Digitrax CVs having effect in DC mode?

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2 replies

60YOKID

Member since
February 2006
From: SW Wisconsin
162 posts

Posted by 60YOKID on Thursday, October 22, 2009 9:44 PM

tbdanny

I was wondering if the CVs controlling motion (namely Vstart, Vmid, Vstop and inertia) carry through and apply to operation when running on DC trackage?

No, these CV's only work with a DCC signal.

jbinkley60

Member since
February 2006
From: Gahanna, Ohio
1,987 posts

Posted by jbinkley60 on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 4:08 AM

tbdanny

Hi,

Having 'standardised' on Digitrax DZ series decoders for most of my locomotives, I was wondering if the CVs controlling motion (namely Vstart, Vmid, Vstop and inertia) carry through and apply to operation when running on DC trackage? I've noticed they take a while to start moving, but I'm not sure if this is inertia or the chip 'realising' that it's on DC. I know the momentum doesn't work.

Thanks in advance,

tbdanny

The reason you see this effect is that it takes about 5V DC for the decoder to have power and power up its electronics. You'll see this with all decoder manufactureres. Here's a note from the Digitrax decoder manual:

8.0 Analog Operation of Digitrax Decoders

Analog operation occurs when Digitrax decoders are operated on DC or conventionally controlled layouts. Automatic analog mode conversion is a feature of most Digitrax decoders, which lets you run your decoder equipped loco on a DC layout without having to re-program the decoder. There are a few things you need to know about analog operation:

· Digitrax decoder equipped locomotives will not move until the voltage is above 5 to 6 Volts DC. When operating decoder equipped locos on DC power, increase the voltage quickly from zero to five volts for best operation.

· Some decoder equipped locos may not operate smoothly on conventional "pulse power." The decoders should be driven from a quality smooth DC power supply when on a conventional layout. Some DC throttles/power supplies with proprietary control systems, such as "tracking control," exhibit pulse power characteristics and may give unpredictable operation.

· Decoders that use the Digitrax 9 Pin Decoder Interface can be easily removed from the loco and replaced with the DHDP Dummy Plug (available separately). This is very useful when you want to run your locomotives on conventional layouts without sacrificing low speed performance. It also allows you to run your engine on layouts that use pulse power. And, when you are ready to run DCC again, just remove the dummy plug & re-install the decoder and you're ready to go!