Model Building Tips DCC Speed Matching N Scale

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Күн бұрын

Do you want to set up your model train locomotives to play nice with each other while running on DCC? In this episode Dan explains his techniques for speed matching, so that locomotives can run together harmoniously. Speed matched locomotives are calibrated to run at the same speed at any given throttle setting. Dan uses N scale locomotives as examples in this one, but the techniques apply to other scales as well.
In addition to speed matching, Dan gives a brief rundown of DCC programming, and takes a stab at explaining CV29. If you're into DCC model trains then you won't want to miss this one!

Пікірлер: 74

@jimid4520 3 жыл бұрын

My brain thanks you for taking the time to put together a very detailed and easily understandable video. This is great!

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

@davebnsfnscale4433 3 жыл бұрын

Nicely explained

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@genejablonski9909 3 жыл бұрын

This is one of the best tutorials I have seen on a simple speed matching method. It works great for me. Thanks for sharing.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

You're welcome. I'm glad you found it helpful. Thanks for watching!

@jhoodfysh 2 жыл бұрын

Simpler is always better. This method is great. Thank you for filming it.

@DanielCortopassi 2 жыл бұрын

You're welcome. This has worked for me for years. Thanks for watching!

@AllSortsOfStuff58 3 жыл бұрын

Well that's enlightened me quite a bit. Thanks for that Dan... 👍

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Glad to help. Thanks for watching!

@FierroDuroRails 3 жыл бұрын

Seriously Dan thanks for this upload it was very helpful and you made it simple to understand .. Now I can try and speed match my fleet of 40 n scale diesels.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Glad it helped! Thanks for watching!

@nssherwoodsub 3 жыл бұрын

Dan...thanks for the video. I haven't tried speed matching yet. This video with its very clear explanation and great presentation will be very useful to me in the future...Harold

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for watching!

@scobylandrail8177 3 жыл бұрын

Wow. Thank you. You know DCC! Once I can upgrade to DCC I’ll watch this video again. Seems complicated for now. But I’ll plan on getting the right DCC locomotives.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

A lot of models have drop-in decoders available these days, so a basic installation doesn't have to be difficult. Good luck with your future projects. Thanks for watching!

@jgalexander510 3 жыл бұрын

Excellent Dan. I’ve watched about three videos like this, and yours was the first to really sink in. Thanks.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you found it helpful. Thanks for watching!

@mysticrailroad 3 жыл бұрын

great video. interesting to see how those things are programmed.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!

@randallellison6421 3 жыл бұрын

Great video Dan! One thing I will add for those new to the hobby, is that to correctly speed match your locomotives, its important to assign each locomotive to it's own address (one of the easiest ways to address a locomotive is to basically use that locomotive's road number). In order to do this, however, it may require you to purchase a programming track booster as newer decoders require more power to program them than the DCC system can generate to the programming track! Anyway just thought I would add that little bit of info to the discussion, have a good one!

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, good point. I think I made an assumption that part had already been done, because it has been on most of my models. I appreciate the feedback. Nichole helps me that way, too, because sometimes I take certain things as given because I've been doing this for so long. Programming addresses might be a good subject for a future video. I'll add it to the list. Thanks for watching!

@randallellison6421 3 жыл бұрын

@@DanielCortopassi no problem and yeah I actually found out the hard way about programming newer decoders when I tried programming an Athearn Genesis SD45-2 a few years back! I found out later that the Tsunami decoder required a programming booster as my Zepher Extra couldn't supply enough power to program it!

@trapdriver7006 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for a very informative video Daniel 🇬🇧👍

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

My pleasure! Thanks for watching!

@JimOberst 3 жыл бұрын

Terrific video, Daniel. Thanks!

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@CentralJerseyRailfan 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the video, I’m yet to hear from someone who’d try to MU a Tsunami2 loco with a Loksound loco using the same (if not similar) speed matching settings. Based on the few results I have it really does seem best to only run engines with the same make of decoder together

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

One of the reasons I never much liked the original Tsunami is that it didn't support CV5, making speed matching difficult. I do have a couple HO diesels that came with Tsunami 2s, so maybe in the future if I do an HO version of this video I'll try matching one of those with my LokSound equipped locomotives and see how it works. Thanks for watching!

@CentralJerseyRailfan 3 жыл бұрын

Daniel Cortopassi No problem! Hoping that Tsunami2 information can also apply to Econamis (like in your SP SD40R), which came out about around the same time the Tsunami2 did

@ronsmith3905 3 жыл бұрын

Great video as always. Took me back to the old days when you had to put engines on the test track at the hobby store so you could try and buy a close match. How far we've come. Cheers!!

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Things have come a long way, yes. It's always amazed me how two basically identical mechanisms from the same manufacturer can still vary in performance. Thanks for watching!

@warrenjones9550 3 жыл бұрын

Very nice video, thank you for the information it will help me greatly.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you found it helpful. Thanks for watching!

@paulkirkmanMYTRAINS 3 жыл бұрын

I want to try this. I usually run like locos together in consists and they do pretty good but this would be perfect when I have 2 Athearns with an Atlas. Great video Dan, Thanks.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Generally this method works well with multiple brands of equipment. Good luck with your speed matching and thanks for watching!

@SGTGhost 3 жыл бұрын

Great job, now I know how to speed match. Thank you Dan

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

You're welcome. I'm glad it helped. Thanks for watching!

@fredrick5152 3 жыл бұрын

Great video 👍👍👍

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@miguelangelgarrido7233 3 жыл бұрын

hola buen dia muchas gracias por subir el video abrazo grande a los dos

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@brtree74 3 жыл бұрын

Great tutorial. I like this method and use this technique too. Enjoyed the video.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for watching!

