I have 2 atlas GP 38's both with factory installed decoders. They are the same in every way except the road number yet they act so differently. I have an NCE power cab, when I have both engines on (10) whatever speed rating that is.. One will run along smooth and the other will barely crawl. I picked these up to run tandem. One ends up trying to pull the other. Just wondering what would cause this? Factory defect? Is it better to install your own decoder rather than a factory install?
I'm new to this whole thing.... lol I was going through the book last night to figure everything out but I guess I hadn't made it that far. I didn't realize that was an option. I just figured they should work the same right out of the box
No, unfortunately they are never the same. You have a couple of choices. You can adjust the speed tables through the throttle, or use a program such as decoder pro to do it a lot quicker. Either way it is time consuming. I would start out adjusting Vmin, Vmid and Vmax. Thats the simplest way. You may find that one loco need a vmin of 2 qnd the other need 10 and like wise for the others. Good Luck
Decoder Pro is a Open Source software program designed for model railroaders by model railroaders. Basically it allows you to program your decoders as well as other devices such as boosters, turnout controls etc from your computer. You can also build computer dispatch panels for controlling your entire layout. Here is the link http://jmri.sourceforge.net/ Of course you will need to purchase a rather inexpensive interface between your computer and the booster, but that is all included in the documentation available through the link above.
Thanks! If I have the NCE power cab I guess I should go with this?? https://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/product.php?productid=524027
I use Digitrax so I really have no expertise with NCE, however looking at the description it sure looks like they do have the interface now. Thats good news for all the NCE users. Thank you for sharing that link.
Did you have a look at this section on the JMRI site concerning NCE http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/html/hardware/nce/NCE.shtml
so are they saying that I will not be able to program anything with it? Again... somewhat new at this and not really familiar with some of the lingo. I'm using the NCE power cab and all of my decoders are NCE with the exception of the 2 engines listed in the beginning of this post. Is this a problem? Do I have to use NCE with NCE? or is there another product I could use like a generic system to plug to the computer Thanks, sorry for all the questions
I would do a factory reset on the slow loco's decoder. If it still just crawls, I'd conclude that it is defective and return it.
Soup, You can spend the money on the interface or you can use the decoder pro and enter each CV as it discribes. Yes very time consuming but when you don't have the dough its good to have an alternative. I simply put the slowest loco in the fleet on the the layout where it can run unobsrtucted and set all my locos to that one unit. Then you can have any consist you like. I set the start voltage first then the mid and max. I reduced all my max to about a scale 60 MPH as I allow kids to operate and of coarse they want to go a million miles per hour.
More good answers Soup. Perhaps contact NCE and pose the question to them. Then again hang in a while longer I am sure another member who also uses NCE will chime in on this post over the next couple of days.
There is normal variation from the factory, but it has always been my experience that the same model from the same manufacturer is at least somewhat close. One thing to check is to make sure you have not accidently set one of them to 28 speed steps(the 28/128 button at the bottom of the power cab). If set to 28 speed steps, 10 will be a lot faster than it would be if set to 128 speed steps. I agree to start with Vmin, Vmid, and Vmax when speed matching if available, but one thing to be aware of - if these are N scale the factory installed decoder does not support Vmid and Vmax(I don't know about the HO scale versions). You can program with the NCE USB interface when used with the PowerCab or the SmartBooster, but when used with the PowerHouse Pro system, you can not(the PowerHouse Pro does have a rs-232 port built-in that you can use with DecoerPro to program). Should not be a problem at all. The one thing to be aware of when using other decoder brands is that the menus for setting up the motor control and lighting effect CV's are not valid for other manufacterer's decoders.
Before you drive yourself crazy with the decoders, make sure you check for mechaical binding. look for stuff in the gears, shafts not seated, etc.
Check the decoder documentation before trying to set Vmid and Vmax. IIRC, Atlas decoders don't have these two CV's and the only way to match speeds is with the 28 step speed table. Martin Myers
Before you start mucking around with the decoder do what Jeff said and see if it's mechanical. When I first got into DCC, I had two identical Atlas B30-7 with factory decoders. From the same batch but just different loco numbers. One would always run at half speed of the other. Immediately my assumption was the decoder but I didn't have time to mess with the CVs so I ran them as is but never MU'ed. One day I took the slower one apart and just lubed the motor bearing, worm gears, and bearing blocks. Bingo! After that it ran identical to the other so much so that I didn't even need to play with the speed table.
Have You tried to reset the decoder... atlas factory installs lenz decoders and setting cv 3 to 33 will reset decoder. note engine address will be 03, and will have to be reset to a value different from other engs, but speeds shud be the same. if not the slower one may be defective. if You purchased these at a hobby shop they shud be willing to compare these to a new unit on their test track.... be careful to NOT reset all devices on your main line.....
