So I decided to run a loco today that I have not ran for a few weeks. I placed it on the tracks, dialed up the programmed road number, and let her go... or so I thought. There was no movement. The lights worked when I turned them on and pressed the direction button. But no movement.
Did I accidentally set this address into a consist or "steal" the address into another loco? I'm still learning how to operate my DCC outside of the basic stop, go, forward and reverse. I use a Digitrax Super Empire Builder with a DB 150 command station.
If anyone has any advice, I would greatly appreciate it. This GP 7 is one of my favorite and most versatile locos. She gets used for switching ops and mainline runs. I would really like to find her again.
I look forward to hearing from anyone who may help. Thank you.
irishRR,
If you can't determine what you did, you can always reset the decoder back to factory settings. Most decoders can be reset setting CV8 to a value of "8" and cycling power so that the address is changed to "3" but it depends on the decoder. Do you know which decoder is installed in your GP7?
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Yes, resetting the decoder to factory settings usually works for me. It can be frustrating if you’ve put a lot of work into programming the decoder. If your engine doesn’t run on address 3 after that then there is something wrong with the decoder or wiring or something. Good luck fixing your problem!
Regards, Isaac
I model my railroad and you model yours! I model my way and you model yours!
The decoder is also a digitrax. DN163A4. I will give it a try tomorrow. Not going to lie... CV's are a very confusing and intimidating aspect of DCC for me. I wish I knew more about them because I know they are the bread and butter of the digital system and what make digital so fun to operate.
I still have so much to learn....
SPSOT fanYes, resetting the decoder to factory settings usually works for me. It can be frustrating if you’ve put a lot of work into programming the decoder.
Probably you did nothing wrong. My Bachmann 45 tonner regularly loses it's mind, just sitting, not even on the track, next to the track. It must have it's feelings hurt if it's not run enough.
It's a very good idea to write down the changes you made especially with sound, as you try different horns, engine sounds, light intensity, speed tables.
Mine has no sound, so all I have to do after a reset is change the engine number.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I've had some Digitrax decoder equiped locos do the same. Some systems purge address that haven't been used in a while.
This wasn't the case with mine. I eventually installed a new decoder, and it works fine to this day.
I had an old outdated decoder, that had been reset many times. That doesn't seem to be the case with yours. Yours is a recent issue.
Mike.
My You Tube
irishRR The decoder is also a digitrax. DN163A4. I will give it a try tomorrow. Not going to lie... CV's are a very confusing and intimidating aspect of DCC for me. I wish I knew more about them because I know they are the bread and butter of the digital system and what make digital so fun to operate. I still have so much to learn....
One of the beauties of DCC is that you can make it as simple or as complex as you want. Decoders are generally set up to accomplish the basics (light, horn, etc.) right out of the box. All you need to be able to do is to program it with an address apart from "3", which is the default. Everything else is icing on the cake.
If keeping track of CVs for each of your locomotives is an issue for you, JMRI Decoder Pro can be friend. It can simplify programming for you but its biggest asset - at least to me - is its ability to store/copy all the CV settings of a given decoder. If for some reason your decoder settings all go south (I've never had that happen with any of mine), you can reinstall them onto any of your decoders from Decoder Pro. All you need is a laptop or tablet to install the [free] software on and a way to connect it between your computer and your programming track. It can also make setting up more complex aspects of CV programming - e.g lighting-effects and speed-matching - less daunting.
If the lights turn on and off with F0 when the address you think it shooould be is selected, then the decoder ha snoot lost its mind, it's still at that address. More likely, it's in a consist and it was never cleared. If so, it will probably say CN in the middle of the screen. It's possibly oon more than one throttle, if one of them is a UT4 or Zephyr system throttle, but if this were the case you should have been promted to STEAL the loco when selecting it, and if you leave the throttle turned up the loco should move in fits and starts as first one throttle controls it than the oother it was never prooperly released from.
Or there is a mechanical issue and something is binding the motor.
Edit; N scale decoder? Probably the motor tabs are no longer touching the contacts on the decoder. This is actually the most likely problem here, NOT any sort of programming problem. I have to say, I have NEVER had a decoder suddenly 'forget' its settings. Even after years in storage - last year I pulled out my QSI equipped Atlas loco which has been stored for 6 years or more and it immediately fired up and ran normally on the address it has always been programmed to. And I have seen numerous reports of QSI decoders going deaf after sitting around. I've had many othrs that sat in boixes for years between use, and they all still worked as expected. It's next to impossible to have a short or other problem just so happen to generate exactly the bit pattern to program a decoder or make it reset. I honestly don't know what people are doing to make this sort of thing happen.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Digitrax decoders can be reset to factory default by using CV8=8. But, then you need to reprogram the long address. So, before resetting the decoder to factory default, why not read the CV values on the Programming Track to determine the long address, just in case you called up the wrong long address?
