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4-Loco Consist - Speed Matching

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  • Member since
    July 2006
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Posted by locoi1sa on Saturday, November 9, 2013 4:57 PM

Rich.

 CV2 is the starting voltage in speed step 1. This CV will dictate how much voltage goes to the motor to start it spinning but not the current to the motor. The current to drive the motor and keep it spinning comes from what NCE calls the torque compensation. This is all in the decoder information pages you can download from the NCE site.

  Did you finally get to the bottom of the issues you were having with your DASR decoders?

        Pete

 I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!

 I started with nothing and still have most of it left!

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  • From: Dearborn Station
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Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, November 9, 2013 4:34 PM

Hey, I got it, and I appreciate everybody's comments and suggestions.

I messed with CV5 and CV6 until I got all four units running at pretty much the same speeds.

I left CV2 unchanged at zero, and I have a hard time understanding that CV.

When you place a value in CV2, what exactly is that doing?

Can someone explain to me the relationship of different CV2 values for each of the four locos in the consist?

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
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Posted by rrinker on Saturday, November 9, 2013 2:01 PM

Definitely follow the instructions that cacole posted above with those NCE decoders. They have some of the best slow speed capabilities of any non-BEMF decoder, but you need to tweak the drive paremeters before setting CV2

Once you've got them all starting as best they can individually, now you speed match the start speed with CV2. The fastest one will be your benchmark here, assuming you've adjusted the drive paremeters, it';s running as slow as it can, so your only recourse is to slightly speed up the ones that start even slower.

Once you have them all starting close (and really, all this just needs to be close, not absolutely dead on, coupling them together and adding a train will compensate for a LOT - remember in DC there was no such thing as speed matching, we just coupled a few locos together and hooked up the train), work on the top speed. In this case, the slowest one at full throttle will be your benchmark, you can;t make it go any faster,. Use CV5 on the others to slow them down to match.

Mid speed might be fine then all by itself, but you can then repeat the process at half throttle, in this case you can adjust CV6 on any of them to set a standard, and then match the others to it.

         --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

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Posted by locoi1sa on Saturday, November 9, 2013 11:39 AM

Rich.

 Like horse shoes and hand grenades close counts. Individually I set CV2 to start on SS1 as slow as can be. Then top speed in CV5 since most models run faster than the prototype. The split the difference of CV2 and 5 in CV6. Add a little momentum in CV3 and some deceleration in CV4. Place them all on a loop of track about a foot apart and see what happens and adjust from there. Try this in forward and reverse. Some locos run better one way than the other and you will have to trim that as best you can.

       Pete

 I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!

 I started with nothing and still have most of it left!

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Saturday, November 9, 2013 11:24 AM

Hi, Rich

I have been dipping my toe into the waters of speed matching. I found this writeup from Tony's to be helpful.

http://tonystrains.com/technews/loconews/loco_speed_matching_easy.htm

I have a situation where I want to MU some early run Life-Like E-8s that have speedier gearing with some of the slower Walther's versions which seem to use a different gear ratio.

Hope this helps, Ed

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  • From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
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Posted by cacole on Saturday, November 9, 2013 10:20 AM

Read the documentation that comes with the DA-SR decoder pertaining to adjustment of CVs 116 and 117, in addition to CVs 2, 5 and 6.  NCE recommends that you adjust CVs 116 and 117 before CV2.

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  • From: Westchester NY
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Posted by retsignalmtr on Saturday, November 9, 2013 9:41 AM

Speed matching is recommended. Before I start to speed match loco's I set CV's 3 and 4 to 0, these are acceleration and deceleration CV's. Next set CV2 (start speed)so the loco's just begin to move on speed step 1. Try the loco in both directions as they may run differently in reverse. Adjust CV2 so the loco runs the same in both directions. Then adjust CV5 (top speed) to 255 and CV6 (mid speed) to 125. Place the locos on the track several inches apart, run on speed step 1 and readjust CV2 on the locos that don't maintain the same distance while running. Some decoders do not support CV's 5 and 6 and are not adjustable so you should know that before you try to adjust them.

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  • From: Dearborn Station
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4-Loco Consist - Speed Matching
Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, November 9, 2013 9:16 AM

I have an Athearn Genesis F7ABBA consist on a DCC layout.

All four locos run at different speeds.

Is speed matching recommended, or does it really matter.

All four locos are equipped with NCE DA-SR decoders.  If I speed match, what is the best way to do it?

Rich

Alton Junction

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