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How do you get smooth running in dcc?


Earl Bathurst

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Hi

Got some chips in some of my locos but dont seem to get smooth acceleration. I got NCE power cab and when i got for example from notch 2 to notch 3 its a bit jumpy and dont get a smooth acceleration like i want, The notches only go to 28 so taking that its on 28 speed steps how do you get it to 128 speed steps?

 

Also starting voltage by increasing that will that give you smoother acceleration?

 

Hope someone can help

Scott

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You want starting voltage as low as possible, set so that the motor only just turns over on speed step 1. Try higher values in CV's 3 and 4 to smooth out the step to step transitions in acceleration and slowing respectively - works whether using 28 or 128 speed steps. You will have to read your NCE manual to see how to change to 128 steps, unless some kind user of this system happens along with an answer. You could edit the title to show 'NCE 128 steps?' as a subtopic which gives this aspect a little more visibility.

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Scott,

 

On the Power Cab handset, the button 2nd from the right on the bottom row reads "28/128" and "F12". Each press toggles between 28 and 128 speed steps. If you press Shift and the same button you get function 12.

 

Harold.

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HI

I have some Bachmann a tcs and a zimo. I have the tcs in a Bachmann 56xx and on very slow speed it doesnt run too smooth or as smooth as i likie becuase the layout im building at the moment is only a small shunting plank and needs slow speed. WHat can i do different?

Scott

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Can you test the loco without the decoder on a basic DC controller to see how it runs without the help of any back EMF?

 

I give all my loco chassis at least an hour of gentle trundling about back and forth before a decoder installation, even if they come out of the box really sweet running. Noting that you have only a short 'plank' layout, what you need for this is a circle of set track which can be set up at need, and a very basic DC controller. The intent is to have the model running as sweetly and freely as possible so the decoder isn't having to compensate for mechanical deficiencies. Steam model chassis often take some time to settle down to being really smooth at low speeds, the rod coupling of the axles does mean there are often slight inequities in the drive line, and these show up most at low speed.

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If the loco jerks at low speed or has jackrabbit starts it could be that the Back EMF is not working correctly. The first thing to do is to remove the capacitors from the motor and see how things go after that. If you still get jerky running, BEMF could be set "too tight", try backing off the BEMF settings.

 

John

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The Zimo is a much better decoder than the others and usually works pretty well straight out of the box without configuration, so you will probably need to do a bit of tuning of the back EMF if the TCS and Bachmann decoders have it.

 

To get the back EMF to work properly you will need to remove the motor capacitors and bypass any inductors in series with the motor. There should not be any resistors to worry about. These components restrict the high frequency signals that the decoder uses to control the motor, that is why they have to go. The decoder contains other components that perform the interference suppression that they were there for.

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