Model Railway Forum

Can anyone offer any advice on the jerky running of Bachmann locos on DCC. Principally 'Halls', but my 9F can seem jerky at times. I have removed the suppressor capacitors from all of the locos.

If they are all doing it may I suggest it is the track and/or wheels that need cleaning. Is your track laid on a perfectly flat surface. Are the pieces of track joined together properly.

Firstly I have to say I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with DCC, mainly for the reasons given in this subject. I wonder if DCC decoders are becoming too clever for their own good?

Anyway, have you tried fiddling with the acceleration settings? I had a similar problem where the CV settings were set by default to gentle acceleration which meant that for every miniscule interference it would start again, resulting in jerky running.

Note: many locos have more than one capacitor, some have three fitted! All can be hidden under the motor. or on the PCB!
Next if jerky running is still experienced and the wheel rims and rail tops are spotlessly clean, then adjust the CVs.
Try setting CV 56 to around 50 and CV57 to around 15. Adjust their values up or down as a trial and error setting until smooth running across the speed range is achieved.

Try a factory reset. That has worked for me in the past. Don't forget DCC address will be changed to 3.