Speed Matching
Home Up Speed Matching Athearn Atlas Bachmann BLI Genesis Kato PCM Proto Rivarossi Stewart Sunset Walthers

 

One of the great features of DCC is speed matching.  Make all your locos run the same speed as a given throttle setting, then you can make a consist with any loco combination.  For minimum speed I set it so the loco runs smoothly by eye, about 1-2 smph.  For mid I use 30 smph and for max I use 60 smph.  I originally used 70 smph as max but found a few locos that would not do 70, so lowered all to 60 smph.

Equipment required

  1. Level circle of track.
  2. Speedometer, I use Trainspeed (www.trainspeed.com)
  3. DCC system, with ops mode programming capability.
  4. Load car(s), I use an Aztec two cratex roller track cleaning car.
  5. Optional: Computer with Decoder Pro and connection to DCC system.


Speedometer in upper left corner of panel.

CV’s Used

CV

Name

Use

2

Vmin

Set the voltage at first speed step

6

Vmid

Set the voltage at middle speed step

5

Vmax

Set the voltage at maximum speed step

56  TCS
116 NCE

Dither Freq
Torque Rate

Sets the rate of motor kick

57  TCS
117 NCE

Dither Voltage
Torque Strength

Sets the voltage of motor kick

Procedure

  • 1.        Place loco on speed track and couple to load car(s).

  • 2.        Set any BEMF CV’s as you want them.

  • 3.        Select loco and run at top speed to a few minutes to warm up loco.

  • 4.        Set speed to 1.

  • 5.        If loco has Dither or Torque Compensation:

  • a.        Set CV2 to 0.

  • b.       Set CV56 or CV116 to 2.

  • c.        Set CV57 or 117 to 15.

  • d.       If loco is running too slow, increase value in CV57 or 117.

  • e.        If loco is running too fast, decrease value in CV57 or 117.

  • f.         Repeat steps d thru f until speed is correct.

  • 6.        If loco does not have Dither or Torque Compensation:

  • a.        Set CV2 to 15 or if decoder has BEMF, set CV2 to 0.

  • b.       If loco is running too slow, increase value in CV2.

  • c.        If loco is running too fast, decrease value in CV2.

  • d.       Repeat steps c thru d until speed is correct.

  • 7.        Increase speed of loco to half.

  • 8.        Set mid voltage:

  • a.        Set CV6 to 127.

  • b.       If loco is running too slow, increase value in CV6.

  • c.        If loco is running too fast, decrease value in CV6.

  • d.       Repeat steps b thru d until speed is correct.

  • 9.        Increase speed of loco to max.

  • 10.     Set max voltage:

  • a.        Set CV5 to 200.

  • b.       If loco is running too slow, increase value in CV5.

  • c.        If loco is running too fast, decrease value in CV5.

  • d.       Repeat steps b thru d until speed is correct.

Schematic of DCC control panel shown above.