As promised - my overall impressions of DCC sound

[Oldddudders]

It's also unfair to condemn a supplier if you're not giving them the chance to assist.

Especially as Richard Johnson, as well as being a DCC innovator, is a famously prolific contributor to lists and forums, so would be most anxious to assist if given the chance, either here or by email.

[marc smith]

Thanks to you for the reply (and others) . Like I think I stated, I would have never spent good money on this venture had I known that DCC was going to be so problematical. Every time DCC was mentioned (prior to finding this site) the inference was, " It's the best thing since sliced bread " - but with all this occulted information on 'stay alive' capacitors, super surgically clean wheels and rails not to mention PERFECTLY laid rail ! (YEAH, RIGHT !) there are STILL questions over what type of chip, the competance of the fitter plus myriad other hurdles to overcome. Is it not possible to produce something that is not so prone to glitchy and temperamental operation or better yet, a more honest and down to earth appraisal of sound DCC ? Seems that you only find out the reality of this system after spending lots of cash - as if model railwaying wasn't expensive enough as it is !

 

Hi again,

 

I think you may have misunderstood my message slightly...

I did, hopefully infer that the ONLY exception to DCC running far better than DC was this single locomotive...

 

Over the years, I have tried many ways to improve running,

including using portescap motors - which in their day ran really well compared to other motor types I tried

 

DCC certainly has improved many aspects of railway modelling, for me anyway

Last night I was running a couple of locos on my old "hendre Lane"

neither locos nor layout had been run in quite some time

but everything ran superbly!!!

 

I then ran a dc loco, after cleaning its' wheels,

and it was OK - but not a patch on the dcc fitted versions of the same model...

 

As for your comments on price, perhaps you haven't fully explored the market?

I use a Bachmann EZ command

It's a basic controller, I know

but given that it can also run O gauge - heavy on current sound-fitted locos

it does everything I need, and is simple to use

 

Also, it is rather cheap

I paid around £50 for my first one, then bought a backup for around £30

That's pretty cheap for a controller, I think

 

Basic function decoders are relatively cheap too

at around £9 each last time I checked (I've seen them going for £5 and £6 on ebay)

 

It's certainly cheaper than buying a Portescap....

and side by side, there really is NO comparison

- the dcc fitted locos can run reliably at a quarter of the speed, or less

 

Modern locomotives do run much better than their earlier counterparts,

and but for that one exception of my 08

there's no way I'd go back now.....

Problematic? For me it has solved far, far more than any minor problems thrown up

and I think with all the ideas of other functions such as remote dcc uncoupling in the melting pot...

... railway modelling has moved forward at a fast pace

 

As for sound, I've always said I'd rather have 2 sound-fitted locos,

than 20 unfitted - but I realise that's a personal preference

and there are indeed inventive, effective ways of making sound work for dc

 

Hope you experiment a little more,

and find some fruitful results....

 

Cheers again

Marc

 

PS. Try running a dcc fitted Bachmann class 25 diesel - it really crawls at a snails pace.... and so reliable

[Pannier Tank]

We have still not established if the locomotive was a good smooth runner on DC before conversion to DCC?

 

Also is this the 30 year old Pannier Tank that you've had problems with in your previous posts?

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

If the first DCC decision that the OP makes is a failure, that does NOT constitute a reason to suggest that DCC is 'problematical' or 'expensive'. It might reflect more on the route to the decision

 

As Beast has so ably pointed out, many of us are DCC users, many with sound locos RTR or home grown and are having none of the problems you are experiencing.

 

I agree with Andy Y, your first port of call should be an E Mail correspondence with Richard in Oz and perhaps a few précis on here with Richard's knowledge. His silence thus far is a bit telling for me. Not like him at all.

[Richard Johnson]

*** My delayed response is simply because I am currently exceptionally busy... t the point that even standard email is a couple of days behind. So...do not currently follow RMweb daily, and unless I receive a "heads up" from someone I am not even aware that a topic needs comment.

 

Re this thread and this loco:

 

Re the long time for delivery.

 

(1) It took forever for us to get it done as we were many months behind when it was received - Not by choice... we were simply overloaded. in fact we have only now, after more than a year of being unable to make progress, been able to bring our lead time down to a couple of week. This is due to an increase in staff time spent on installs.

(2) A totally new service department that is a nice working environment has also been added over the past couple of months - it is beautifully equipped and will let us add another staff member as well, so we will stay up to date.

 

Re: The cost of installation.

I'll not discuss the figure here but there is more than 3 hours installation labour in the loco plus a sound decoder. From memory we also added scale working lamps. We do not do simple plug and play install work - it is all loco by loco and with a little more effort han most. The amount charged simply what we did and the time it took, no more, no less.

 

(1) Given that the rate charged is way less than that for much less time than the rate for a young apprentice in the service department of a car dealership I think it was reasonable.

(2) Decoder cost compared favourably with UK pricing.

(3) The sound programming, which is done loco by loco, was another hour that was NOT charged for.

 

re: Loco perfomance.

(1) the sound isn't an issue in discussion and it really IS a good sound for that loco. From memory as small as the loco is we used two speakers. I tuned it myelf so know how it sounds.

(2) The loco ran quite OK on our test track or it would never have left us. The testtrack is Peco code 75 and includes within its length crossovers/sidings and reverse curves. I reject locos with poor pickup at early testing and prior to the programming stage as I need them to run well slowly to do a good job on chuff synchronisation. This loco ran fine in both testing and adjustment stages.

(3) It doesn't have the most wonderful pickups or chassis design but is no worse than many 4mm scale RTR locos. It really needs clean wheels and perhaps the OP might benefit from some contact enhancer for the chassis such as de-ox it gold or similar (maplin should have it).

(3) It could be helped by the new 3 wire ESU stay alive but that isn't a cheap addition and if its not requested we do not add it. It adds appx GBP25 in labour (space needs to be made by milling the chassis in a small loco a wee bit) and adds about GBP30 for the stay alive itself as well...

 

We guarantee all our work and as always would happily review this install at no charge as we would for any customer from anywhere - our service also includes a lifetime of "warranty checks" and re-loading of sound on work we do (We offer than mainly because sometimes modellers accidentally screw up sound files and we are happy to reload for them at no charge where we did the install).

 

In the past week we have finished and sent locos within AU, NZ, US, Canada, UK, Norway and other EU countries. As always, they ran well before they left us or simply could not have been programmed properly as this must be done with the loco running. 99% of customers will, as always, be delighted. Occasionally, one has running problems or similar.

 

These things can ALWAYS be fixed and attended to positively, but they are best handled as 1:1 isues with the client and we need to be able to get involved at the outset, not to read about it on a forum where... with the best intentions in the world, Thread starting information is mostly incomplete so wrong assumptions, 1+1=3 conclusions, guesswork or inaccurate comments are the rule rather than the exception.

 

Kind regards

 

Richard