NEW MEMBER NEED DCC HELP

[BOOGS]

I have a bachmann ez command dynamis dcc controller.....my 1st engine is a dcc bachmann gp 40 diesel........i cannot control the speed or direction of the diesel and the stop button only allows the train to run intermittently........i can control the light......
Any help??.......according to the instructions i should have been able to run engine right out of the box.......THANX BOOGS

[Stephen D. Richards]

Is the STOP and the icon just to the left of the STOP icon lit up?  If so you have a short somewhere on the track.  You should be able to put the locomotive on the track and initiate programing.  Take a three foot section of track with no switches and put together with a terminal rerailer and then program the locomotive.  If this works OK then you should be able to run on your main track.  If not then that would be another indicator you have a short somewhere.  What kind of track setup do you have?    Stephen

[rogertra]

Sorry I can't help but what's with all the hype that "DCC is easy"?

If it was so easy, why does it come with a 50 page manual and why are the magazines constantly coming out with articles on programming and problem solving in DCC?

What ever happened to "Connect two wires to the rails and away you go"?

[fieromike]

Yeah, setting up a DCC system to support 4 cabs and a garage full of track is a whole lot more complicated than using DC...

[Jim Banner]

fieromike, have you ever set up 4 dc cabs to control a garage full of track, say 20 or 25 blocks of it?  And then tried to add just one more cab?  Having installed dispatcher block control, engineer block control, computer assisted block control, and DCC, I am quite happy that DCC is so simple to install.

But learning ALL about DCC is hard.  It is like learning ALL about your computer.  There are so many, many things you will probably never use.  Fortunately, you do not need to learn about them until you want/need to use them.  For example, how about a decoder that comes with a 264 page manual?  You can install it and it will do exactly what the manufacturer pre-programmed it to do.  You do not have to learn anything.  But if you want to program that decoder to do exactly what you want it to do, then you will have to put some effort into learning how.  If you are lucky, you will find an article to help you along your way.  But I will admit that this same decoder is even easier if you use dc.  It will not work with dc so you do not even have to bother installing it.

Bottom line, DCC IS easier to install if all you want is to run 4 trains each on its own cab.  It is even easy to learn to operate, if you are satisfied with dc style operation - speed and direction only.  But if you want to use DCC to do some of the other hundreds of things it is capable of doing, then yes, you will have to spend the time and effort to learn to make it do them.  To me, limiting my controls to just two operations, speed and direction, is like using my PC to just add and subtract and ignoring all the other things I regularly do with it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
None of the above is particularly useful to boogs.  Hopefully this will be:
New decoders normally come programmed to work on address 3.  I assume you have read your Dynamis manual and know how to select a locomotive with address 3.  If that does not solve your problem, try resetting the decoder back to factory default settings.  This normally involves programming some value into one of the CVs.  The instructions that came with your locomotive should tell you which CV and what number to program into it.  Your Dynamis manual will tell you how to program that number into that CV.

[fieromike]

Jim, I think you missed seeing my tongue planted firmly in my left cheek during that comment! 
I've done the DC wiring thing for a couple of two cab layouts and the major difference(s) with a four cab layout would be, what, rotary switches for every block, and wiring to them from each of the added cabs.
Nah, I'll stick with DCC (NCE) and drive trains.   

[Jim Banner]

fieromike, mea culpa (try that in your spell checker!)  I missed the irony, but hey - it gave me a chance to do my yearly rant on DCC vs. dc.

[fieromike]

Well then I guess you gave me an opening for my new DCC rant![rant]
I recently got a new Atlas engine from an estate sale and Saturday, installed an NCE decoder (from Litchfield Station).  I haven't been a rabid supporter of brand D, N ,or T decoders, but Digitrax's hard wired decoders are smaller than NCE's and their PnP boards have been the best (for me) choice for my small fleet.  This time, NCE had a good PnP choice, and I took it.  First thing I did was look through the instruction sheets.  Wow!  Four pages of easy to comprehend instructions!  I installed the decoder with no major drama or trauma. then decided to play a bit.  Before I snapped the shell back on, I wanted to see if the FX lighting was as  easy as it looked.  It is!  Following the chart, you can just program CV121 ((F1, or rear light) for this experiment) to the number on the chart (plus 128 for LED light), hit enter, and watch the effect.  Don't like it?  Ten seconds later, you can be watching a different one.
What I'm trying to get at here, is that while I'm sure that Digitrax's procedure is similar, I've never noticed anything on their instruction sheets to give any sort of confidence in that direction.
If I haven't put everyone to sleep, and if you are trying to decide what your major brand of DCC components is to be, RTFM(s).  There can be a world of difference in ease of use between similar products. [/rant]

[renniks]

 
   fieromike,

   The NMRA issue standards and the manufacturers implement them as they see fit. DCC is expanding ; once it was a question of hardwiring a decoder, then along came the (NMRA) 8 pin socket. Now there are 6pin,8pin,21pin and probably others - plus sound,decoder driven uncoupling,wireless hand controllers,2 way data flow and heaven knows what else.
    Like you, I prefer DCC and use as much of the facilities as I want for each loco. Remember the original slogan--"you drive the loco not the track",but now you can control the track as well with decoder controlled "accessories" and computer driven programs. The choice is yours.

   Eric UK

[OkieRick]

I have a bachmann ez command dynamis dcc controller.....my 1st engine is a dcc bachmann gp 40 diesel........i cannot control the speed or direction of the diesel and the stop button only allows the train to run intermittently........i can control the light......
Any help??.......according to the instructions i should have been able to run engine right out of the box.......THANX BOOGS

BOOGS,

Did you ever get your question(s) answered?  If not post it again in a new message - I'll try to help you and promise to stay on subject.

Rick - another Dynamis system learning slow by jerks.

[db22]

I have a bachmann ez command dynamis dcc controller.....my 1st engine is a dcc bachmann gp 40 diesel........i cannot control the speed or direction of the diesel and the stop button only allows the train to run intermittently........i can control the light......
Any help??.......according to the instructions i should have been able to run engine right out of the box.......THANX BOOGS

I certainly sounds as if the loco has a drive problem. If you can control the light then you have the correct address. If there was a short then you would not be able to contol anything because the short icon would be showing. If there was no power then you would not be able to operate the light. Do you see the Short icon when the diesel stops? Do you have or have access to another loco?