People talk about programing their engines, but don't often go into detail about it. What parameters do you use to standardize your fleet?
Here is what I do:
1. All functions on every engine must operate the same. This includes secondary effects. For example, if I sound the horn on a silent engine, the ditch lights will flash as they would if a horn was blowing.
2. Delayed start, momentum and braking are disabled. I've run into too many headaches trying to get different manufacturers settings to play well. If I want these affects, I just slowly turn the throttle dial.
3. All engines operate on 28 speed steps.
4. All freight engine decoders are programed to a 3 point speed curve. Position 1 will be the slowest I can make the engine operate after playing around with kick/depth settings. Usually about a tie every 10 seconds. Step 14 is 30 SMPH and step 28 is 60 SMPH. Tested going both directions.
5. Passenger engines are programed to 40 SMPH at step 14 and 80 at 28.
6. After an install, a small label is applied to the underside of the fuel tank noting the manufacturer.
7. After I'm satisfied with the programing, the engine is considered "qualified" to run. CVs are noted in a spreadsheet. A colored dot is added to the underside of the fuel tank. Red for a conventional decoder. Blue for sound equipped. Black for a decoder that is missing a feature or cannot comply with standards (BLI is the big offender here. I ended up purging all the MRC decoders that I had.)
I still run into some issues. I like to push visual functions up front as silent decoders make up the bulk of my fleet. Why block off 3/4 of the number pad for sound functions that I rarely use.
Another issue I'm trying to resolve is if the function number should activate a specific device, or a category? For example, if F4 activates strobes on my Amtrak F40PH, should it activate the gyra-light on my DRGW SD40T-2?