@Form44208 3 жыл бұрын

Great video Dan! Easy to follow and I keep learning from you! Looking forward to seeing a video on CV tuning. best regards, NS.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll add it to the list.

@stevegoff4934 3 жыл бұрын

Speed matching has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. I like your methodical approach to the subject which will help me immensely. (As an aside, that was the best explanation of bit-level programming I've ever heard re: CV29.)

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you found the video helpful, and nice to know what I said about CV29 made sense. It's kind of a weird CV. Thanks for watching!

@Stanf954 3 жыл бұрын

JMRI is the best way to program any given CV. You just need the interface for the computer to Command station.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

I haven't used JMRI, but I may have to give it a try sometime. Thanks for watching!

@BritanniaPacific 3 жыл бұрын

I was wondering about signaling for the layout, and programming the trains to work with the signals.

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

That's something I haven't gotten into yet, but I will. I plan to have operating signals on my Donner Pass layout eventually. Thanks for watching!

@HumancityJunction 3 жыл бұрын

I have two Bachmann DCC locomotives, exactly the same everything, but one locomotive is 60% slower than the other and I cannot seem to get them to match. I might just have to swap the decoders at this point. Any other thoughts?

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

I don't have a lot of Bachmann stuff, but I had one model (I think it was the HO 45 ton switcher) that came with an awful DCC decoder. The model is nice but the electronics were absolute junk. I swapped it out for an ESU and now it works great. I think you're on the right track, wanting to swap out the Bachmann decoders for something better (literally almost any other DCC decoder). Thanks for watching!

@FierroDuroRails 3 жыл бұрын

Why would anybody give a thumbs down why...

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

I think someone (not sure it's the same person all the time) puts a thumbs down on every video I put out. That's okay, though. I think it still helps the channel visibility either way. Thanks for watching!

@southernpacificfilmstudio2333 Жыл бұрын

When adjusting slow speed settings, say around speed steps 1-25, would you adjust cv 2 or would you adjust cv6?

@DanielCortopassi Жыл бұрын

Both. Also CV5. First (mostly with ESU decoders, but other brands as well) I will tweak the motor control CVs for the smoothest performance I can get. Then I set CV2 to the lowest value that will let the locomotive move smoothly. It usually ends up around 1 or 2, but can be higher with some decoders. Then I do the speed matching, setting CV5 so that the engine keeps pace with the engine I'm matching it to. I like a nice linear speed curve so CV6 usually ends up about midway between CV2 and CV5. With a linear speed curve the decoder will interpolate all the speed steps in between CV2, CV6 and CV5 in a fairly predictable way. This has been enough to get all my models to play nice with each other. Thanks for watching!

@claytons8263 2 жыл бұрын

Hello I'd like to get some info on the B/N like year and color phase so that I may find ones to purchase. Thank you.Great Video as always.

@DanielCortopassi 2 жыл бұрын

I'm not as well versed in BN paint schemes as I am SP, so this may not be the best answer. The cascade green scheme started with or shortly after the 1970 merger that created the railroad. There were some variations, like the tiger stripe and white face schemes, in the 80s and 90s. If I recall, the green and cream scheme on the SD70MACs and executive F units started circa 1990. Probably someone who is a full time BN modeler could better answer your question. Thanks for watching!

@claytons8263 2 жыл бұрын

@@DanielCortopassi Thank you That was helpful I just like the looks of it all.

@watchtrainsnow1099 3 жыл бұрын

ESU makes the best sound decoder?

@DanielCortopassi 3 жыл бұрын

I like ESU the best. The sound quality is great, the motor control is great, and the lighting effects are amazing. Also, they are the most flexible I've seen programming wise, in terms of being able to assign any lighting output to any function key you like. Having downloadable sound sets makes it easy to upgrade the sounds, or change them if you move the decoder to a different model. Thanks for watching!

@justinbricker9491 2 жыл бұрын

Next video can you use HO scale

@DanielCortopassi 2 жыл бұрын

I might do another speed matching video in the future, though the procedure I use is exactly the same regardless of scale. I also did an HO scale speed match in the last episode of the SP Consist Build. Thanks for watching!

@claytons8263 2 жыл бұрын

Great video Will this work with a diesel and my 4014 and a NCE Power cab? My Diesel is a Walther's proto2000 my Bigboy is an Athearn with a big steam 2 ( soundtraxx) Diesel has TSU -PNP. (Soundtraxx)

@DanielCortopassi 2 жыл бұрын

I am not an NCE user, but I am pretty sure that NCE throttles can program on the main, so you should be able to use the same techniques to adjust the speed CVs as the engines are rolling. I am not sure about the newer Tsunami 2, but the old Tsunami didn't support CV5 (top speed) so it was difficult to speed match them. The technique will work with steam or diesel. They can both use the same or similar DCC decoders. Thanks for watchiing!

@claytons8263 2 жыл бұрын

@@DanielCortopassi Thank you Mine supports CV5

@JPOGers Жыл бұрын

Could I speed match my locomotives using just the Digitrax DCS 52?

@DanielCortopassi Жыл бұрын

If you want to use my method with two locomotives running at once, yes, you can, but to make it easier you'd need an extra throttle. You could probably do it with just the Zephyr, but it would be more difficult, and require a lot of switching between addresses. I have an older DCS 50 and I find it difficult to use for programming. I'm not sure how much that's improved with the newer DCS 52. Thanks for watching!

@JPOGers Жыл бұрын

@@DanielCortopassi Is there a chance you could do a video on how to speed match locomotives with the newer DT602D throttle system? If you have that system

@DanielCortopassi Жыл бұрын

@@JPOGers I don't have one of those throttles as yet. I've been thinking about getting one to try it out, so if I do, I'll consider doing another video.