Henry and all,
Sorry for the misinformation about the Digitrax calculator. I have edited the post. In a hurry and never tried to use the Digitrax calculator, only glanced at it. My focus was on CV 29 can be 34.
I calculate any CV by its Bits being 1 or 0 and the Bit position value.
RR Baron
I like this calculator:
http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29%20calculator.htm
because it can work both ways. Frankly, I can do the decimal/binary conversion in my head faster than I can usually type things on a web page, but having a calculator handy is useful as well. The one I linked allows you to put in a value and it shows you which options are selected, as well as the usual capability of choosing what options you want and it telling you what CV29’s value should be.
Most any modern DCC system takes care of most things for you, although not always the ‘extra’ things like analog on/off or Railcomm on/off.
If you count the bits correctly - the calculatoor app that coomes with Windoows can do this for you as well - there is a “programmer” mode in addition to the basic and scientific, and you can entery values in binary and it will tell you the decimal (and hex and octal, but that’s not important) value, or you cna put in a decimal value and it will show the binary, so you can look at it and see bit 1 and bit 5 are turned on.
–Randy
akriggm,
The locomotives equipped with the old SoundTraxx Tsunami decoder and its OEM versions are notorious for not running well at slow speeds. Beyond CV 2, 3 and 4 – The decoder has CVs available that a modeler with basic DCC knowledge can use to significantly improve slow speed running. There are several procedures that can be used. Search “tsumani slow speed running” — Example, Mark Gurries website covers several of the procedures https://sites.google.com/site/markgurries/home/decoders/decoder-motor-tuning/soundtraxx
Because the procedure is time consuming, most just live with what they have or install different decoder utilizing newer technology.
RR Baron
One thing that will really help with the running properties of a bachmann loco is to remove the capacitors that are paralleled with the motor. These mess up the PWM drive signal from the decoder, and interfere with BEMF, if the decoder has it. Even the cheap no-sound Bachmann decoders work a little better without those capacitors.
–Randy
Henry,
I read out CV 2 which actually showed a value of “0” (which matches my previuos input). I then reset CV 2 to “1” and increased CV 3 to “75”. The starting speed may have decreased slightly (it still starts with a bit of a leap forward) and the acceleration is much smoother in reaction to the throttle which is a definite imprivement. Is there any difference between programming SV (starting voltage) and resetting CV 2? I suspect it is 2 different ways to do the same thing, but I’m trying to minimize assumptions…
Thanks,
akriggm
Starting voltage and CV2 are the same thing - CV2 is defined as the starting voltage.
–Randy
Thanks! akriggm
You posted in a different thread asking how to set 128 speed steps. Like posting a picture in this forum, DCC is not necessarily intuitive. A manual is essential and your answer is on page 2-2 of the manual.
I use my loksound manual all the time and even then, I sometimes can’t figure and ask questions here or the Yahoo loksound group.
Henry, I did a forum search on changing to 128 speed steps and found the other thread, so I asked the question there. I didn’t realize/remember that there was a button for SPD STEP on my MRC throttle, but found it by searching a .pdf of the manual for “128”. Still learning…… Thanks again, akriggm