anthony allen Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Good afternoon all out there in RM Web world and I trust everyone is well as they can be. I hope that you can assist a DCC novice I purchased a second-hand class 20 (Olivia trains) which is a great model and it all works. I have two issues I wonder whether someone could assist with. Firstly in terms of speed both in forward and reverse in terms of speed settings when moving at 1 & 2 the locomotive crawls at an exceptionally low speed yet as soon as it flicks to 3 it fires up the Turbos and moves far too quickly! Any idea how to correct the overall speed increase? Secondly whilst the red reversing lights stay on all the time in reverse, the white forward lights do not work on speed settings one and three but do on two and four - any thoughts on how to correct this? any help most gratefully received by this dcc novice I operate from a an NCE powercab thanks tobny Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 (edited) The white lights should work on even and odd speed steps if you use 128 speed steps. I don't know why the reds are staying on. Edited November 24, 2020 by smokebox 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted November 24, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 24, 2020 Welcome to the forum. You've only mentioned speed steps 1 to 3, Have you tried higher steps and, if so, how high did the step count go - 14, 28 or 126? Have you ever altered any CVs (or any loco)? I'm just trying to judge how detailed any attempt to help/guide you needs to be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Not all decoders are the same. Over time I have become more fussy with what I use because I have some which don't work as they should. Speed should be more progressive & predictable than you have described. Lights should definitely not depend on speed in the way you have described. It is possible a previous owner has fiddled with some CVs but most retailers would factory reset the decoder & I would certainly expect this from Olivias. Have you tried reading in CVs before by selecting program track on the handset? The first thing it does is read the manufacturer & decoder type. These should be useful in identifying the decoder hiding away inside. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony allen Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 Thanks all of the replies Im sure the decoder is a loksound v4 I have not reset any CVs since I purchased. Is the sensible thing to reset CV8 to factory settings and start from their ? thanks tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crosland Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Headlight going on and off on alternating speed steps is a sign that the command station and decoder do not agree on what the speed packets mean. Either setup the command station to send 14 step speed packets and reset bit 1 in CV29 to tell the decoder to interpret the speed as 14 steps. Or setup the command station to send 28 step speed packets and set bit 1 in CV29 to tell the decoder to interpret the speed as 28 steps. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony allen Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 crossland firstly thanks! secondly for a DCC idiot how does one do this either setup the command station to send 14 step speed packets and reset bit 1 in CV29 to tell the decoder to interpret the speed as 14 steps. Or setup the command station to send 28 step speed packets and set bit 1 in CV29 to tell the decoder to interpret the speed as 28 steps. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dungrange Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 (edited) To chose the value to be written in CV29, try using the calculator at http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29 calculator.htm Changing the number of speed steps on the decoder will add or subtract two from the current value depending on what the current set up is. You can read in the current value of CV29 and back calculate to see what that means, or you can just choose the options that you want and calculate the value that should be in CV29. I've no idea how to change an NCE Powercab between 14, 28 or 128 speed steps. However, if you turn up to full power then you should be able to tell what it's currently set at. Edited November 24, 2020 by Dungrange Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony allen Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 wow brillaint that has worked a treat thanks Dungrange and others who responded top work chaps!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted November 24, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 24, 2020 Dare we ask what worked? The PowerCab manual will tell you how to use your Programming Track - if you only have the one dcc loco then you can use your layout as a programming track (or remove any other locos from the layout and then use it). Once you get two or more decoder fitted locos you are best advised to create a dedicated programming track to set up/adjust CVs/decoders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 5 hours ago, Dungrange said: I've no idea how to change an NCE Powercab between 14, 28 or 128 speed steps. The 3rd button on the bottom row toggles between 28/128 speed steps. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony allen Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 You can ask of course! I changed CV29 using the link to the calculator in the post by Dungrange and now the lights don't flicker and I have a steady speed increase rather than crawl to turbo power thanks to everyone Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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