# Some inside info needed



## TapRoot (Oct 3, 2010)

Does anyone own the zephyr and use it as a power pack or second throttle from an upgrade like super chief or empire?

I'm looking at buying into the digitrax line but not sure if I should go with the zephyr for now and use it later as a booster or second throttle to a super chief, or just op for the 350 for the super chief (online deal no booster so +180) and have an over kill system from the get go

I plan to run at least 6-8 loco's and 4 at once so I know the zephyr wont cut it but I'm so new to DCC I'm a little sketchy

and can someone explain to me what a program track is?
the empire isn't compatible but the chief is?


please share your opinions, no hard feelings either way!


and what about MRC isn't compatible with NCE, the decoders? sorry I cant remember what I briefly read about it

Thanks guys!
Tap


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

Taproot, I have the Zephyr system and I enjoy using it. I can tell you a few things about what I know/have experienced. 

The Zephyr should be able to power 5 locos at a minimum. I can do this every time. 

I was told when I bought my system that everything digitrax is compatible. So if you wanted to upgrade you could still use your original system. i.e. if I bought the super empire builder I could use my zephyr as a 2 amp booster/extra throttle.

With the Zephyr system you can use the program track to Change the CV's instead of using the main track to do this. I'll try to explain. There are a number of ways to program a loco and I frequently use two of them. One is Ops mode on the mainline, you need the correct kind a decoders that support this. With this mode you can leave your loco on the track and change or write CV's. The other is page mode. With this mode you put your loco on a separate programming track (that is connected to the station) and you can both read and write CV's.

With DCC I have been running a lot of multiple units together and with my layout I could easily run 2-3 loco consists. That said I can only run 5 loco's at a time. So I am a little limited but it's not a huge deal to me. If I expand my layout I will probably upgrade to the next system. 

Moral of the story is if your going to go big and you know that your gonna get real into it you may want to go for the step up model. I went with the base model and will probably end up upgrading after a years time.

My two cents!


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## TapRoot (Oct 3, 2010)

what is CV really?

not having owned a system yet it doesn't make sense, does the decoder not have a pre "authorized" code to go from or do I have to program the decoder to a code and then that code to the control?

so say the loco is 1995 I edit the decoder to be 1995 and thats what shows up on the LED?

thanks!
Tap


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

Yeah I think your on the right "track". Changing CV's is a way to customize the performance of your individual loco's. Every decoder has different CV's that you can change, for instance in your example you can change the address of the decoder to your loco #, that means if you want to run loco 1995 you enter it in the display and then you can control loco #1995. If you have another loco say #4001 you enter that into the display and you can control that loco. Programming CV's also allows you to control the lighting and the speed of each loco. If I want loco 1995 to have a fast top speed and loco 4001 to have a slower top speed I can adjust that using CV's. I will explain more later this evening when I have the time. It may sound a little confusing (It did to me) but you'll get the hang of it pretty quick. Now that I have DCC I don't think I could live without it!!


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

CV - Configuration Value. a register in a decoder that keeps some parameter, be it address, lighting configuration, speed response curve , consist info. in short answer - yes, you can expand with zephyr.

here is a resource for you to study.
http://www.dccwiki.com/Introduction_to_DCC


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

Tap, I should have some time when I get home this afternoon to post a short video of how I operate DCC equipped loco's on my layout. I am definetely not the end all be all of DCC operation, in fact I just started using it earlier this year, but I think I can clear up a few basic points for you.


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## TapRoot (Oct 3, 2010)

Hey thanks alot Bman! id really appreciate the vid no doubt.

and yeah thanks again tank, Ive read through that and a few other ones, a lot stuck but some stuff im still working on making sense of..

Im thinking ill just go with the zephyr for now, and maybe in a few months grab the super chief and use the zephyr for throttle and boost on a second track ill plan to make....I really want to get a long stretch track for a 20+ car train


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

Alright here goes nothing, try not to laugh at me. I swear this is the first time I have every done anything like this. This dumb video took me about 10 takes before I was happy with it.  I hope it helps out. I didn't go into how to set up the zephyr system at all. I just went over how to do some very simple decoder programming. It gets a little more interesting when trying to program other CV's i.e. CV 29, but once you get the hang of it you won't have to many problems. 

One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can also read CV's on the programming track. What this means is that I could have put 4001 back on the programming track, pressed the program button for page mode, pressed the CV button and the #3 and if I didn't know what value I previously entered for CV 3 I could have pressed the RD or read button. The display would flash and the number 40 should have popped up. :thumbsup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KLSFPTjC_s


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## TapRoot (Oct 3, 2010)

Thank you sir!

I appreciate the video, well done:thumbsup:
Clears up a lot, kinda worried if I can decode some of my steam loco's as they are almost half the size of a diesel...

so as for CV that pretty much does it all, speed/sound/lights/realism of pulls or not/steam ect....

I used to have that same AC system you have, but the throttle just stopped working one day...now I cant find it haha...

cheers!
Tap

p.s. how bigs your layout??


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

BMan,

I'm not a DCC guy at all, but I had a look at your video just out of curiosity. Awesome job! Very clear descriptions! Thanks on behalf of everyone at the forum for taking the time to create/post this.

Well done!

TJ


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## x_doug_x (Jun 21, 2010)

i need to say thanks for the video and taking the time to explain that too. educated me on dcc a little.


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