The continuing saga of a B'mann engine..

[Steamfreak]

just purchased a few days ago a B'mann DCC equipped engine....It doesn't work so well on DCC, but it works great on DC....Go figure...

http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/f...ad.php?t=17093
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Gus (LC&P).
Steamfreak

#8 Yesterday, 01:05 PM
Selector
Engineer Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,491

Gus (LC&P).




Gus, if it works at all, it must be a problem with settings. The general rule with DC/DCC engines is that if they run okay on DC, they should be just as well or better on DCC, but with more do-dads. If they don't run well in DC, they'll probably be entirely crappy in DCC.

So, if you have a decoder in a B'mann engine, and you are vexed, it suggests to me that the various CV's that control movement need some spanking. Figuring out which, and how many swacks, is the puzzle. It generally means getting into the manual for the decoder and pondering your next best guess. Try dither, torque compensation, V-Start, and so on.

Crandell
Selector

#9 Yesterday, 05:41 PM
Steamfreak
Crandell, I plan to spend a few hours (I hope) tonight messing around with it. Hopefully I'll get it working properly....
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Gus (LC&P).


#10 Yesterday, 06:52 PM
diburning
The New England Railfan Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Boston, MA
It's a bachmann engine meaning that the circuit board has capacitors. The capacitors need to be removed for proper DCC operation.

#12 Yesterday, 07:04 AM
diburning


The capacitors are there because of some European electromagnetic interference standards. They will cause DCC operation to be erratic and unreliable.

Bachmann knows that the capacitors cause problems. Removing the capapcitor is part of the instructions that come with the loco.

#13 Steamfreak

I popped the tender open last night with the very malicious intent of cutting the capacitors off....Look Ma...No capacitors..!! At least none that I could recognize (little yellow saucers...). All the components are surface mounted, and they consist of rectangular chips with several soldering pads.....Nothing that looks like a capacitor, induction coil...anywhere. Sooooo....
I should'a taken a picture...but the "joy" was so overwhelming, I just buttoned it back up...
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Gus (LC&P).


#14 Yesterday, 03:54 PM

Update....Here's a pic of the offending board...Could those widgets labeled C1, C2, etc...in the upper left hand quadrant be the capacitors..??

Note: I disconnected the decoder in order to take a picture of the board only...

 

[CSX Robert]

...Could those widgets labeled C1, C2, etc...in the upper left hand quadrant be the capacitors..??...

Yes, those are capacitors. It looks like C3 is the one for the motor(the one that should be removed) and that C1 and C2 are for lighting functions, but I can't say for sure just from that picture.

 

[Steamfreak]

CSX R....I went ahead and snipped off the capacitors, put in a D'trax decoder, and PRESTO....You'd think it was a different loco. Tried using the original B'mann decoder, and while improved, performance was nowhere near what I get from the D'trax.
So what I thought would be neat to have...DCC right out of the box, did not turn out so well. I'll just stick with DCC readys from now on....

 

[LATX]

CSX R....I went ahead and snipped off the capacitors, put in a D'trax decoder, and PRESTO....You'd think it was a different loco. Tried using the original B'mann decoder, and while improved, performance was nowhere near what I get from the D'trax.
So what I thought would be neat to have...DCC right out of the box, did not turn out so well. I'll just stick with DCC readys from now on....

Wow I have a F40PHR394 that came wirth the DCC on board and I had no problems. On my club layout it ran jus as good well actually better than on DC