owentherail Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Im not too hot on CVs, is there a way of speeding slow locos up, I'm on max speed and it ain't moving very fast. I've a NCE power cab, Cheers Owen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted February 8, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 8, 2014 Is it just one loco or several? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
owentherail Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 Is it just one loco or several? Just the one as far as I've got so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted February 8, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 8, 2014 I think I can interpret that as meaning you only have the one loco fitted. Apologies if I'm wrong. The only reason I ask is that we had a similar problem at the club recently. I was greeted on arrival with a statement that the loco was going slowly and that the direction and speed buttons weren't responding to presses - only the throttle wheel had any impact on either. We tried resetting the throttle the factory settings but that didn't make any difference. We then noticed a reference to Yard control in the manual. We eventually managed to get out of Yard mode and that solved the problem. I'm afraid I can't help any further if your speed buttons are working. That said, can you post the decoder details as that could affect the CV to change. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Unless the decoder has already been adjusted, most will have CV5 which sets top speed, at maximum. Worth checking out that it is set to full output. In addition to what Ray has asked, how does the loco go on 12V DC without a decoder installed? Is it appreciably faster than the maximum speed on DCC? There are RTR locos with quite high gear ratios nowadays, in order that they don't scream along, because they genuinely were slow machines. You could have a simple mechanical problem limiting top speed: friction in the drive train, a jammed unpowered wheelset, draggy pick up wipers, simply not enough weight on the driven wheels; can you see the driven wheels slipping? What is the stalled current draw of the motor at 12V DC, and the normal max current of the decoder - not the peak it will tolerate short term - but its sustained maximum output? (As an example, if the decoder will do 0.5A, and the stall current is 0.4A or more my experience is that top speed performance will be poor; you want a decoder output significantly larger then the 12V stall current, I would suggest 30% or better.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shibushe Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Can you read CV5. Its possible its incorrectly set. You may have to set the variable higher, Most of my Locos are set above 100 to get realistic running. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
owentherail Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 Can not read CV5 !! I've 2 Heljan 47s, blue one that's slow at mo, RFD use to go well now goes slow too? WTF is going on!!! I'm guessing I've pressed something on controller, max speed is 28, I thought it went higher than that? Cheers for advice so far. Owen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted February 8, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 8, 2014 Do the speed & direction buttons still work? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeaky Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 When you say max speed is 28, that is the speed steps its either 28 or 128, that should make a difference in actual speed? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
owentherail Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 All buttons seem to work, when I use throttle dial/buttons the highest number it goes to is 28. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted February 8, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 8, 2014 All buttons seem to work, when I use throttle dial/buttons the highest number it goes to is 28. That seems to rule at Yard control and exhausts my suggestions, sorry I can't help any further. Your next trick from what has been said by others seems to be to try and read CV5 which I've just tried and can only do on a programming track. That said, CV5 on the two locos that I have just tried seems to return a value of 0 so it may not be reading it correctly. It may help others if they knew what decoder(s) you are using. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 8, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 8, 2014 Is it me, or after 11 posts do we still not know what make the decoder is? Much more relevant to slow running than the command station. While all compliant decoders respond to the same basic commands, there are plenty of extra functions and commands built in by the individual manufacturers. Have you tried F3? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted February 8, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 8, 2014 Ian I can see where you're coming from. I only mentioned the command station because of what we'd experienced just a couple of days ago. However, from an OP that implied only one loco affected, we now seem to have reached a point where (at least) two may be affected (post 7) so the command station may not be totally blame free. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 As the command station is an NCE powercab, it may well be the cause as the standard power supply that comes with them from many suppliers is, I believe, a bit low on the voltage output. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corax67 Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 The OP says their RFD 47 used to run fine but now goes slow so why would the power output have dropped? Can we please know the make and model of decoder as has previously been asked? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 ... I've 2 Heljan 47s, blue one that's slow at mo, RFD use to go well now goes slow too? WTF is going on!!! I'm guessing I've pressed something on controller, max speed is 28, I thought it went higher than that? ... You have settable options in speed step ranges on the controller, it can offer 28 or 128 step ranges, but whichever is used the max output will be the same: at 28 on the 28 step range, and 128 on the 128 step range. So don't worry about that. (Presumably there is a button press routine that allows the user to toggle between these two ranges, likely easy enough to have done by accident.) So another loco which ran quickly enough for your liking is also now moving slowly. That points at the DCC system output having altered. Ray mentioned that a system he has used has a 'yard mode' which presumably acts to slow everything down. Look that up in your manual, and other like terms like 'shunt setting', and try whatever process there is for cancelling these 'all go slow' settings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 8, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 8, 2014 I note from the manual http://ncedcc.com/images/stories/manuals/power_cab_manual_v1.28.pdf that in Pro cab mode there is a Yard Mode. I assume the OP has checked this is not the problem, as Ray suggested rather earlier? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted February 8, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 8, 2014 I tended to rule Yard mode out because that seems to disable the speed and direction buttons with the thumbwheel controlling both instead - in Normal mode the thumbwheel just affects the speed, not the direction and the direction buttons are operative. The OP indicated that his direction buttons were working. Getting into Yard mode accidentally is easy. You just need to inadvertently be pressing the Select Loco key when you power up or when you plug the cab into the faceplate socket (which is effectively the same as powering up). You then press 1 followed by Enter and you're in Yard mode. Getting out of Yard mode seems equally easy (once you know how!). Simply press the Select Loco key when you power up and press 2 followed by Enter in the Yard/Normal screen and then press the Prog/Esc key. I'm going to guess that if the user is pressing the Select Loco key at the moment there is a short, when the PowerCab (effectively?) powers down it may also put the user into the Yard/Normal option selection screen and if the user then presses 1 without realising it, they're on Yard mode. However, I hasten to add this is just a surmise on my part. It certainly wouldn't hurt to check the Yard/Normal mode setting though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
owentherail Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 Hi all, thanks for advice, I'll check the yard mode next time at layout, how do I find out make of chip? One had it in already and I thing one is a Hornby chip. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted February 8, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 8, 2014 I'm not aware of an easy way to check the make of decoder although I think you can read a specific CV value and get a numerical value that is a numerical code for a specific Manufacturer. Are any of the misbehaving locos sound fitted - that should reduce the number of likely suppliers? Are there only two locos that are misbehaving? I'm 99.9% certain that you won't be in Yard mode if:- (i) - some locos behave normally and others don't, and (ii) - you can still change direction using the direction button, and (iii) - the increment & decrement (speed) buttons still function. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnb Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Hi all, thanks for advice, I'll check the yard mode next time at layout, how do I find out make of chip? One had it in already and I thing one is a Hornby chip. If you set the NCE Powercab to programming mode press 'esc' then '4' then follow the standard set up as described in the manual. The first thing that the command station reads is the manufacturer id (it's just a number). The manufacturer corresponding to that number can be found by going to the NMRA website www.nmra.org (you don't have to be a member to do this) and looking through the DCC section for the page that lists those numbers. The chip manufactures websites usually have their manuals readily available. From there and the NCE handset it is a straightforward matter to read and/or change any available CV. Just make sure that when you set to programming mode there is no other loco on the system. I have found the NCE manual is well written and clear and there plenty of facilities to do things. Hope that helps John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shibushe Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Decoder Codes used to identify the Manufacture as follows. ZIMO 145. TCS 153. LENZ 99. DIGITRAX 129. ZTC 132. BACHMAN/ ESU 151. CT 117. There are more bit I dont know them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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