Drive hold…..

[LIRR]

DDC noob in need of assistance:

What does drive hold do? How is it used? Why/when would i use it?

I have a few Atlas diesels with Loksound and an NCE procab…..

[peteski]

Here is a basic explanation from the LokSound manual.

Drive Hold: This function keeps the speed constant. Throttle changes do only influence the sound, not the real locomotive speed.

Basically it is like if you were driving your car and put the transmission in the neutral, then you could "gun" the engine with the accelerator pedal, or if you didn't step on the accelerator the engine speed would go down to idle, while  the car would still be rolling.  That would be a Drive Hold.  Except the car would eventually slow down with no power applied to the wheels, but the locomotive will just keep on running at the speed it was when you engaged Drive Hold.  When Drive Hold is engaged you use the throttle speed control knob for controlling the engine "speed" sound.

As how this simulates the 1:1 loco behavior, I'll leave that to the experts in prototype trains.

[LIRR]

Thanks….good basic explanation.

Minutes ago I noticed video on the subject on MRH trainmasters TV….i haven’t watched it yet

Thanks

[davefoxx]

One example of how I use Drive Hold is when I’m climbing the grade on the original NS line on my layout.  I start the train up the hill slowly, press Drive Hold, and then move the throttle to Run 8.  The train crawls up the hill, but it sounds like they’re giving it what for. At the top, I press Drive Hold again to exit that feature and regain control of the speed, and then I can reduce the throttle.

Conversely, you can do the same to coast by using Drive Hold and cutting the throttle down to idle.

DFF

[peteski]

Isn't ESU decoder capable of detecting the heavier uphill load on the motor (using BEMF) and automatically adjust the engine sound to show it is laboring?  Or that feature doesn't work well enough?

[tehachapifan]

Isn't ESU decoder capable of detecting the heavier uphill load on the motor (using BEMF) and automatically adjust the engine sound to show it is laboring?  Or that feature doesn't work well enough?

As far as I have been able to determine, ESU decoders don't have this feature. I thought they might have added it to their LokSound 5's, where they refer to something called "load mode", but it doesn't seem to function in the way you described. Not sure why they don't add this in as a feature though, as my Zimos will automatically rev up and down going up or down a grade or when pulling a heavy load, as will my BLI NW2. All this said, I'm not sure the revving up and down feature would work properly if more than one loco is in lashup/consist (they most likely would all be doing something different).

[peteski]

As far as I have been able to determine, ESU decoders don't have this feature. I thought they might have added it to their LokSound 5's, where they refer to something called "load mode", but it doesn't seem to function in the way you described. Not sure why they don't add this in as a feature though, as my Zimos will automatically rev up and down going up or down a grade or when pulling a heavy load, as will my BLI NW2. All this said, I'm not sure the revving up and down feature would work properly if more than one loco is in lashup/consist (they most likely would all be doing something different).

Yes, the ESU manual does have an entry about "load simulation" (section 10.7) which I thought would be this feature, but after rereading it, no it is not quite the same as the feature in ZIMO or QSI or BLW decoders.  Funny that what otherwise is probably the most flexible and programmable decoder available, does not have an automatic "load sound" feature.

I also agree that in a multi-unit lashup, unless all the locos have perfectly matched speeds (so they all evenly pulled their share of the load), using this feature would likely result  in some strange results.

[LIRR]

I tried it out….pretty cool feature.

Thanks again