Electronics and DCC

Hi!

As a relative newbie to DCC, I have recently acquired enough knowledge to do the basic DCC operations.  Yesterday, my #2 son (42) came over and I took him upstairs so he could marvel at Dad's new electronic toys and admire the layout under construction.  As trackage and wiring are complete for the 2 % incline, and a lower level 6 track staging area of the 11x15 HO layout, I planned to demonstrate the sights & sounds of some BLI Paragon locos - and the wonders of DCC.

Well, I started out with a Mu'ed pair of RSD-15s, followed up with an SW-7, with a grand finale of the    4-8-4 Northern.  Things started out just fine, and second son was dutifully impressed with the ol man's new found knowledge and toys.  But after the basic demonstrations, things started to go wrong - things I have read about before in this Forum (that thankfully had happened to others before me)...........

First, the Mu-ed pair of RSD-15s became "un Mu-ed".  I attribute that to running one of them off the "end of track", and my feeble attempts to fix the problem.  After putting the unresponsive unit aside, I then found I couldn't shut the sound off on the remaining unit. 

Second, the SW-7, which was parked on a stub end siding after its demonstration, began to move ever so slowly.  Yes, it got a case of the "creeps", and I figured out I had left it on speed step 1 when I went to run another loco.  I could certainly see how this could create problems and do damage at a detailed engine terminal or if the loco got on to a main line........

Third, and frankly this was scary and could have been an expensive situation.....  I was running the BLI 4-8-4 up the incline to the main level, demonstrating its sounds (terrific!) and acceleration.  I then decided to run another loco at the same time, and suddenly realized I had "lost" the Northern's address.  It was moving pretty good now, and fast approaching the "end of track".  With enough momentum, it could take a two foot dive to the lower level (without a net) !!!

Well, not to worry - I hit the "emergency stop" button on the DT-400 - but NOTHING happened!!!!  So then I did the only thing I could, I pulled the plug, and the loco rolled to a stop within inches of the EOT.  Yikes!  That was scary, for what is quickly becoming my most favorite loco could have turned into Junque in another few seconds!!! 

In summary, I sure learned a lot - including that I'm not as DCC literate as I thought I was.  I've since figured out what I did wrong, and hopefully won't do again.  I do have to learn more about the "emergency stop" button, and figure out if it was supposed to do what I thought it would do (I.E. stop all trains). 

But in spite of the problems, # 2 son was impressed - mainly to see his ol man coming out of the dark ages.  Of course he wondered how much "all this cost", probably trying to figure out how badly his inheritance would be affected (HA!), and/or how much he could recover on Ebay upon my demise.

ENJOY,

Mobilman44   

Mobilman,

Running (and keeping track of) two trains simultaneously is not a small feet - even when you've been using DCC for a while.   Yea, those things happen....but you survived them...and you learned from them.  That's the important thing.  I'm glad to hear that your prize steamer didn't take the plunge off Pike's Peak.

As for your son's financial future: The next time he's over looking at the layout, make mention to him that you've recently "moved" his inheritance into a progressive and innovative market fund.  When he asks you what that is, you can then point to the layout and tell him with a wry smile on your face, "You're lookin' at it, bud!" 

Tom

My wife and I decided long, long ago that on that fatefull day, the lawyer will read to the children the followning:

"Being of sound mind and body we spent it all."

Sheldon

If you want to stop the whole layout using the E button, you must press it twice.....X2.  Pressing it once only stops the engine you have currently active on your DT400.  Since you had moved on, if inadvertently, to another address, the single press of the E button only attempted to stop the engine that was active, which at the time was not the Northern.

-Crandell

you assign numbers to your sons? odd. sounds like your family was raised on DCC. ha ha ha

when i was young and helping my dad with his DC operated pike, there were issues running more than one train at a time. ever try to 'take' control of a moving engine pulling 20+ cars only to realize that the track polarity is set for the wrong direction? wondeful slack action coming from the couplers. thankfully, dad wasn't too upset as he made the same mistake himself. guess who replaced all the broken couplers?? yeah, i never made that mistake again.

DCC has multiple learning curves. trust me. you will have 'learning events'.

A sad tale indeed.  I remember my first open house after I had converted from Dynatrol to NCE/DCC back in 1999.  Of course sound was not around, but I had installed dual mode decoders made by NCE for Dynatrol as they begain to phase out the old command control systems for the new DCC.  So I could run those engines on the Dynatrol or NCE.  Dynatrol, at the same time, was marketing an infrared system as a last attempt to not be crushed by the DCC revolution, so I had Dynatrol repeaters on the ceiling and engines running on the railroad with those pesky dual decoders, and the wrong cabs kept getting in the wrong hands, as my crew was not really checked out with the system, and we had chaos.

After that open house, I left the dual decoders in the engines, in fact, a few are still in service today, but I totally removed anything from the railroad that said Dynatrol, removed the infrared dealies on the ceiling, and went straight to DCC only.

nuff said.

Bob

Ahhhh, assigning numbers to kids not all that "odd".  You may not be old enough to recall the old Charlie Chan movies, wherein he differentiated his sons (to "outsiders") in the same manner.  I've got 4, born within 3 years (1 set twins), and all are in their early '40s today.  Haa, none have the MR gene..............

ENJOY,

Mobilman44

 It usually skips a generation - neithe rof my boys is aprticualrly interested, although #1 son did have fun on the trip to Strasburg this past week - although not so much on day 2 when I had him help carry the RCT&HS modules into the railroad museum for setup.

 You e-stop issue ahs been addressed - although there is an option to make a single press a global e-stop that will shut downt he layout - not always wise though - the sudden stop may save the sound-equipped Northern from taking a dive but it could dump that train of 15 Kadee cars on the floor since it was on a curve when it suddenly stopped.

 Granted I did have an incident with my last layout, showign off the sound loco. I plugged in a good bit of momentum so I could crank the throttle and get a good load built up as the loco slowly started its train. Also lots of stopping momentum so I could use the dynamic brake. All well and good except the track was incomplete. Cranked the throttle off and....uh oh, not gonna stop in time. Luckily I was goign in reverse and only dumped a few cars on the floor - which broke apart is pieces. Luckily they were some Kato covered hoopers - and they are NOT made out of the usual type of plastic. Once I located all the bits and pieces I was able to reassemble them good as new - not a single grab was broken. I think I lost a couple of knuckle springs, but I loose those just sitting at the workbench.

                           --Randy