Reading an MR email & there is a BL advt referring to PARAGON2 GE AC6000's & in the text it says - "Program a transit macro so you can have completely auto-piloted operation of your locomotive"
I know what Macros are from s/sheet use, - lets say for the purposes of this post - 'a repeatable sequential set of steps taken that can be triggered by pushing a button'- but in the advt are they talking about the various sounds the Loco can make or do they mean movement, or both?
ie, Can you program it to Start Up & head off down the track at 2mph then lift to 5mph then stop & back up & blow the horn & all that stuff??
Interested in what 'Transit Macro' & 'autopilot' actually mean.in relation to these Locos.
Thank you
Tanked.
Good question. I clicked on the link in that e-mail, and also found this:
"Each Paragon2 locomotive comes with BLI's own integral DCC Decoder factory installed. Paragon2 locomotives offer Dual Mode DC and DCC operation with: superb back EMF motor control in DC and DCC, recordable DCC operation for automated playback, the same detail level as the original Paragon Series, and the familiar sturdy maroon box!"
Now, what that means? Beats me. It sounds like they've built some kind of scripting into the decoder.
EDIT: I found it. If you go to the BLI site and look around in Customer Service, you'll find something that says "Download Paragon 2 diesel locomotive technical manual." This will give you a PDF file. The description starts on page 165.
It seems like you can turn on "record" mode as you run the engine around your layout. It will remember the commands you sent, and when you sent them. Something like "5 seconds, increase speed 8 steps" or "12 seconds, sound horn once." It will keep recording until you give the "stop recording" command, or it runs out of space to record. Then, you can put the engine back where you started and tell it to play back the sequence. In an ideal world, it will repeat the sequence you just ran. There some provisions for fine-tuning the recorded sequence, too. Pretty neat gadget for a decoder, actually.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasleyIt seems like you can turn on "record" mode as you run the engine around your layout. It will remember the commands you sent, and when you sent them.
Well that fits a definition of a Macro - 'Turn on Record', undertake actions, Turn off Record' - Go back to start point & press 'macro', select the name of the macro, [or however BL do it], & the loco should replicate the previous actions. Very interesting. I wonder how long it records for?
Thank you Mr B.
Tanked
TankedEngine Very interesting. I wonder how long it records for? Tanked
Very interesting. I wonder how long it records for?
According to the BLI Technical Reference Manual for the Paragon 2 decoder, the macro can record 124 events, so the time depends on how many changes you make to speed, directiion, etc. before you fill up those 124 memory slots.
It's an interesting concept, and would have some limited use, but there are some problems with it.
First, in order for it to work the way you want it to, it really depends on how repeatable the actions really are. For example, if the engine stops an inch further down the track than the point where it started, if you run the macro a dozen times, you'll have moved a foot. On a model railroad layout, that may be the difference between clearing the main on a passing siding, and blocking the turnout.
This only controls the engine. I doubt that it would control a consist, although it might. (I didn't get that from the documentation.) I suppose you could assign the same address to both engines. Still, if you need to throw turnouts, that will still have to be done manually unless you have more electronics to sense, for example, the train coming back out of a reverse loop.
The right place to put this macro-recording functionality, IMHO, is in the command station. That way, you could use it to control any engine, and your DCC-controlled turnouts too. With a bit of clever interfacing, the macro could sense various DCC-compatible detection devices and use those to make decisions, so you could have the engine (or consist) stop at a red signal and proceed through a green one.
Actually, the best place for it is where it has been for years now (at least in RR & Co software), and that's in the computer driving the DCC system - thus it does not matter if the command station or decoder supports such a thing. It's being added to JMRI. In JMRI this gives an added advantage - if uyou use a DCC system that only drives the trains (like CVP) coupled with a different detection system (like C/MRI) you can link the two so that the macro can drive the train based on block occupency, and also throw turnouts and so forth.
The only 'new' part of this is including it in the decoder. And even that reminds me of the Big-Trak toy of the 70's - every self-respecting nerd kid like myself had one, basically a programmable tank, you woudl enter command to go forward or reverse in certain amounts, turn in either direction various amounts, or fire the 'laser'. The biggets issues were with programmign turns - what might be a 90 degree turn on a medium pile carpet would be like 120 degrees on a hardwood floor - so the same program didn;t work everywhere. Ditto programming motion into the decoder - will 2 minutes at 25% speed ALWAYS move the train the same distance? Doing the macro externally and tying it to block detection elminates teh guesswork - run at 25% speed until block X is occupied, then even if you hold the train back for a minute with your hand it will still complete the task accurately.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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