# Anyone here use the Bachmann EZ Command system?



## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

I was given one with all the trimmings in near new condition and I'd like to install it on my N scale layout. I'm not interested in recommendations for other systems, only how to use this one as well as it can be. Thanks for any help.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

I'd hardly call it a 'control center'. You won't have any control over your decoder CV's.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

You close any switches, hook up two wires from it to your rails just like in DC, and then control a locomotive with a decoder installed. It MUST have a decoder installed. If you try to run a DC motor without a decoder, the EZ-command output will probably fry the motor before very long. It's worse if you let the locomotive just sit there. It should also be quite noisy due to the alternating current.

Your decoder, if new, or freshly reset, will have the Address '03'. You need to acquire that on your new system, I don't know how, and then the rotary knob will make that locomotive run. I would suggest reading the manual, or going to Bachmann's site, finding their resources, find the manual for this DCC system, and figure out how to reverse direction, control lights, sounds, etc.

You probably already know this, but you will have to figure out how to get the nominal N Scale voltage to the rails. HO needs a higher voltage, N about 0.8 if that. I don't know if the EZ Command can be adjusted. Again, the manual.

Finally, your system cannot adjust CVs above CV1, except for those dealing with changing an address, which you'll need to do as you put more DCC locomotives on the rails...IF you do. For a single locomotive on Add '03' it doesn't matter. But my point is that you won't be able to adjust starting voltage to ensure the locomotive begins to creep at speed step One. You won't be able to assign momentum and inertia values to simulate a loco lifting a heavy tonnage. And so on...


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

mesenteria said:


> You close any switches, hook up two wires from it to your rails just like in DC, and then control a locomotive with a decoder installed. It MUST have a decoder installed. If you try to run a DC motor without a decoder, the EZ-command output will probably fry the motor before very long. It's worse if you let the locomotive just sit there. It should also be quite noisy due to the alternating current.
> 
> Your decoder, if new, or freshly reset, will have the Address '03'. You need to acquire that on your new system, I don't know how, and then the rotary knob will make that locomotive run. I would suggest reading the manual, or going to Bachmann's site, finding their resources, find the manual for this DCC system, and figure out how to reverse direction, control lights, sounds, etc.
> 
> ...


Thanks...this is what I'm looking for. DCC is not a thing for me. I tried it and did very well with it, but had to come to a hard cost issue that I wasn't willing to cross. This was given to me practically new in the box. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't even bother.


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## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

If you tire of it I would be willing to take it if your hands... just sayin

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Shay

I used the Bachmann EZ DCC system on my room size HO
layout for years. I had 10 DCC locos and often ran 3 or 4
trains at the same time with it. It is easy to set up and easy
to use. I hope you got EZ CD operating manual. It shows you
how to change loco address and another function or two. 
If not it or text version is likely available on the Bachmann site.

I recommend that you do not assign 01 to any loco since the
system defaults to that address when a short occurs. Also
do not use 03 since every new loco or new decoder comes
with that as it's address. You can run a DC loco using the
number 10 button, but it is not advised because the AC
track voltage can damage a parked loco.

As mentioned, the system does not have capability of doing
fine tuning of decoder CVs, but I never found that a
problem.

Hook it up and give it a try. I think you'll like it.

Don


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

vette-kid said:


> If you tire of it I would be willing to take it if your hands... just sayin
> 
> Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


Not tired of it at all. Was given to me by a friend who bought it for his road. When the DCC bug bit hard two months later, he gave it to me while running down the street to get an NCI throttle. I have one DCC loco in N scale, a beautiful ACELA that was given to me by another friend that I'd like to run. My plan is to run the throttle to a loop of HO, and hook it up to a DPDT switch on each layout. This way I can expand my loco repair services to those N and HO units with DCC, the DPDT switch going from DC to DCC on each layout as I need it.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Thanks. Don...this is what I was looking for. I have the instructions in print and PDF, as well as the CD. I also have linked the YouTube videos into my library. Just making sure it wasn't a waste of time...cvs and sounds and bells and whistles notwithstanding.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Actually, Shay, you can have 'sounds and bells' operated
by your EZ system. The yellow function button enables
them as you'll see as you peruse your manuals.

And, with DCC, you can feed both an N layout and an HO layout
with the same controller at the same time...you just assign, for example, 02 and 04
to your N locos, and 05 thru 10 to your HO locos (or any other combination)
just as long as you don't have 2 assigned the same address...except, of
course, if you want a consist. (that's in the manual also).
But, you correctly state that you must use a DPDT switch to
prevent any DC getting to any DCC track or controller.

Don


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## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

Glad to see this post, as I have one that was bought a couple of years ago used off eBay, and finally decided to put it to use on "Mormon's Gulch," a 3 x 4 foot micro layout.

I am looking mostly to be able to access the sound functions on Bachmann's Jupiter. Does this Command Control thing allow me to do that?

I need two decoders for two DCC ready Bachmann American types. I know I want a "stay alive" function, but beyond that what does one recommend for a suitable decoder (and please don't say "any")?


