Because of the way electric
motors work, it generally takes more voltage to get the motor started
than it does to keep it running slowly - we'll call this phenomenon
stiction. When starting a loco very slowly, stiction generally causes
you to increase the throttle beyond the speed you want it to run.
When it does start, you then have to back off to the slow crawling
speed you want. Pulse power can reduce this effect, but it's usually
still there.
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. |
