Bachmann A1 and 36-553 decoders

[Dan Griffin]

morning all, i have done a search of the forum but couldn't find anything so apologies if ive missed something. but I have a Bachmann A1, previously a WP ALLEN, now re-sprayed and heavily modified top a represent 60163. it is fitted with a Bachmann 36-553 decoder, but ive noticed some jerky running at slow speeds. can anyone enlighten me as to which CV's to adjust to correct this. ive found the pdf that Bachmann produce but the A1 is not on there. thanks

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

It needs similar settings to most of the other steam locos in Bach's list as it has a small motor. The decoder as supplied has a set up for the larger motor with flywheels as found in Bach's diesel and electric traction.  

 

To get started set CV 55 to 63 - that's appropriate for a small motor without flywheel. (Notice that the 9F, the one steam loco in Bach's range with a flywheel is the only one for which they recommend a much lower value in CV 55.)

 

Set CV 54 to 12.

 

Try it out, it should be better. Find the best point for CV 54 by iteration around CV 54 value, first try values of 6 and 18. If one of these is noticeably better than 12,  try an intermediate between these values until you find the best setting.

 

Once at the best setting for CV 54, if the running is still not ideally smooth you might want to try slightly lower values in CV 55, in case that helps. From quite a lot of experience this decoder is very 'tweaky' in terms of the required settings for Bachmann's small motors to get the best available performance, and there are no 'right first time' settings to recommend because motors and drive trains vary significantly between examples of the same model - and there may be some variation in decoder performance too....

 

Bottom line: this decoder doesn't ever get the best performance available from the motors in Bachmann steam models. If you want to see what can be got for lowest cost, install a Lenz Standard. That will be as smooth as the mechanism permits and requires very little adjustment; usually just right on factory settings.

[paftrain]

morning all, i have done a search of the forum but couldn't find anything so apologies if ive missed something. but I have a Bachmann A1, previously a WP ALLEN, now re-sprayed and heavily modified top a represent 60163. it is fitted with a Bachmann 36-553 decoder, but ive noticed some jerky running at slow speeds. can anyone enlighten me as to which CV's to adjust to correct this. ive found the pdf that Bachmann produce but the A1 is not on there. thanks

First of all, does it run smoothly on DC? I have a sound fitted A1 that has a problem with insulfrog points as there are no pick-ups on the tender, so it relies solely on the pick-ups on the driving wheels. I therefore get 'gaps' in the sound. I've adjusted the pick-ups, but I think the only answer is to add pick-ups to the tender myself. Could be tricky!

[silverlink]

Dan,

When I first started in DCC I purchased quite a few of these decoders, worst thing I've ever done in DCC!  Whilst they worked reasonably well in Hornby locos they were a real pain in Bachmann ones and in particular A1's. I never did get them to work properly so ditched them in favour of Lenz standard + which straight from the box worked brilliantly.

Regarding fitting pickups on the tender wheels of A1's I have been working with Steve Flint from Railway Modeller on an article on just this subject. I have many A1's & 2's which I have fitted pickups in the tender to help with pickup and to do this you need to buy Hornby A3 or A4 tender chassis with the phosphor bronze pickups. remove the pickups and after removing the water scoop from the Bachmann chassis I araldited the pickups in place followed by wiring through to loco and bingo eight wheel pickup. The eight wipers line up perfectly with the wheels and after many shows with my 'Haymarket Cross' layout they're still going strong.

Cheers

Ian      

[Dan Griffin]

80% of my fleet is fitted with 553's as standard. and ive only had problems in one or two loco's. the A1 being the first problem ive had in a long time. frustrating

[Oldddudders]

Is this a capacitor issue? Are there spurious capacitors that could be snipped to advantage? Often helps with poor running.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

80% of my fleet is fitted with 553's as standard. and ive only had problems in one or two loco's. the A1 being the first problem ive had in a long time. frustrating

I have quite a number of 553's (and the 21 pin equivalent 554) in service for what must be seven going on eight years since the first installations, all but one bought in a single purchase when newly introduced. At that time RTR mfr's decoders were generally regarded with justifiable misgivings, and I and others posted on an ur-RMweb and elsewhere the happy finding that this low cost (could be got for sub £10) decoder was a goodun. My test consisted of beating up a single example with a regime of system trips and power off/on cycles. On the basis of having no trouble I then purchased all the remaining examples I own.

 

These decoders are all in large motored Bach and Hornby diesel chassis with flywheels, to which this decoder's drive characteristic is a very good match; and they have proved completely reliable ever since. (I would have used them in larger motored steam models - Hornby black cans, 1830 Mashima motors with flywheels, for example - were it not for the small range in CV 3 and 4 which doesn't allow for the typically slow acceleration and stopping rates of steam.)

 

More recently I have seen quite a number of complaints about these decoders; unreliability from lost addresses and troubles with the (inaccessible) speed curve, typically reported as no further speed gain at some point from 17 to 20 ish on the speed steps. Never seen any such problems with mine; certainly wouldn't have bought them if these problems had been in evidence during my testing.

 

What to make of this? Is it possible that this decoder type has not been made to a consistent quality standard over the years, and the earlier product that I have is superior? I would suggest taking a decoder from a proven good performance loco, (ideally one which has the same or a very similar motor to the unit in the Bachmann A1 giving trouble) and swap decoders over and assess performances. If the poor performance stays with the A1 then its the chassis that is the trouble, but if it moves to the other loco and the A1 goes well, then it is the decoder. (You may get a confounded result, neither performs satisfactorily after the exchange of decoders: that says both a problem in one decoder and the A1 chassis.)

[RFS]

The problem with the Bachmann 36-553 today is that it's no longer cheap.  Hatton's are selling them for £17.77, for example. Compare that with £18 for a Lenz Standard+ decoder that is in a different class and works reliably and consistently in all types of loco - both steam and diesel.  Even £18 for the Lenz is a bit overpriced - I bought my latest batch from here - http://www.arstecnica.de/shop/index.php - where the current price of 16.99 euros equates to only £13.61.  Delivery is 8 euros (£6) but for that you tracked delivery that comes with Royal Mail, plus PayPal protection.  Click on the Union Jack on the right to get an English version of the web-site. Just a very satisfied customer!