Model Forum / General / Railroads / June 2004

fitted with lights etc.
Get some running practice first before tinkering with the settings,
carefully read the instructions, subscribe to the various Lenz groups e.g.
on Yahoo.
Have a go at double heading, multiple consists but be wary of the CV (Change
Value) settings.
Enjoy!

Hi Dave,

I have a set 100 as well.  It's capable of doing lots of things which
you may want to do once you've got a bit of practice and depending on
the functions of the decoder you are using. For now, I'd concentrate on
getting the trains running, then maybe look at consisting (as already
suggested), followed by adjusting acceleration and braking rates and
setting the maximum speed.  These are some of the easiest things to
change and gain a bit of confidence.

By the way, I'm still using the tamping machine I bought off you - very
nice, but haven't fitted a decoder as yet!

Cheers, Ian

You don't even need to do that if it's the only loco you have. The
default address should be 3.

You don't *have* to change anything but there are lots of things you
will *want* to change once you realise DCCs full potential. I'd start
by looking at Vstart and Vhigh (CVs 2 & 5) and the acceleration and
deceleration rates (CVs 3 & 4) to get the particular loco running just
right. If you have lighting then you can try enabling that. Then you
can think about something more complex like a custom speed table. The
full description of common CVs is at
http://www.dcc.info/standards_rps/rp922.html. You'll need the decoder
manual to determine which are actually implemented and to give details
of manufacturer specific CVs.

I thoroughly recommend DecoderPro (it's free!) and a computer
interface.

Obviously I have a vested interest in SPROG but the Lenz computer
interface is also supported by DecoderPro and would open up other
possibilities beside programming. The advantage of SPROG is that it
can be taken and used anywhere you have a computer and a length of
track. You don't need to take the computer to the layout or the Lenz
set to the computer. Nor do you need to interrupt the normal running
of the layout to reprogram a decoder.

Andrew