manuals are usually clear enoug to do the install.

there may be an eight wire. Green. that is used for Ditch lighting, stobe lighting or other lighting features outside of the regular front and rear head lights. Again the Blue is the common for that as well.
 
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Thanks Bob, well Saturday I'm going to the MR show, don't have too much to ask them now, but who knows :)

BTW for anyone following this thread, this Athearn chassis is a SMOOOOTH runner. By removing the rubber mounts, solidly mounting the motor on plastic beds, the alignment of the shafts to the trucks are straight and horizontal, leaving little if any misalignment for the universals to compensate for. Now if the flywheels were balanced?? well I'm not going to do that. :D

Cheers Willis
 
Well the train show is over :) I asked lots of questions :confused: some were answered and some were not :rolleyes:
First let me thank the members who posted to this thread for their open and unbiased answers to my questions. To be fair I did come out of the show with some good information, especially from the club who showed and demonstrated their Lenz system and also with the telephone handset. The host club who were using Digitrax were also helpful and told me they were using all NCE decoders on their system. I was told to stay clear of some basic DCC units and the reasons for, how true these statements were, time will tell. All in all it seems the command unit prices are in the same ballpark. Each brand would run me about Cdn.$500 and with enough decoders to start I'd be out of the park. So my decision will be to purchase the NCE decoders an then the big unit to command it all at a later date. It's been quite a day SOoo!
Cheers Willis
 
Willis,
Just make sure whatever decoders you purchase have two things. Enough function outputs to drive the number of lights you want (e.g. ditch lights, etc) and that they have "ulrasonic" or "silent drive".

Bill
 
"ulrasonic" or "silent drive".
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:confused: OH! Boy! here we go again. :D I vaguely remember reading something about silent drive in the adds, what does it mean?

Cheers Willis ( Education continues ) :D
 
Willis,
Most of the new generation of decoders have an ultrasonic-type function. The older version of decoders produces a hum in the loco motors because it is powering the motor with a chopped signal. Sort of like running a DC motor on AC current. The new ultrasonic decoders raise the frequency of the chopping to a range that is outside of the frequency where the motor can respond. Thus, you hear no hum in the motor. This effect is especially noticable at low speeds, before the motor gets reved up to high rpm. I consider this to be such a big deal, that I swapped out a couple older generation decoders for new Digitrax versions with the ultrasonic function. An example would be the Digitrax DH163P.

Another neat function that the newer decoders have is a type of velocity feedback. This function causes the loco to run at the selected speed, whatever the load. This is extra useful for very low speed operation. If you select speed step 2 for example, it will operate at speed step 2, regardless of the number of cars in tow or the grade. Again, the DH163P has this function.

Bill
 
What are the current limitations on decoders? I've got some stuff with older Pittman motors that I really don't want to re-motor. For instance I have an old Hobbytown with a DC-90 motor in it. That thing pulls the wall paper off the wall but it also draws about an amp and a quarter. And I don't even want to think what it's stall current is.
 
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