18
AWESOME SLOW SPEED THINGY
There is an awesome trick that you can use to get even better slow speed running
and smoother operation. It’s called the Automatic Motor Tuning Feature. This feature
will automatically adjust the Back-EMF in most cases and give you phenomenal slow-
speed performance. WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DO THIS FOR ALL YOUR ESU-
EQUIPPED RAPIDO ENGINES.
In order to use this automatic adjustment, you need to use Ops mode programming, i.e.
programming on the main. Make sure your locomotive is in “forward” and that you have
lots of room in front of it on your mainline. You may have to set up pylons or a work
block to keep other errant model railroaders from entering your territory. Set CV 54 to
a value of 0. Then get out of programming mode and turn on the bell (press F1). We’ll
say this again: Make sure you have plenty of room in front of your locomotive and it is
not headed for the layout edge and the basement floor!!!
Your RS-18 will quickly take off at full speed and suddenly stop. If you had previously
installed an HO scale crew without HO scale seatbelts, you may want to dispatch an
HO scale ambulance to attend to the injured. After that, you’ll have fabulous motor
control. If you ever have to reset your locomotive, you can do the automatic adjustment
thingy again – it just takes a few seconds. Just remember to install the seat belts if you
haven’t already.
MORE INFORMATION
While addressing the features that most modelers will need for normal operation, these
instructions have covered just a small number of the many customizable features of
your ESU LokSound decoder. For advanced users who want to more fully explore the
capabilities of the decoder we suggest downloading the ESU LokSound V5 decoder
manual. This is available in the Support section of our web site.
LIMITED “FIVE-YEAR-ISH” WARRANTY
We will do our best to solve any problems or issues that you may have with your RS-18
locomotive. If your locomotive has any defects that originate from the factory, we will
repair your locomotive using new components or replace it outright should a repair not
be possible. However, we can only replace your locomotive while we have additional
ones in stock. We normally keep spares for up to six months after a model is released.
If you are like most of us and – after purchasing this locomotive – you dismissed it to the
collection shelf under the darkest corner of your layout and are now just discovering it
30 years later after your friend at the club ran theirs, then you are on your own if there
are any issues. Jason is long retired and probably touring the country on our sleeping