Programing on the main....remove other locos?

[Gerome]

I've always meant to ask.  If I want to program a loco on the main in ops mode that is still at default address 03, should I remove all other locos on the layout, since many still have 03 as their short form address although also programed using a 4 digit address?  Is there a danger of messing up these others?

Thanks.

[skagitrailbird]

Having only programmed locos using NCE, I can't speak to other systems. But when using programming on the main with NCE the first thing you do is enter the address of the loco you want to program. So long as none of the other locos on the layout have the same number they will not be affected. This assumes that the four digit address has been selected as the primary one in those locos sharing a short address of 3. 

[wp8thsub]

skagitrailbird

So long as none of the other locos on the layout have the same number they will not be affected. This assumes that the four digit address has been selected as the primary one in those locos sharing a short address of 3. 

That's my experience also.  Provided the short address of 3 is not active, a decoder assigned to its long address will not be affected by programming commands sent to the decoder with 3 as the active address.  I use NCE as well.

[modelmaker51]

Select loco 3 on the throttle and adjust the speed and see if any other locos move, if not you're good to go.

[rrinker]

Ditto above. Programming on the main only sends program commands to the selected address. Now, if you have multiple locos with the same address... 

The only exception is if address 0 is selected. This has nothing to do with some systems being able to run a dc loco. Address 0 is also the broadcast address and all decoders are supposed to respond to address 0. You can use this trick to reset a decode that won't work on the program track and you don't know the address of, but in his case you need to remove all other locos because address 0 will program them all.

 

       --Randy