Running analogue locos with ECOS

QUOTE (markw @ 29 Jul 2007, 16:47) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Morning all

I think i might be being incredibly dense this morning, i just dug out
an old loco which i'm about to chip but thought i'd give it a quick run
first. It's quite an old loco and i don't want to go to the lengths of
hard wiring the chip if it's not gonna run well.

I can't work out how to do it. I thought you'd just add a new loco with
address 0 and off it should go, can anybody tell me how to do this ?

Thanks

Mark
I thought I had read somewhere that you cannot run analogue locos with ECoS. I can't find this on the manual so I am not sure where I read this but I'm fairly certain I read this somewhere.

Found it, it was on the ECoS forum under FAQ's

here is a pathetic translation;

Question: I would like to operate individual locomotives without decoders in the analog enterprise on the same track on my plant also from time to time. Will it give a function with ECOS, so that I can drive a locomotive also similarly without decoders?

Answer: No. This function would need on the one hand much too much DCC range, and on the other hand the locomotive manufacturers advise against urgently, since damage to the engine is not to be excluded. We guess urgent to, all locomotive with decoder equip, e.g. with the inexpensive pilot basic

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 29 Jul 2007, 23:34) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I thought I had read somewhere that you cannot run analogue locos with ECoS. I can't find this on the manual so I am not sure where I read this but I'm fairly certain I read this somewhere.

Found it, it was on the ECoS forum under FAQ's

here is a pathetic translation;

Question: I would like to operate individual locomotives without decoders in the analog enterprise on the same track on my plant also from time to time. Will it give a function with ECOS, so that I can drive a locomotive also similarly without decoders?

Answer: No. This function would need on the one hand much too much DCC range, and on the other hand the locomotive manufacturers advise against urgently, since damage to the engine is not to be excluded. We guess urgent to, all locomotive with decoder equip, e.g. with the inexpensive pilot basic

Thanks Neil,

I got the answer from a few people eventually and you are right the ECoS doesn't support this functionality which is a bit dissapointing really. I Know it's not reccomended but for a quick running test it'd be useful instead of having to dig out the old DC controllers. I Know digitrax, lenz and hornby! all have the feature.

Oh Well It's the first ECoS limitation i have found but i'm sure i can live without it.......

Cheers Mark

I have Digitrax but if I want to test an analogue Loco prior to doing an installation I use an old H&M . I think I paid £10.00 on Ebay. As a DCC user it's a feature you simply don't bother with unless your really stuck. One thing I don't do however is to mix DC and DCC on a layout.

QUOTE (Makemineadouble @ 31 Jul 2007, 08:57) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I have Digitrax but if I want to test an analogue Loco prior to doing an installation I use an old H&M . I think I paid £10.00 on Ebay. As a DCC user it's a feature you simply don't bother with unless your really stuck. One thing I don't do however is to mix DC and DCC on a layout.

I have to admit that running analogue locos was never a consideration for me. My understanding was that while this was possible with some controllers e.g. Lenz and Digitrax it would not do the loco any good. Like MMaD I have an analogue controller which I dig out in the rare event that I have a non dcc loco I want to check. This is such a rare event that I don't even have any designated DC track to run it on. I just get a couple of bits of flexi track and check it on that. My layout was designed to run exclusively on DCC from the begining and I no longer have the facilities to run normal analogue locos.

With new locos, if they have a socket I just install the decoder straight away and test it with the decoder installed. This probably isn't best practice but I haven't had problem yet. I only test ones which I am going to hard wire as it's not possible to return these if faulty.