Hello!
When I opened the locos box there was a small plasticbag with two tiny brass clips and I wonder what they are good for. I have no clue, can anyone get me "back on track", please?
The loco is a dream in look and performance, btw!
Best regards
Mathi
They are jumpers to install should you want to remove the factory decoder and run the loco on DC only.
Ah Yeah, thanks a lot!
Although I run it DC with the decoder and it acts absolutely great. Do you think it will more improve if I pull the decoder and put the jumpers in (no idea where to place 'em, nothing about that in the manual)? Should I give it a try or better not touch a good running engine?
With HO I advise anyone to pull the decoder and replace it with jumpers if running on DC only, but in N I only advise to do this if you are experienced because the N jumpers are a lot different than the HO jumpers and it is a lot easier to break a N scale loco and loose pieces.
Hi!
Can you tell me where to clip the jumpers on after desoldering the decoder?
Am I right to put one on 8-1-2 and the other one on 4-5-6 and leave No. 7 alone (7 is common lighting and coloured blue usually). Both the jumpers have 3 contacts and will connect the light and the motor contacts to the rail.
Although the H-4 is a very good and sound runner it hesitates a second before it starts to run in either direction. I believe its due to the decoder management of DC-power and if I refuse the decoder it will more directly respond to the throttle commands. Thats the reason why I'm thinking about unsoldering the decoder since I'm striktly running analog DC.
Regards
Mathi
The delay is two factors related to the decoder.
First, the decoder needs about 3.5V before it can even wake up so you need to advance the throttle to that point before it will move.
Second, the decoder has some momentum (CV3 - Accel rate) programmed into it. This keeps you from doing jack rabbit starts with the throttle. If you have access to a DCC system, this can be programmed out by setting CV3 and CV4 = 0.
As far as the jumpers...
Here is a pic of the long vanderbuilt apart so you can see what to jump. #7 is left open.
(http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1263/C_O_Vanderbilt_Apart.jpg) (http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/125658)
Thank you skipgear,
this was exactly what I wanted to know.
And btw to you and all us citizens:
Have a great day on happy 4th of July!!!