However, with DCC there are many features you can use to modify how power gets to the motor. One of those features is Kick Start. Kick Start can provide a little extra jolt of power to get the loco started when speed step 1 is first entered. This extra jolt of power is provided for only a few pulses when you first access speed step one, then it stops. If you have the decoder programmed to make the loco crawl at the speed you want on speed step 1 and you have Kick Start set properly, the loco should instantly start crawling at that speed just by setting the speed to the first speed step - no going beyond to get it started, then backing off.

The adjustment of Kick Start (CV65) is pretty much by experimentation. If you have speed step 1 set to keep the loco running, but it won't start by just going to speed step 1, increasing the value in Kick Start is needed. If the loco starts with a jolt, then settles down, the value in Kick Start needs to be reduced. When the loco instantly starts to crawl at the speed step 1 speed when first entering speed step 1, it's set just right.

Kick Start is an adjustment that is generally used in conjunction with the User-Loadable Speed Table.

This is strictly a decoder feature. Once configured, it will work on any DCC system and doesn't require functions or other special things to make it work. If you want Kick Start, you need to be sure that the decoder you get has Kick Start implemented for the running mode you plan to use it in.

Sometimes a manufacturer will have a feature that negates the need for Kick Start. Train Control Systems' Dither is a good example of this. With Dither, you won't need Kick Start.

NCE decoders have Kick Start implemented for the resident speed curve as well as the User-Loadable Speed Table, but I think it's a little different than described above. According to the documentation, the value in Kick Start is the number of 1/1000 of a second to "kick" the motor. So, instead of the value controlling how much kick, it controls how long the built-in kick will last.

Lenz and Throttle Up! SoundTraxx decoders do not have Kick Start implemented for any control mode.

Since Kick Start resides in CV65, you must have a system or other means of programming that CV. All Digitrax systems can program that CV.

Kick Start is not intrusive. You do not need to bother with it unless you want to use it.