NCE decoder behavior

[ATSF_Ron]

I recently scored a Lifelike ATSF GP-20 AND an E6 for a great price.  They arrived today.  The GP-20 ran perfectly.  The E6?  DOA, or so I thought.  I pulled the shell and wow!  There's a decoder in there!  It was not listed as DCC equipped, so lucky me!  Apparently it's a DCC only decoder, as nothing happens in DC.  The settings seem to have been tweaked.  There's either a huge momentum delay or a starting voltage adjustment.  It takes a good 20 seconds for the loco to start moving, especially on 128 speed step setting. Then it takes off at about 25 mph.  It's an NCE decoder, which I've never used before.  My DCC system is the MRC Prodigy Express Squared.  Is it possible to reset an NCE decoder from my system?  I thought I read somewhere that certain decoders won't play well with certain other DCC systems.  I've had to reset a couple BLI steam decoders, and that was no problem.  I've used DCC for a few years now, but I've only made a few minor adjustments to the sounds, mostly, on my decoders.  I also have several DCC equipped locos that are silent.  This one is silent.  Oh, another nice bonus is the chassis is a Kato, not a Lifelike.  Apparently the E6 shell fits nicely on the Kato chassis.  Anyway, I'm hesitant to reset it for fear of messing something up.  Other than the delayed startup, all other aspects of running seem normal.  It's super smooth and quiet, as a Kato should be.

[Mike C]

  I'd just try to reset it , set CV 30 to a value of 2 . That should get the DC to work and it will have an address of Loco #3 .   Mike

[peteski]

I have never encountered a DCC decoder which would  not also operate in DC.
Resetting the decoder should configure the decoder to dual-mode (so it works in DC and DCC). 
See https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201489365-Master-List-of-DCC-Locomotive-Decoder-Resets-by-Manufacturer-

Reset should set the CV29 alternate power source bit (bit 2) which is colloquially called "DC operation bit" to "1". 
If you can read CV29, use one of the online calculators to check if the DC operation bit is set.
https://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29%20calculator.htm
If it is, then the model should run on DC and DCC.  Usually reset sets CV29 to "6" which is 28/128 speed steps and DC operation enabled.
Reset should also set the momentum CVs (CV3 and 4) to zero (or some very low value), so the model should respond to speed commands with no delay.  But the behavior you described does not sound like momentum, but a strangely behaving decoder that could use a reset.

[ATSF_Ron]

Thanks for the tips, guys.  I’ll try the reset and see what happens.

[ATSF_Ron]

This is strange.  I tried resetting CV30 to 2, as stated in Peteski's DCC link.  It won't operate on DC AND it's still only responding to address #15, the road number on the shell, not the default #3.  I also saw in the directions that some decoders can use CV 8 set to 8.  I tried that and got the same result - still no DC operation and only responding to loco address 15.  Could it be my MRC system can't reset NCE decoders?  That seems odd.

[peteski]

I have no personal experience with NCE brand decoders, but the reset process (basically writing a value to some CV on programming track) should work on any DCC system. With some decoders you have to "reboot" them by lifting them off the track for few seconds.

You could also try programming CV8 and/or CV20 on the mainline using the address it is currently set to (15) and see if that resets it.