Hello Again,
This should be an easy question to answer.
If I have two locomotives that I want to use in pair with each other, but one of them is faster and has a higher top speed than the other one. Should I:
A. Not pair them up under any cercamstances.
B. Put the faster one in front.
C. Put the faster one behind.
I guess I’m concerned that the faster loco may put stress on the slower one’s motor. Just wanted to see what those who are far more experienced here than I am think.
I suspect you are talking about straight DC operation? If so, there is no fast & easy way to speed match them. If they are not too different, you can run them together. The key is to not have one stall and possibly have the motor overheat. What scale, and what manufacturer/model are we talking about?
Jim
Since you are using DCC you can speed match them. This comes up quite often and there are several threads in the DCC section that deal with it. Use the forum search of the DCC section and you should find what you need. Essentially you will be slowing down the faster one to match the slower one. You will also be adjusting the starting voltages so that they both start to move at the same time on the throttle. Anyway, the search will answer all you need.
Here is one on the tirst page of the DCC/electronics forum.
[:-^]
I’m nor sure where Simon got that you were using DCC. I didn’t read that, but anyway I’ll take it that you aren’t.
If the difference is real noticeable then you aren’t going to be able to MU them, just too much strain on both of them, however if they are different but not greatly so, you can MU them and put the faster locomotive in the second position and the slower one in the lead. This will create the least problems.
I have found it simplifys things by keeping my Atherns together, my Atlas’s together and my Spectrums together. Now if you have bought any of these with a decoder in them (DCC 0n board) you will have to remove the decoder from that one and replace it with the supplied jumpers to get it to match with the one that doesn’t have one.
Hope this helps.
Johnboy out…
Kevin has posted in the past about DCC wiring questions so it’s not hard to put 2 and 2 together.
Myself and other have spent quite a bit of time over the past week helping Kevin with input into an assortment of DCC questions. In fact just this weekend he was installing a decoder into an old Spectrum split frame, which he was successful in performing. Hopefully he has not quit on DCC and that this really is a DCC question, because you are correct, there is no reference to DCC in the OP.
Back to the Op’s question I would suggest using the search feature in the forums. This topic comes up often and there are some good suggestions
I just thought you guys had ESP or something…
I don’t mind minor speed matching for units that I tend to MU or run together most of the time, however, I can’t see slowing down numerous locos just to match that of a few. Experimenting w/ various decoders or using the exact w/ minor adjustments seems to work better for my purposes.
And make no mistake…I appreciate all that help. With these two locos I was mating, this is a temporary solution until I buy a matching loco for my Atlas. The proposed solution (adjusting the speeds through coding) is beyond my skill and my equipment’s functioning, because all I have right now is the Bachmann EZ command. I can’t help but feel that I waisted my money on that thing when I could have had a nicer one for 50 dollars more that would let me program the decoders, but I didn’t know any better at the time. LOL Anyway, I AM USING DCC. Sorry I didn’t clarify that. I’m trying to run an Athearn and Atlas with each other becuase they look great togeather, but the Athearn is faster than the Atlas. So, to avoid putting strain on them, I probably will not mate these two with each other, because I can’t change there speeds with my EZ Crapmand system! Thanks for your help, everyone. I will try to go a week without asking you to hold my hand again this time! LOL