Hi,
I'm basically new to DCC as regards installing and setting it up instead of just playing with someone else's, and I wanted to run a couple of ideas past people who knew better...
I'm looking at building a traction line, so about half the stock will be self-powered - flip side of that is that none of them need to be very powerful, so they'll probably generally get just one power block each - and most of those motors are going to be one of a couple of types, just because of what's readily available and easy to use.
So the question is - say all my locos are actually mechanically identical, using USAt power trucks or similar, is there any type of decoder on the market that allows me to set voluntary current limits, and limit motor torque that way? That way I could make one unit weaker/stronger than another to represent their 'real' characteristics, so that the yard master/scheduler needs to take care in matching units to train weight. What I've got in mind in industrial terms is classic DC drive behaviour, with the drive folding back the voltage when it hits the current limit setting.
I looked up the NMRA standards http://www.nmra.org/standards/DCC/standards_rps/RP-9.2.2 2007 July.pdf and there is CV892, but my reading is that that gives a signed report of present current consumption - ie its a dynamic reporter, not a control point. Correct?
Help?
Jonathan
I'm basically new to DCC as regards installing and setting it up instead of just playing with someone else's, and I wanted to run a couple of ideas past people who knew better...
I'm looking at building a traction line, so about half the stock will be self-powered - flip side of that is that none of them need to be very powerful, so they'll probably generally get just one power block each - and most of those motors are going to be one of a couple of types, just because of what's readily available and easy to use.
So the question is - say all my locos are actually mechanically identical, using USAt power trucks or similar, is there any type of decoder on the market that allows me to set voluntary current limits, and limit motor torque that way? That way I could make one unit weaker/stronger than another to represent their 'real' characteristics, so that the yard master/scheduler needs to take care in matching units to train weight. What I've got in mind in industrial terms is classic DC drive behaviour, with the drive folding back the voltage when it hits the current limit setting.
I looked up the NMRA standards http://www.nmra.org/standards/DCC/standards_rps/RP-9.2.2 2007 July.pdf and there is CV892, but my reading is that that gives a signed report of present current consumption - ie its a dynamic reporter, not a control point. Correct?
Help?
Jonathan