Are there any buying guides, research web sites, do’s or don’t when it comes to buying N scale DCC locomotives? I am so frustrated with the inconsistency of these engines. One engine will run as nice as can at setting ‘3’ where another won’t budge unit it gets to ‘12’ or so plus a host of other problems.
I have watched many a video and read a number of books on DCC, so I feel comfortable with my CV settings. Also remove things like dirty track, bad connections, etc. I am asking about the engines themselves and the onboard DCC decoder.
I buy Atlas and Intermountain engines, Kato if I can find one. Most come from two of the well-known larger online websites. Some will come with DCC installed but most are DCC Ready so I have a local train hobby shop install the DCC decoder.
I don’t mind paying a few extra dollars for a quality product as long as it works. I have hundreds of dollars’ worth of engines just sitting because they run like junk. Where do I start to trouble-shoot? CV’s values, buying the wrong brand of engines, have the wrong decoders installed? Need help.
Maybe it's not the loco, but the decoder? All brands of motors are different and may require different voltages to start up, which is why there is CV2 in DCC, to increase the voltage applied to the motor at speed step 1, so you don;t have to crank them up to 15 to move. But a good decoder with BEMF should almost always start moving on step 1 or 2 without additional adjustment of CV2. Of course, the BEMF needs to be set up for different motor types, but the defaults usually mostly work and the adjustment is for absolute fine tuning. Some are automatic adjusting, like TCS. The loco may run a little erratically the first time you try it after installing the decoder, but after that it will settle down and run quite well once the BEMF has tuned itself.
Have you tested the engines on DC, before installing a decoder? If they don't run smoothly on DC, DCC is not some magic fix. If they DO run well on DC, then they should be good runners with DCC. Atlas, Kato, and Intermountain locos are all good stuff, in N or HO.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
www.spookshow.net
To me it sounds like to OP is buying some locos with factory installed DCC. First question, is the track really clean? Its important with HO DCC. I imagine even more so with the lighter weight N scale locos. What has the hobby shop that installed the decoders done to help you solve these problems?
Don1942: I understand and appreciate your issue. It sounds like removing all other variables, you are dealing with inconsistent functioning of engines. This board is of course an excellent source of researching out which engines folks have and how they run. One thing I can recomend, I do not know which DCC system you are using, but JMRI is a great tool for setting up decoders.
From my own experience with engines/DCC:
1. Kato FEF-3 with factory DCC/Sound--simply amazing operation/performance, but I did customize CV settings (after some web searching for folks who had been there done that). Out of the box, peformance was odd---lurching type motion pulling uphill--as I said, A guick web search found I was not the only one to notice this, and others had done the work of finding better CV settings.
2. Kato SD90MAC--I placed in MRC1808 decoders (very easy to do)--again, very smooth performers, and great sound too--but, the headlight on all three decodeers no longer functions. I did have to play with starting voltage and top voltage CV's to get these to perfom.
3. Intermountain AC-12--I placed a digitrax sound decoder in this (again, very easy to do). Again, a very smooth running locomotive and I did not have to change operational CV's.
There are differences in decoders, and opinions about decoders can quickly look like a religious war.
In closing, I will say again, look into JMRI for setting up your decoders.