I have two HO Bachmann EZ equipped SD-50's. I have an Athearn SD50 equipped with a digitrax decoder. The two Bachmann engines run fine by themselves, but when I start to run the Athearn the Bachmann engines start, reverse, all by themselves. I changed the run number, by reprogramming, on all engines but they still do the same thing. What am I doing wrong??? [ 12. January 2005, 15:14: Message edited by: squirrelrun ]
I am not familiar with the Bachmann unit. Does it use 2 digit addressing or 4 digit? You have to tell the decoder which one to use when you program it. This is stored in CV29. David
David: Thanks for the response. I am using two digit addressing on all my engines. All are digitrax equipped except these two inexpensive Bachmann's. My power supplies are a DCS100 and a DB150 with a separate power supply for each. I can usually run five to eight engines with right of way and switching. I do not undrestand these chips in the Bachmann engines.
I went to the Bachmann site: http://www.bachmann.co.uk/dcc2.php4 It would appear that the decoders are Lenz decoders. Here is a link to the Lenz manuals page: http://www.lenz.com/manuals/index.htm That is about all the help I can think to offer. David (Also a Digitrax user)
David: Thanks for all your help. Lucky I am I didn't fry the decoders, I put them back to factory. Glad you are a Digitrx user so you know what I mean. These decoders should not be programmed on the program track. They have to be done on the main. Meaning - Be sure any locos on your main will be adjusted to whatever your are programming. So much for that. I am going to call Bachmann in Philadelphia tomorrow. I will let you know what transpires
Does the digitrax decoder have Back EMF? I just got a Bachmann EZ Command today for my test loop in N scale, and noticed, while reading the manual, that it does not support Back EMF (or "feedback"). This will cause locos with BEMF decoders to do funny things, unless you turn it off. (Don't ask me how!) It's one of those CV thingies.
Pete: Sounds like it might work. The Digitrax decoder is set up for back EMF. I will check it. Thanks. Carl
The BEMF feature is purely in the decoder. It has nothing to do with the DCC system being used. Decoders with BEMF vary the amount of power sent to the motor depending upon the amount of load on the motor. Going up hill, the decoder will apply additional power to maintain the motor speed and down hill it will reduce the power to maintain motor speed. Again, this is a decoder feature not a DCC system feature. David
David: Ran the digitraz engine up a short incline and down the other side. The engine gained speed going down. So, I guess back EMF is not setup as I thought. Am still trying to solve the original problem of these two Bachmann engine just "taking off" when ever I use the loco with the digitrax decoder ???
Programming can do strange things. Sunday I was programming several engines. Last night I put one of them on the layout, and it started moving very slowly and no address was coded on a throttle for it. After I coded the address on the throttle, it ran fine. Next engine did the same! All of these had Digitrax DH163xx style decoders running on a 'Chief' system with DT400R throttles. I did the programming with a PR-1. The 'fix' was to go back to the programming track and set CV08 to a '08' and then set the 4 digit address via the DT400R throttle. A readback of CV29 showed that the values were messed up for the 2 digit vs 4 digit addressing! Anyway, all 4 engines are now programmed and working. I have been in DCC since the 1995 and this is a first for me. Anything can happen and seems to do it at the worst times...... Jim Bernier
Jim, I use the Winlok program on an old laptop with a dedicated programming track. Any "mistakes" I make are all my own. These two B engines do the take off every time I use one of my digitrax installed engines. I can run all the Digitrax engines all the time with no problem. Put the Bachmann engines on the track and off they go. I have tried to vary the addres code on each one, but the samr thing happens. Grrrrr Carl
