Detailed Explanation of Why The Upgrade Is A Good Investment
This is a reprint of a users group request answered by Gerry Pruss of QSI
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 20:06:06 -0000
From: "g_pruss"
Subject: Re: BEMF in QSI equipped locomotives
--- a user wrote:
> would you mind giving us your opinion as to why we would want to purchase the upgrade and what it will bring us?
Jerry,
These are the main features you will get with the upgrade.
- RTC in DCC.
- Access to the PID CV's, which are used in the RTC motor control loop.
- 35 new CV's for configuration of
- Headlight,
- Reverse Light,
- Mars Light,
- Ditch Lights,
- and other lights
- Other new features
- Improvment of existing features
- Bug fixes
- Future upgrade capability
I have discussed item (1) in previous messages to this group. In summary, RTC gives you
- smoother slow speed behavior
- better slow speed behavior when encountering minor obstacles on the track
- more prototypical behavior going up and down hills
- more prototypical acceleration and deceleration
- better consist behavior due to cooperation of the consisted engines
Item (2) may be of interest to those of you who like to tweak your engines for the best possible performance.
Item (3) provides you with great flexibility in configuring the behavior of your locomotive's lights. For example, in the past year several of you asked how to change the Headlight and Reverse Light behavior so that these lights were bright regardless of directional state. These new Cv's give you at least 3 ways to do this, including configuring these lights so they are always on, which might free up a function key or two.
Items (4), (5), and (6) are less important the more recent your decoder's firmware is. Version 6 firmware released after July-05 already has most of these improvments, but earlier version 6 firmware may not. If your engine still has version 5 or earlier firmware, you definitely will see overall improvements with the upgrade. For example, version 5 and earlier firmware does not support Quantum Engineer.
Item (7) allows you to upgrade your decoder's ROM using a PC connected to a Quantum Programmer which is connected to a programming track upon which sits your decoder. The version 7 ROM chips contain firmware which communicates with the Quantum Programmer allowing the flash memory to be erased and re-written. The current version 6 and earlier ROM chips do not contain this firmware. That is the reason for the upgrade program, you need to physically replace a version 6 or earlier ROM with a version 7 ROM which contains the firmware which communicates with the Quantum Programmer. This is a one time requirement. Once you install a version 7 ROM, you can upgrade it from a PC without removing it.
Gerry Pruss
QSI
