Atlas User Manual: Diesels
with QSI Sound
17/52
13 January 2015
Decoders (Quantum, Quantum Titan, or
Quantum Titan with ET)
When the locomotive starts to move in the opposite direction, the
Horn
will stop automatically and then hoot one more
time if the direction is
Forward
for a total of two Hoots. If the direction is
Reverse
, the
Horn
will hoot two more times
for a total of three Hoots
14
.
Note
:
To prevent the first horn Hoot from being too long, do not delay in turning up the throttle after you have flipped
the direction switch.
3.6 Standard Throttle Control™ (STC™) and Regulated Throttle Control™ (RTC™)
Atlas Gold Series locomotives that are equipped with QSI Sound-Decoders (Quantum™, Quantum Titan™, or
Quantum Titan™ with ET) have two types of throttle control available:
Standard
and
Regulated
. Both
Standard
Throttle Control (STC)
and
Regulated Throttle Control (RTC)
will apply more power to the motor as track voltage
increases, beginning at the
V-Start
setting.
RTC
includes a motor speed control feature that prevents the locomotive
from reacting quickly to changes in voltage or to minor impediments such as misaligned track joints, tight curves,
rough switches, etc. A locomotive operating under
STC
may come to an unrealistic halt from a raised track joint or a
drop in voltage; while the same locomotive under
RTC
will continue at the same speed.
RTC
operates your
locomotive as though it has the mass and inertia of a prototype loco; your locomotive will resist changes in speed
once it is moving and will resist starting up quickly if at rest. You will be able to operate the locomotive at very slow
prototypical speeds without having to adjust the throttle continually in order to maintain speed.
While small obstacles will not affect the locomotive’s speed under
RTC
, a continual force will slow your train down,
just as is the case with the prototype. For instance, if your diesel locomotive encounters an upward grade under
RTC
,
it will eventually slow down. Providing more throttle will slowly accelerate it back to speed. The same locomotive
under
STC
would quickly slow down or stop when it encounters an upward grade.
The type of throttle control also affects how your locomotive decelerates. Under
STC
, your locomotive will respond
quickly to a reduction in track voltage. Under
RTC
, your locomotive will decelerate slowly as you bring the throttle
down. If you bring the throttle down below
V-Start
, the locomotive will slowly come to a stop. You can, however,
force a locomotive to slow down rapidly under
RTC
by bringing the throttle down quickly; this action reduces the
available power to the motor speed control circuit and forces the speed to decrease faster than
RTC
would normally
allow. Once the locomotive slows down and regains normal
RTC
operation, it will continue to decelerate slowly
according to its built-in inertia. For instance, if your locomotive were running at top speed and you quickly reduce the
track voltage to just below
V-Start
(where the locomotive would normally
be stopped), the locomotive will at first slow
down rapidly since you have reduced the available power to the motor. After this initial rapid slow down, the
locomotive will decelerate at a rate determined by the
RTC
inertia and will then finally coast to a stop.
Selecting between
STC
and
RTC
is done on a DC layout by using Analog Programming (see Section 3.13). The
factory-default setting is
RTC
.
3.7 Engine Load
You can set your diesel locomotive to have any of 16 different
Load Levels
(also called
inertia or momentum levels
;
see
Analog Programming
, Section 3.13). As you increase track voltage, the electric motor in your locomotive is
provided an increasing portion of that power which, depending on the load setting, will gradually accelerate the
locomotive realistically until it reaches full speed. Load Level 0 is the default, which is no load.
Under
STC
, the default Load Level 0 setting will allow your locomotive to accelerate or stop as quickly as its internal
flywheels will allow. Under
RTC
, level 0 will add no additional load to the built-in inertia already provided by
RTC
. For
any load setting from 1-15, your diesel locomotive will take longer to change speed under either
STC
or
RTC
. With
RTC
, at level 1, it will take approximately 15 seconds more to achieve full speed at max throttle; at level 15, it will take
over 3 ½ minutes to achieve full speed. In addition, at higher load settings, your locomotive will decelerate more
slowly when you decrease the throttle.
14
Standard prototype railroad signaling is two hoots before starting in forward and three hoots before starting in reverse.
