ESU Loksound V4 with power pack
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Nigel Cliffe
Western Thunderer
Stop buttons on command stations. Many of those will issue a "DCC all stop" command to the track, which causes all decoders to stop what they are doing, and stop instantly (ie. ignore deceleration curves, and stay-alive is irrelevant). So, to test a stay-alive you have to interrupt the actual track power.
CV29, pretty much essential that its set to "DCC only" for stay-alive to work (there will be a few exceptions which don't use this method). Stay alive modules mostly work by placing a DC voltage on the decoder inputs, immediately after a rectifier. Use on analogue (DC) places a DC voltage in the same place, so the decoder cannot tell the difference between stay-alive DC and track DC. Hence, necessary to disable analogue (DC) running.
CV113 (stay alive duration) is as Jordan explains things. You can do a lot of damage to a loco in 10 seconds of running off the track, or over 10 seconds stalled by a mechanical failure. For most cases, a stay-alive of half a second is vastly more than what's needed to deal with pickup issues, if a loco is stalled for more than that time/distance the track or pickups need attention. Running locos over a sheet of A4 paper is a good party trick, vaguely useful for testing, but irrelevant to sensible model running. So, set the stay-alive duration to a low value to ensure the decoder will shut power down after a very short period without power.
- Nigel
CV29, pretty much essential that its set to "DCC only" for stay-alive to work (there will be a few exceptions which don't use this method). Stay alive modules mostly work by placing a DC voltage on the decoder inputs, immediately after a rectifier. Use on analogue (DC) places a DC voltage in the same place, so the decoder cannot tell the difference between stay-alive DC and track DC. Hence, necessary to disable analogue (DC) running.
CV113 (stay alive duration) is as Jordan explains things. You can do a lot of damage to a loco in 10 seconds of running off the track, or over 10 seconds stalled by a mechanical failure. For most cases, a stay-alive of half a second is vastly more than what's needed to deal with pickup issues, if a loco is stalled for more than that time/distance the track or pickups need attention. Running locos over a sheet of A4 paper is a good party trick, vaguely useful for testing, but irrelevant to sensible model running. So, set the stay-alive duration to a low value to ensure the decoder will shut power down after a very short period without power.
- Nigel
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Graham
I set CV113 to give about half a second of running on the power pack, that works really well and should the worst happen its not going to go far in half a second (hopefully).
If you read the manual and there is an english one available to download, ESU recommend a setting of 152 for CV 113, which I think gives a fair bit more than half a second, but as I have said already half a second is plenty of time to keep it running smoothe and the sound uninterupted.
And as most of the others on here have said setting the decoder to DCC only operation also improves performance.
Richard
I set CV113 to give about half a second of running on the power pack, that works really well and should the worst happen its not going to go far in half a second (hopefully).
If you read the manual and there is an english one available to download, ESU recommend a setting of 152 for CV 113, which I think gives a fair bit more than half a second, but as I have said already half a second is plenty of time to keep it running smoothe and the sound uninterupted.
And as most of the others on here have said setting the decoder to DCC only operation also improves performance.
Richard
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
CV 29 - disabling DC operation. Although loosely related to the above here are some reasons why to do so if you are only operating on DCC.
I've trawled several forums and one of the best answers has come from Jim Betz found on Tony's Train Xchange website, Essex, Vermont. http://tonystrains.com/why-decoders-run-away-or-reset/
Put simply the decoder is a small computer and goes through a boot sequence. It checks whether the track power is DCC and if it does not recognise the DCC packets it assumes DC. If the track power is actually DCC the decoder receives full track power and runs away like a scalded cat. This can also occur in the event of short circuits. The decoder can get confused and if power is restored quickly the decoder does not have enough time to go through it's boot sequence even though we are talking milliseconds.
Another source of information is provided by Mark Gurries.
https://sites.google.com/site/markg...-loss-of-control/runaway-technical-discussion
Other reasons for disabling DC operation: to eliminate problems with electrical noise (a problem with early decoders); where there are a large number of DCC locos in operation; minimise interference where multiple functions are in use; prevent the decoder misinterpreting DCC packets on dirty track.
In summary it's best practice is to disable DC operation in the decoder if only operating on DCC.
I've trawled several forums and one of the best answers has come from Jim Betz found on Tony's Train Xchange website, Essex, Vermont. http://tonystrains.com/why-decoders-run-away-or-reset/
Put simply the decoder is a small computer and goes through a boot sequence. It checks whether the track power is DCC and if it does not recognise the DCC packets it assumes DC. If the track power is actually DCC the decoder receives full track power and runs away like a scalded cat. This can also occur in the event of short circuits. The decoder can get confused and if power is restored quickly the decoder does not have enough time to go through it's boot sequence even though we are talking milliseconds.
Another source of information is provided by Mark Gurries.
https://sites.google.com/site/markg...-loss-of-control/runaway-technical-discussion
Other reasons for disabling DC operation: to eliminate problems with electrical noise (a problem with early decoders); where there are a large number of DCC locos in operation; minimise interference where multiple functions are in use; prevent the decoder misinterpreting DCC packets on dirty track.
In summary it's best practice is to disable DC operation in the decoder if only operating on DCC.