I must be doing something wrong. I like to run my stuff at a crawl and I have a full ceiling, so not much dust. I can run stuff on the main real slow, 1/2 hour to go about 100'. The more I run stuff the better it gets but since I don't have the final SPST for the frogs in, I just use jumpers for a temp connection. I mainly run Proto 2000 steam 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 and Kato NW2's for the diesels, all can go down to 18" radius but those are mainly on the hidden track and a few sidings.
Really excited to see if this meets the claims BlueRail have been making with their demos and marketing material.
The potential of BT command over a standard based on 30+ year old computer tech requiring substantial hardware infrastructure is clear. Whether any particular implementation (and specifically, this one from BlueRail/Bachmann) actually acheives that potential has yet to be proven.
The stuff these companys do has always worked, it has just been that it was too hard to get everything working together, even now in the DCC world with their bosters and CV's and even though it is all supposed to be compatable, there is always problems, even at the clubs with knolegable people, sometimes they just forget something. For this to take off, it needs to be dummy proof!
The biggest problem msot people have with DCC is with getting the decoder installed without frying it or blowing up the light bulbs. That isn't going to change - notice already one question on here about it. BR will have the exact same issues - first one being there is no real meaning to the term "DCC Ready" so just because the BR receivers will have the same 9 pin connections as a DCC decoder doesn't mean the installs will be any easier. The same issues will pop up - is the motor properly isolated? Are resistors provided for LED headlights? Etc.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker The biggest problem msot people have with DCC is with getting the decoder installed without frying it or blowing up the light bulbs. That isn't going to change - notice already one question on here about it. BR will have the exact same issues - first one being there is no real meaning to the term "DCC Ready" so just because the BR receivers will have the same 9 pin connections as a DCC decoder doesn't mean the installs will be any easier. The same issues will pop up - is the motor properly isolated? Are resistors provided for LED headlights? Etc. --Randy
Not to get into a rant but most that I know who use it are annoyed with it, they love the features but it is highly sensitive to dirty track (especily sound). Even in DC, problems arise like I guess I created more dust than I thought when I did this or that, or today I found out I forgot to hook up power to a new siding I built, dropped the wires and everything, just didn't hook them up to the buss.
By contrast, most of the folks that I know who use DCC love it and the ones who don't either aren't interested in it (and that's fine), or base their impressions from someone else's layout who struggled with it. Like Randy, I hardly ever needed to clean my track. And my locomotives - sound and non-sound - ran flawlessly, with only a mild hick-up on rare occasions.
Room environment "quality", use of metal wheels, how your track is wired are all factors to how well your layout will operate on DCC. If you give special care to these factors as you build your layout, you'll eliminate the frustrations. A badly-wired layout will make DC or DCC an "annoying" experience.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.