DCC Impulses Column - 5
If you don’t have your address set, do so now in the BASIC tab.
Before you can adjust any of the speeds, you need to assure
that there is no momentum setting in the decoder messing up
the results. The easiest way to do this is to set momentum (CVs
3 and 4, for those of you not using DecoderPro) to zero (5).
Set the decoder to 28/128 speed steps (6).
WRITE ALL CHANGES to the decoder and SAVE the file you have
created onto your computer.
Set start speed first
The old saying is, "You gotta walk before you can run." Your
loco's gotta creep first, too. Most decoders use pretty much
the same set up process. I'll note some specific differences
along the way.
5: DecoderPro screen: Mometum (CV 3 and CV4) set
to zero in MOTOR tab.
5
6: DecoderPro screen: Select 28 or 28/128 speed
steps in BASIC tab.
6
Open the DecoderPro file for your loco on the computer in the
PROGRAMMING ON MAIN mode. Then you can run the loco
with a throttle and customize the loco with the computer. For
best results, use a throttle capable of exactly reading speed
steps, like a DT4xx series from Digitrax or the Pro series from
NCE or a LH100 from Lenz.
CV 2 is called Start Voltage in the NMRA standards. The sharp-
eyed folks in the crowd will have already noticed that this is a
misnomer. The motor voltage is constant; the power applied to
the motor to control the speed is varied by changing the length
of time that the voltage is applied to the motor as in figure 2.
So, CV 2 really should be called Start Speed or Start Power.
The quickest way to set up a crawl is to set your system to 128
speed steps. This is totally compatible with the decoder being
MRH-Dec 2013