Rich
Alton Junction
Hello All,
irishRRNot going to lie... CV's are a very confusing and intimidating aspect of DCC for me. I wish I knew more about them because I know they are the bread and butter of the digital system and what make digital so fun to operate. I still have so much to learn....
I agree CVs can be intimidating.
The solution I found was to download JMRI (Java Model Railroad Interface). Then I purchased the Digitrax PR3 XTRA; which has been updated to the PR4 (Approximately $70.00).
I setup a programming track using two pieces of straight track with a re-railer in the center attached to a piece of 1"x4"x30".
The PR4 in conjunction with JMRI can read the CVs of most decoders. It also stores that information and can be reloaded if you have to reset the decoder.
It also lets you change CVs using plain English.
Yes, there is a cost, but I found in the long run what I paid for the PR unit was well worth every penny.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
Hello all. I reset the CV to factory setting and was able to successfully reclaim the loco. Unfortunately I do not know what I did as my system does not have the ability to read back CV's. (When I bought it I was trying to save some money and did not realize how serious I was going to end up getting into the hobby). But seeing as how I am just now starting to play with CV's, I am keeping a journal and looking into some of the recommendations from the forum members. Thank you again all. This is why these forums are so great for this hobby. Cheers!
All a CV is is a part of the brain that can be taught. A child learns to respond to its name, and that is what that particular CV is meant to do...give the decoder a 'name', except we give a numerical address. It can only be done via a computer interface or using pressed buttons.
Decoders can make sounds, but you can tell it what volume to play each individual sound. I find the injector sounds to be annoying on scale steam locomotives, so I reduce that volume in the appropriate CV by entering programming with that loco's address active at the time. Select the CV, and then input the number that makes sense and gives you the behaviours you want.
It's the same for type of horn or steam whistle (modern decoders store several sound files for various types). And, you can set that volume relative to all other tunable sounds. I often have the bell softer than the horn/whistle.
You can tune the motor drive so that it accelerates the locomotive slowly, as if it were really trailing some hefty tonnage. And, you can slow it the same way when you snap the speed steps to 'zero'.
CV setting is just part of the business, but a really good idea is to keep a record on a card inside the storage box for each locomotive. Each locomotive is sufficiently unique that they don't all behave the same way with the same CV input numerical settings.
Takes a bit of courage at first, and it's a bit of a bother later when you have to trouble-shoot, but it will soon become very familiar to you if you persist.
Good luck.
irishRRUnfortunately I do not know what I did as my system does not have the ability to read back CV's.
The "older" Digitrax SEB set I use, you can't read back CV's either.
irishRRBut seeing as how I am just now starting to play with CV's, I am keeping a journal and looking into some of the recommendations from the forum members.
I think JMRI will fix that, and give you the ability to read CV's and to keep a record of what you've done.
I have it, but it's not connected to the lay out. It's up in my office on a lap top, along with a program track, although I find myself still doing most programming with the DT400 throttle.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand how a manufacturer in good conscience can design a DCC command station that does not read CVs. That is the heart of the decoder.
Read? Mostly unimportant. What's important is not knowing what's there, but making it what it should be, or what you want. There are many systems that couldn't read CVs (and some decoders that can't be read no matter what). And systems that can't even set ANY CVs, let alone read them. Anyway the DB150 is discontinued, so nothing Digitrax is selling lacks readback.
The biggest thing often heard is "I have no idea what address my loco is" OK, why waste time reading it, when you can just stick it on the program track and give it the address you want, done. Doesn't matter if it already was that address, or some other, you are expecting to operate on address 1234, soo just set it to 1234 and go ooon your way. Is it really that important knowing it USED to be 4321?
Of course, we keep on the CV issue - I am 99.9% certain that the OP's loco doesn't have a programming problem, it has a physical electrical connection problem. If the address was messed up, it wouldn't respond to headlight commands on the selected address.
With mine Rich, it might have something to do with the fact that the Digitrax Super Empire Builder (DB150, DT400) set I have is 2004 vintage?
Their newer stuff, like to start-up set Zephyr, I believe has the read back capability.
Like I said, I have the JMRI, but since I'm not a tech-head-geek type guy, it doesn't get used for all that it could be used for.
Agree with Randy, if the OP has directional control of the lights, he is at the correct address. problem is elsewhere.
mbinsewi With mine Rich, it might have something to do with the fact that the Digitrax Super Empire Builder (DB150, DT400) set I have is 2004 vintage?
By the way, I don't necessarily disagree with anything that Randy said, but if you cannot read CVs, you don't know the values, so you cannot diagnose the problem.
floridaflyer Agree with Randy, if the OP has directional control of the lights, he is at the correct address. problem is elsewhere.
My suspicion with OP's problem is that the engine may have been in a consist, and re-setting the decoder broke it out of the consist.
Note that with a Digitrax DCC system, you can clear out the saved loco ID numbers and consists that have been entered in the past. I would have recommended the OP try that before re-programming the engine decoder if I had seen the post earlier.
Still I guess bottom line is it now works!