Hello, new to the group with hopes of solving a puzzle. I got a new BLI N-Scale loco for Christmas and found out I couldn't program it the way I've programmed all my other locos...that is with JMRI through a DB150 command station's programming output. I even sent the loco back to BLI, thinking it was a defective decoder. So, BLI says it's OK, but they don't support JMRI, so they couldn't work through a fix for me. They suggested a stand-alone programming system. So, I bought a Digitrax PR4 and a DSS Power Pax booster, and connected them to my programming track. The booster was recommended by a number of BLI loco owners. I upgraded my JMRI to 4.15.4 to get the PR4 as a selection in Decoder Pro. I had devil of a time getting the PR4 drivers to load on my Win 10 laptop, because they aren't "signed". But, I finally got that set up, connected everything, and the PR4 shows up in Device Manager on COM3 with the proper Digitrax drivers. I fired up Decoder Pro, configured it as per the the JMRI instructions, double-checked all the parameters, and then I put a known good loco on the track. I tried to read the decoder (Atlas/Lenz) through the "add new loco" process, set to direct byte, as per JMRI instructions. Several times. Tried another known good loco. No go. Decoder Pro reports that the process stopped because there was "no acknowledgment for the locomotive". I am stumped. THe one thing I didn't try was to take the Power Pax out of the equation. I will try that this afternoon. But that was the reason I started down this rabbit hole...
Any thoughts? Something obvious that I may have missed? Thanks in advance for your help!
Take the PowerPax out and you should be good to go. The PR4 should be powerful enough to do any modern sound locomotive. The Powerpax is really only needed if you are using a low power programmer such as on a DCS 100 or some older command stations.
I use a sprog now and have retired my powerpax from use as the sprog lets me run and program everything at my work bench.
A word of caution, do not hook up a Powerpax to anything besides a programming track or it will fry it.
This happened a club that I belong to by a member that had no idea what they were doing.
Colorado Front Range Railroad: http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/
Agreed, ditch the PowerPax. I've had a PR3 for years and it has worked with every brand of sound or non sound decoder I've thrown at it, and at the club there are a LOT of different brands in use. No program track booster needed.
There are also enough people who say in cases where a booster is needed, the PowerPax works great with some brands but not all, while the Soundtraxx PTB-100 works with everything.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Renegade1c Take the PowerPax out and you should be good to go.
Take the PowerPax out and you should be good to go.
That was one of the first things I tried. It didn’t make a difference. I have 30 or so DCC locos. Up to this time, for 8 years, I had no problem reading back and programming any of them using Decoder Pro on a programming track connected to my DB150 command station. Then I got a Broadway Limited Paragon 3 ES44AC (N-Scale) for Christmas, and I couldn’t program it to change the address and speed-match it in a consist. Even reading back the decoder was flaky - different values for everything each time I tried it. I sent it back to BLI. After 3 months, they sent it back and said it had “no problems”. That started me down this rabbit hole with the PR4 and the Power Pax, which others had said would be the ticket. Now the PR4, with or without the Power Pax, will not read any decoder I have tried. Not only that, but it randomly re-programs other values in the Paragon that I didn’t ask to be changed. Very frustrating.
Getting rid of the Power-Pax, as previously suggested, is a good first step.
A couple other thoughts from a long-time PR3/PR4 user:
-If you keep your W10 up to date, you shouldn't need to bother with the Digitrax "drivers".**
- Make sure your programming track isn't connected to anything other than the PR4's programming outputs.
-Make sure your PR4 is powered by the PS14 power supply that came with it.
-Make sure your JMRI preferences are correctly set for the PR4 as a stand-alone programmer (More info here: http://jmri.org/help/en/html/hardware/loconet/PR4.shtml )
**NerdSpeak: The PR3/PR4 actually uses a Windows driver (usbser.sys) that has been included in Windows since about W2K or so. The problem was that Windows didn't recognized the hardware properly and would install the wrong driver. So Digitrax created their "driver" file, which is actually an INF (information) file that tells Windows to use usbser.sys. I'm guessing that Digitrax also added their name to the INF file as an easy way to tell if a given installation had properly used it to point it to the correct usbser.sys driver.
That changed somewhere around W10 version 1703 (Creator's Update) or 1709 (Fall Creator's Update), although I don't recall specifically which version. Anyway, at some point MS made a change to W10 that now allows it to properly recognize the PR3/PR4/DCS240/DCS52 and install the correct usbser.sys driver.
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately all of your suggestions have already been implemented, and checked and checked again. The laptop and JMRI ran fine when it was connected to a dedicated programming track through my DB150 commandcstatio. Then I got the BLI Paragon 3 loco for Christmas and I couldn’t program it or read the decoder. That’s what started me down this rabbit hole. All because I couldn’t program this one loco, while 30 or so more are no problem whatsoever. Very frustrating.
I use JMRI with my PR3. My programing track is on my workbench with my laptop. Numerous times I got the "no acknowledgement for the locomotive" and everytime I do a restart on my laptop and it goes away. I don't know why or what causes it.
Paragon 3 you say? Turn off the smoke unit with the switch, which is either under the cab or in the smokebox.
rrinker Paragon 3 you say? Turn off the smoke unit with the switch, which is either under the cab or in the smokebox. --Randy Paragon 3 N-Scale diesel, ES44AC. No smokebox...
Paragon 3 N-Scale diesel, ES44AC. No smokebox...
Well, thanks to all those who offerred suggestions. Today I went down into the train room for the purpose of setting the BLI loco back to factory settings. Just for the heck of it, I put the loco on the programming track, with the PR-4 AND the Power Pax connected, and guess what? When I flashed the decoder with "Write all pages", it worked like a champ! Not only once, but over and over again as I worked the speed table to speed match the consist. I have changed nothing with my computer and nothing with the programming setup. Go figure. The loco is working great now, but I have absulotely no confidence in the future. Anyway, thanks again, guys.
You do realize you don't have to write all pages every time, right? The less you wrie, the more reliable it is. When changing a speed table, all you have to do is write changes on that sheet to update the table.
rrinker You do realize you don't have to write all pages every time, right? The less you wrie, the more reliable it is. When changing a speed table, all you have to do is write changes on that sheet to update the table. --Randy
Randy,
Of course, I understand that. I flashed all the CV’s on the decoder because my previous unsuccessful attempts at programming had completely scrambled the profile to the point where the loco would not run at all. The problem of not being able to read from the decoder remains, so, not having any idea what anything was set to, I flashed them all with the Paragon 3 diesel factory settings and started from scratch.
Dave