How to do speed Calibration using Accutrack and JMRI Decoder Pro

This is my quick method of calibrating the complex speed tables of decoders, enabling speed matching of all trains and allowing me to place them in consists. The key to matching is to set the same top speed for all the trains. I chose 168kmh as it is a good top speed and gives exactly 6kmh per speed step.
I set CV29 to 30. This turns on 28/128 speed steps, DC operation (I just like to leave it on), Railcom, for programming on the main, and complex speed table.
JMRI is free and available at sourceforge.ne....
Thank you for watching.

[@richardvanraay7055]

Thanks very muchfor sharing. Did you buy the Accutrack in Australia?

[@donmartin9567]

Nice. I'm always looking at potentially better ways of speed matching. I'll have to give this a try. I do have the Speedometer but I REALLY like your idea of matching the speed on the ECOS to the speedometer and the 6 kph per step over the 28 steps to give a top speed of 168kph - that's a little over 100mph so should be good for MOST engines although the Atlas engines and a few other brands have top speeds in the 60 to 70mph range - close to 100kph.

[@BearsTrains]

Thanks Don. You could set it to 140 which would be 5 kmh per step. I just like to introduce as few errors as possible.

[@SteveHookEm]

Hey, what are you using to show the ECoS screen on a TV monitor on the wall? I want to do this with mine as well. I can get the image to my PC using VNC. Is this image coming from a PC?

[@BearsTrains]

Gday Steve. It's a tv but is hooked up to the desktop computer on the floor using a HDMI lead run up through the wall. I couldn't find a cheap monitor that would hang on the wall.

[@SteveHookEm]

One more question or two: 1) Is your connection to the ECoS wireless for JMRI? 2) You read speeds on the main. Do you then move the train to the programming track to use JMRI? Do you need to do anything in the ECoS to tell JMRI you are on the program track? (if that makes sense)

[@BearsTrains]

Gday Steve. The ecos is connected to my household router via the Dlink thingy that runs through the power circuit in the house, the desktop is wireless to the the same router. Once the ecos is connected to the router, it gets assigned an IP address, same as any laptop or tablet that connects to the router. I find this IP address and then set it in JMRI The innermost loop of track has an isolated section that can be switched from "main" to "programming" via a switch and a 12V relay. It switches the feed to that section from "main" to the programming output on the ecos. When I am setting the CVs for the speed, the entire loop is set to main and I adjust the CVs using Railcom (turned on in CV29 in the decoder) so that the engine can keep running around non stop and stays at operating temperature until the speeds are correct. Once I am happy with the top and bottom speeds, I stop the train on the programming section of loop and flick the switch. Then JMRI can talk to the train directly. The one disadvantage of JMRI and Ecos is that it will only talk to trains via the programming track, not on the main, so when I do the bit with "match ends" and then go to write the remaining speed CVs, it must be done with the track section set to "programming". Once it is done, I flick the switch back to "main" and just drive the train away. I used to have a separate piece of track for programming but it was a real pain moving the engines, especially with some trains that are difficult to disconnect from carriages. When using the bit of loop as "programming", I don't have to do anything to the ecos as the feed to the section is just switched to the programming output on the ecos via the 4 pole relay that is controlled by the switch. JMRI just talks to the decoders straight through the ecos. Hope this makes sense, I didn't explain it at all in the vid, just concentrated on the speed matching etc. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. If you want, I can make a short vid which will show how everything works. It's sounds complicated but is pretty simple really. Bear

[@SteveHookEm]

Bears Trains I have the ECoS, JMRI and decoders from TCS, Digitrax, ESU and MRC. Obviously, my speeds are all over the place. My programming section connects directly to the main track and is simply separated by isolating joiners. I can program and then drive directly to the main track. Would it be possible to make a video showing JMRI with the ECoS start to finish? The only videos out there are several years old. I don't know where to start to get my engines matched. A start to finish how-to would be awesome! Thanks again!

[@BearsTrains]

I will give it a shot Steve. I have tried some ESU decoders but didn't like them as the top and bottom CVs (67 & 94) for the complex speed curve are set in the basic speed curve section and I just couldn't set them correctly so I took them out and replaced with the Lenz. I have never used the TCS, Digitrax or MRC ones so have no idea what the setup in the programming is like. I found the most important thing is measuring the actual speed and the Accutrack II just works perfectly

[@PetersvilleRailway]

Can you run two locos at a set distance apart [continuous running] at various speeds in a video at shunting & mainline speeds so we can see how effective this method really is..??

[@BearsTrains]

Hopefully this weekend. I have been saving up some new things to video

[@donmartin9567]

WOW. I just spent a few hours, yes hours, trying to get this to work and on the engine I was trying it on, I'd set my top speed but after doing the JMRI write, seeing I had a straight line and testing, my MID speed was over 10% higher than it should have been. I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. So, I went back and watched your video again. At the 2:20 mark you select DCC28. I had been selecting DCC128! Anyway, I simply switched to DCC28 and BANG half speed was indeed half speed!!!!

[@BearsTrains]

You could set each CV individually which takes a while but is very accurate

[@JoeG-firehousewhiskey]

I use to do the tape measure and timing, it sucked bad! Great tutorial thanks for the help!

[@BearsTrains]

No worries Joe. One of my loops is exactly 10.765 metres long but you have to wait for the train to complete a loop to get the speed. Especialy bad at slow speeds. I can just pick up the Accutrack and plonk it down in front of the train anywhere

[@chrislef2002]

I like it! I will setup JMRI with my Ecos and try this out. I just hope JMRI works with the ECOS without a tonne of tweaking. -Chris

[@BearsTrains]

Should be pretty easy Chris. Modem routers are set from the factory to assign an IP to anything that connects to them. Just get this IP from the Ecos, punch it into JMRI and away you go. Sometimes the Ecos might get assigned a different IP when connected, but just put this new one into JMRI. It seems to happen about 1 in 5 times for me

[@chrislef2002]

Bears Trains and Stuff hi. On the ecos side everything is fine and it has a static ip address... it was jmri, in the past, that was being difficult. I used it last night and it worked... except that all 28 steps were programmed, i can read them, say to check if cv 94 received the correct value from jmri... and everything is there But the speed table is not being read by decoder as loco still moves at the original speeds..

[@chrislef2002]

Hi. On the ecos side everything is fine and it has a static ip address... it was jmri, in the past, that was being difficult. I used it last night and it worked. Thanks... except that all 28 steps were programmed, i can read them, say to check if cv 94 received the correct value from jmri... and everything is there But the speed table is not being read by decoder as loco still moves at the original speeds.. It has a Tsunami (Soundtraxx but no sound) decoder which does not use the CV5 and 6 settings, so I'm surprised it is not using the settings. -Chris

[@chrislef2002]

Found it! : CV25 = 16 to use User-Defined Speed Table (at least for the Tsunami, this is required)