I bought and ran DCC at my house! Here is the whole story – long, but as Joe Friday would say: Just the facts . . . .
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Since joining this forum I’ve made no secret that I run only conventional. Many have made it their mission to show me the error of my ways, offering help and advice to convert me to DCC, a few with a fervor matched only by bible thumping evangelists, clearly regarding DCC as the-one-true-way-modern-toy-trains-should-be-run. I’ve always acknowledged DCC’s advantages. I also recognize conventional’s advantages: 1)it’s simple and works in the manner I was taught at age five, 2) every manufacturer produces equipment and “control systems” compatible with it.
And Most DCC Features Don’t Interest Me. I have no interest in addressing 100 locos, or turning on or off station sounds. There are perfectly good wheels or rheostats on every loco to adjust volume and smoke. I “run” only one train at a time (I always have three running, but I always set at least two loops to a nice steady cruise, often for hours, and “drive,” at most, one.)
But I had slow speed control envy. DCC locos go very, very slow . . . very smoothly. Had to have that . . .
So I decided to try a DCC system. I studied both Legacy and DCS and decided on DCS because: a) it seemed the simpler system, offering good slow speed control with a minimum of complexity, b) the price to take an initial step was very low (both in $$ and hassle of learning and setting up) – I bought a Proto 3.0 Pennsylvania 4-6-0 Freight RTR set (30-4215-1) with the DCS Remote Commander on a black Friday discount. The box promised “realistic slow speed operations.” What I read on-line had told me the speed control was good. What’s more, the loco is 3V PS3: unlike Lionel’s remote Thomas, this set is not a dead end – the manual explains how it can be upgraded to full DCS – easily.
I read the entire manual first – every word . Twice. I set up the whole RTR set in my study, following the instructions (see below).
My initial, brief test on a carpet layout using the RTR's oval. It ran great!!
When I first pushed the SU/SD button, the loco’s light came on, the supercapacitors charged, and the steam idle sounds started - a scratchy, chuffy sound. Not much volume. I’ve bought two other PS3 steamers – PS3 sound should be better. I shut it down, unplugged everything, took the loco off the tracks, and following the manual’s instructions, adjusting the sound rheostat for maximum .
I will get the bad out of the way right now: The sound never worked again. Ultimately, I spent two hours adjusting the rheostat back and forth, using the SND and VOL and + buttons repeatedly as instructed in the manual, following the diagnostics in the back of the manual for “no sound. ” And I mean NO sound. The bell didn’t work. The whistle didn’t work. The idle sounds didn’t work. The chuffing didn’t work. The station announcements or whatever they are called didn’t work.
So it’s a mute loco, but does it run slowly? Yes - wonderfully. Now mute, it otherwise ran and behaved just as the manual said it would. It went really slow, really smoothly. At least in forward . In reverse it was not quite as smooth. No matter – this is a low-end starter set loco. Quite acceptable. I ran it, on its RTR set oval, on my study floor for about half an hour. Nice and slow. Way below 10 mph scale at times. Just creeping. Wonderful.
So, upstairs to the layout. I unplugged the Z4000 from my main loop and plugged in the RTR set’s DCS Remote commander power supply instead. The 4-6-0 came alive, still mute, but attentive to the Remote Commander. It started off and ran very slowly. I played with it a few minutes, enjoying its ability to just creep. I coupled three ATSF scale map slogan reefers and a scale caboose to give it a bit of a load, and gradually accelerated it to about 25 scale mph. As it went around my big loop, I kept sending it instructions – slowing it down, speeding it up, to confirm a key point I wanted to verify: it would receive instructions from the DCS anywhere through the entire 140 foot loop: the DCS control would reach it anywhere on the loop.
That verified, I happily left it cruising at about just 15 mph – about as slow as any conventional loco will ever go smoothly.. After about ten minutes, it developed a hint of random stutter, and I raised speed to a scale 25 mph or so – where most locos run smoothly even in conventional. It seemed fine for a while, and then just coasted to a stop, light still on. The remote commander would do nothing. I played with it a bit but it was unresponsive. I checked and followed the manual’s diagnostics. Nothing.
So I powered down the track, did something else for fifteen minutes while the super-capacitor relaxed, etc., then connected the Z4000 and fired it up conventionally: still no sound, but the light came on, I gaveit 20 seconds for the supercapacitor to charge, and it ran fine in conventional. For about another ten minutes. . . and the slowly coasted to a stop: but this time, no lights. I set it aside for another 15 minutes, and tried again. No go. I waited an hour and tried again. Dead.
So, those are the facts, and below is the final pictures, just after shut down. I intended to get a video – who would believe it otherwise – DCC on my layout!!! But the poor thing succumbed to the curse of the Willis layout before I could.
Whatever killed this little RTR PS3 loco, it was not a non-MTH power supply.
What Am I Going to Do? I have to have that low speed smoothness – there is no getting around it!!!!!!
I’ll buy a Legacy System – not now, with the Christmas season upon me and several big projects under way, but probably late in the first quarter next year: my pre-ordered N&W J and GS-2 will come in around March – I’ll let them be the first two locos I run in Legacy. Despite my problem I confirmed a key fact I wanted to know – my new Atlas track has no problem with DCC-like signals traveling through its full length. I realize Legacy is a bit different than DCS, but I will take the slight chance that ground planes and all the fru-frah that seem to plague some Legacy users I know will be manageable. The owner of my local LHS does contract work building layouts and such – I will get him or someone in that business to help me convert properly to Legacy and learn to use the features I want and turn off those I do not.
Why Legacy? It’s the more expensive system, and Legacy locos are the more expensive locos. Analyzing my experience over the past two or so years, and restricting it to only locos with sound, I do not conclude that Lionel is better than MTH or vice versa – I conclude that “cheap locos with electronics” aren’t worth buying.
Facts upon which this is based: of 36 locos-with-sound I bought in the last two years, twelve were problem children. Not all had serious problems – a bad automatic coupler, sound that was bad due to a loose speaker wire, a loose coupler on a circuit board, etc. All correctable. But some problems were bad – a circuit board fire, etc., a dead board, etc.
But of those 36 locos, the seventeen that cost over $1,000 a piece had two problems, neither fatal and both repaired by me. Today, all seventeen are good, sweet-running locos. Of the other nineteen most cost less than $500 a piece. And ten had problems. Some I could and did fix, but the bottom line is that nearly half had problems and a third are still dead or have no sound.
My conclusion is that I get what I pay for.
So what else is new?
