DCC with Hornby

Hullo!

We've just started converting stock over to DCC, the first foray was the newer Super Detail Hornby 9F. While the loco runs fine under DCC it has great scope for improvement.

The kit is Lenz Set 100 with an LE1000A MacCoder.

The symptom is that, when selected to 128 notch control, you need to get to about notch 23 before it starts moving and it's not going particularly slow when it does - prior to that the motor is just making noise (note: it's not slipping internally or externally, nothing's moving, it's just buzzing).

I've tried messing with vStart to bump up the start voltage but there is no effect unless i set it to 250 in which case notch 1 is max speed or if not max, way more than enough in any case! :)

Has anybody had any experience with converting Hornby loco's over to DCC and what they've learned through optimal configurations etc? Ideally i'd like it to be able to run nice and slow at the lowest settings, i'm a big fan of crawling trains and it also comes in handy when you are trying to back to some wagons or coaches if you aren't doing it at a scale 25 mph! :)

We suspect we'll have to re-gear the 9F so that it performs better at the lower speeds as Hornby are apparently geared for higher speeds, is this the approach others have taken?

All help very much appreciated

Matt.

If you want superb slow running and good general control try a modelyard conversion:

this with a TCS M1 decoder with dither control and the results are simply outstanding. For something really outstanding: Remove the ringfield motor by slitting it away leaving the body, refit the centre wheels, and then install a Soundtraxx DSX sound only decoder in the tender.