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## Texas Rattler (Aug 13, 2012)

I like my EZ Command. Travels well and takes seconds to setup. Has a bit of a learning curve though. I like how they use the function key to double the amount of inputs using the same 10 keys; however, it prevents you from labeling everything which there is room to do. That is my only gripe about the controller.

To what others said above, I decided to run a separate power supply for my switches mainly because the controller is limited to 1000mA. I believe once you start finding this controller limiting, you likely outgrown what it was originally designed to do.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

One thing to keep in mind is that the decoder retains its 'setting's no matter where it runs. So, if you know someone with a DCC system, you can always go over there, beg for 10 minutes of track power, and configure the common CVs on his rails. Take your locos back and they'll behave just like you wanted. However, a reset will mean having to start all over again.


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## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

My friend has a Lenz system, I think, and the instruction manual is the size of a Manhattan phone directory, back 
when they had such things. Not my cup of tea. 

I looked up what "Constant Variable" meant, and after reading the entry still don't have much of an idea what a CV value is. Speed? Momentum? Motorized miniature windshield wipers? Sorry, I am stupid. Can someone kindly tell me what a CV value is? 

I want to blow the whistle and ring the bell. Can this Bachmann Command Control do that, or not? Again, can anyone recommend a suitable decoder with a Stay Alive capacitor, other than "any?"


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

Chops,
A CV is a configuration variable, a way to adjust all the settings of a decoder.
What value goes into each Variable depends on what that CV is for.
Speed, momentum, sound volume, sounds on or off, a hundred different things
that you are not interested in. I would not worry about them.
The Bachmann EZ will work bell, horn/whistle and lights of any DCC sound equipped loco.

I would suggest a Digitrax decoder for your American, it's a pretty small loco so I don't know 
if a stay alive sound decoder and speaker would fit. 
You would have to go the the Digitrax site and see if they have anything that fits.
If you don't see anything try contacting them, they are very good about things like this.

If these are DCC ready locos you might find something, sound may be a problem.

Magic


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Here is the manual for the EZ DCC control system.

It should answer all of the questions discussed in
this thread including how you control sound locos.



https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/images/E-Z_Command_instructions.pdf



Don


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

All decoders used in the toy train hobby are meant to be 'configured' by the owner/operator. In order to make our toys behave more like the prototype, i.e. more 'prototypically', decoders allow two locomotives to be on the same length of powered track at the same time, but to behave completely differently. This is not true in DC. The decoder is a small brain that meters out voltage to various functions, but it takes it from full power to the rails all-the-time. 

However, when they are new, they are set to factory defaults. That means, among other things, full....awful...volume. It means virtually no 'inertia' in CV3 (meaning the slow acceleration due to heavy trailing tonnage that doesn't want to accelerate), none in 'momentum' in CV4 (a train underway takes forever to stop because it will simply slide on the rails, wheels locked up, if the braking acts as forcefully as it does, say, on a truck), and so on. What allows you to 'configure' the decoder are 'configuration variable's', or CVs. The manual for the decoder lists all of them, probably more than one hundred. It is your responsibility to configure the decoder so that your particular model accelerates at the first speed step (that's what CV2, or V-Start, is...), and what sets how quickly it accelerates and brakes, whether a diesel in which the decoder is mounted runs long hood first or vice-versa...and so on. There are tables on line at 'CV Calculator' sites that are free to access.


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## roybrownson (4 mo ago)

If you go online and get the manual for the Bachmann Dcc Ez Command Controller it will show you how to program a consist of two locomotives together. So, that you can run a train with two locomotives hooked together then your passenger or freight cars hooked behind. The manual will also show you how to run the different Dcc functions like front or back lights and the different sounds of your Dcc locomotive. Some of the sound functions are locomotive engine start up, engine speed sound as you go from slow to higher speed. Bell, horn or whistle, Brakes and the horn or whistle pattern for going through a road crossing. Hope this gives you an idea of what it can do. Good Luck! Roy in Syracuse, Utah, United States


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## prrfan (Dec 19, 2014)

roybrownson said:


> If you go online and get the manual for the Bachmann Dcc Ez Command Controller it will show you how to program a consist of two locomotives together. So, that you can run a train with two locomotives hooked together then your passenger or freight cars hooked behind. The manual will also show you how to run the different Dcc functions like front or back lights and the different sounds of your Dcc locomotive. Some of the sound functions are locomotive engine start up, engine speed sound as you go from slow to higher speed. Bell, horn or whistle, Brakes and the horn or whistle pattern for going through a road crossing. Hope this gives you an idea of what it can do. Good Luck! Roy in Syracuse, Utah, United States


Hi. Welcome to the forum. This thread is over a year old. The OP hasn’t been on here for 6 months, so you may not get a reply.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

This is a fairly common error to new members so don't get turned off and the thread may still be helpful to some. Just view the first and last posting dates before replying. Welcome to the forum.


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## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

An old post, but the info is certainly worth the bump. I have a EZ Command that I've been wanting to put to use.


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