I’m using my Bach EZ system. If I’m running loco A @100% and loco B @ 50% (just to use numbers) When I switch the controller from A to B, loco B wants to jump up to 100% throttle when I touch the speed knob. (until I can turn it back down to 50%) Do the higher end DCC systems do this too, or is it just a quirk of the Bach system?
Must be a quirk. This doesn’t happen when I double head 2 sound equipped locos mu-ed & not mu-ed on my Digitrax Zephyr.
Tom,
I had forgotten about that one. Yea, it’s a E-Z Command thing. The more sophisticated DCC systems won’t do that. The only exception to that might be the NCE Power Cab.
With the Power Cab, you can run two locomotives simultaneously and toggle between the two with no problems. However, because the Power Cab has a recall stack limit of only two: If you add a third locomotive to the recall stack, the third locomotive will take the place of the prior locomotive you had in recall, as well as begin operating at whatever parameters (i.e. speed and direction) the prior locomotive was running at.
I only run two locomotives at a time with my Power Cab so this isn’t an issue with me. If I want to run a third locomotive, I just park one of the first two and enter the new address.
Tom
I believe it would be more correct to say that it depends on the type of control the throttle has for speed. If it uses up and down buttons, or an encoder, then this should not be a problem. If it uses a potentiometer, it will be a problem. NCE, for example, makes the “same” throttles both ways.
I was getting annoyed by that “feature” as well. This is what I do now, I’ll illustrate using your example. If loco A is assigned to address 1, and loco B is assigned to address 2, I’ll select another address like 3 for example, and pre-adjust the throttle according to which loco I’m going to select next. I only used address 3 as an example, but you can use which ever one you want. It all depends on how many locos you have on your layout at the same time that may be assigned to other addresses of the command station.
This process works for me on a large oval of track and a couple of sidings for when I’m “playing”. I don’t know the size of your layout, but hopefully this method can be of service to you.
Thanks Tony, you beat me to it.[:)]
This is why God invented momentum (cv 3 and 4)
David B
Too bad he can’t set those with his system. Maybe he has a nieghbor who has a better system.
I was going to suggest the same solution as the others have mentioned. But thought I would mention that this is one big reason I am a firm believer in 1 loco, 1 throttle. When two trains are controlled simultaniously by the same device, sooner or later the wrong train is sent the wrong command and ends up in an accident. This is one reason I really liked the original MRC Command-2000 system. It had three separate throttle levers for three separate trains, so there was no switching, scrolling, or alternating between anything.
Thanks all! It’s not really troublesome, more annoying than anything. I was wondering if I could expect the same quirk when I upgrade to a better system.
I hadn’t thought about going to an unused address first.[D)]