Thanks for all the great comments. Results from last night.....
Took the LM-3S out of the Athearn RTR and put it into a Proto2000 SD60. Updated to 2.03 and loaded 710 ULT sound. Ran much smoother than the Athearn.
Consist testing in DCC: Currently the only way I can consist RP locos in DCC mode is to use smart phone/Engine Driver/JMRI or to set the DCC addresses all the same. I am unable to get RP locos to respond to any NCE consisting, Advanced or Old Style. I figured the Advanced would not work, but I thought the Old Style would. Apparently NCE Old Style is not Univeral Consisting as I thought. If it was, it should work. I'll investgate further. DCC guys will know what I'm talking about. For the rest of you I'll add an explanation at the end of this post. I do not have Digitrax or other brand DCC systems to test so maybe one of you guys can work along with me?
Consist functions in DCC mode: I confirmed that all RP locos in a DCC mode consist will respond to all function commands issued to the consist. I guess we'll have to talk to Tim about this. You don't want all lights on or 3 horns blowing.
RP Consist testing using RP Simulator: Consist testing went better with the change in locos, but still not to my satisfaction. Here's the setup. Proto2000 SD60 with LM-3S (ver2.03) in the lead. Proto2000 GP30 with LM-3 (ver 2.03) trailing. Much smoother starts than the Athearn. The "jump" start is gone. The new problem was the trail unit lagging. Seems the lead unit was always being slowed down by the trail. Example: DPU one loco on each end of a 15 car cut of covered hoppers. Lead would start moving and stretch until tight and then stall. Had to continue increasing throttle to get trail to start moving. Same results when operated in reverse direction. Tried changing accel, decel, kick start, start speed, top speed etc. Finally started manually lowering motor load setting and starting getting better results. The SD60 was auto testing around 670 on average. The GP30 was averaging around 340. I'm thinking the SD60 wasn't seeing enough load change at only 15 cars. Anyone familiar with those P2K SD60 knows they are real stump pullers! I dropped it to around 500 and saw better results. By then it was bed time so I'll go at it again tonight. In the mean time, I'm open to consisting tips and tricks from you experts.
Overall I love the RP system so far, but my limited testing hasn't gotten me to consists that run better than my DCC. Of course I do spend a ton of time speedmatching. That's what I'm trying to get away from. I'm probably pickier than your average modeler, but I have to be. I run 40-60 car trains with mid train helpers and pushers on a 2.2% mountain pass. Things have to be good to keep from dumping a $1000 on the floor
![Shocked :o](https://rpug.pdc.ca/Smileys/default/shocked.gif)
DCC Consist Types - High level overview
- Basic: All locos are programmed to the same address. Hence they all respond simultaneously.
- Universal: The DCC command station sends out consist commands to each loco address in the consist, 1 address at time. ie: locos 100, 200 and 300 are in consist. A throttle change will send a command to each loco address in sequence. Hey 100, move fwd. Hey 200, move fwd. Hey 300, move fwd.
- Advanced: A single consist address is assigned and written to CV19 in each decoder of the consisted locos. The command station issues commands to the single consist address (not loco addresses) and all locos with that consist address will respond. They still have their unique loco address but will not respond to commands to move when they have a consist address assigned. All other functions such as sound or lighting will respond to the loco address. Only commands to move are ignored.
If the NCE Old Style consisting was a true Universal style, I see no reason why RP locos would not respond since they're address is being sent out by the command station. Further investigation forthcoming.
Regards
Chris