Decoder Pro and Athearn Genisis

[Woofda]

well tonight I saw it all. A friend that is really good at programing cv's had in HO, a Athearn, Atlas, Brodway Limited and Kato running in a consist. I know that Atlas and kato run really well together. He played around with the CV's to get them to run together very smoothly. As I learn more Ill post it

[jrbernier]

  As others have mentioned, the Athearn Genesis engines use a MRC sound decoder, and it does not have the capability to read back CV info to your DCC system.  I have a Genesis MP15AC and I could not even program the 'address' from a programming track.  I had to remove all the engines from the layout and do 'on the main' programming to get the address in it.  It is like driving a car with the windshield covered up.  The engine looks good, and runs fine.  But I will never buy another Athearn Genesis locomotive with the MRC sound decoder in it.  I will by the no sound/decoder version and install something I can work with....

Jim Bernier

[Woofda]

The engines that I'm trying to set up are Three SD45-2 With sound. I read the instructions several times to see what options are available. I was hoping to speed match them using Decoder Pro and to fine tune them but, these cv I guess are not available. So my question is are the standard NMRA CV available for, and or useable?

I'm guessing that if the CV is not listed on the paperwork that was supplied with the engine it's not available? BTW the engines look wonderful.

[Stevert]

Is Decoder Pro and Athearn Genisis compatable?  The decoder does not support CV read back Features. Decoder Pro is unable to detect the decorer on the track.

 It has nothing to do with Athearn Genesis locos themselves - just the fact that they have MRC decoders in them.  Now you know why so many folks disdain those MRC decoders.

So how can you do all the things Decoder Pro offers if the decoder in the Athearn unit is not detected?

 Well, I've heard that some folks tear out the MRC sound decoders and replace them with other brands. 

  But there's a less drastic option - Simply program the loco using DecoderPro, and save the resulting roster entry.  The programming should "take", assuming your programming track is otherwise working properly.  You just won't be able to read back what's in the decoder.

HTH,
Steve

[garya]

What locomotive do you have? Sound or no sound? There are some decoders that are tough to program, DecoderPro or no.

Although you may not be able to read back CVs, you can still use DecoderPro. I use a Roco DCC system that doesn't support readback, and I can program decoders. You need to know what decoder you've got (or make some guesses). For instance, if you have an Athearn Genesis F unit with sound, look under MRC.

Even if you can't hook DecoderPro up to you system, you can still use it. A friend of mine doesn't have a computer interface, yet he runs DecoderPro on his computer because he finds it easy to use. He sets up the options he wants, turns to the CV page, and then enters the CVs in manually. DecoderPro takes the finagling out of the process for him.

[Woofda]

Is Decoder Pro and Athearn Genisis compatable?  The decoder does not support CV read back Features. Decoder Pro is unable to detect the decorer on the track. So how can you do all the things Decoder Pro offers if the decoder in the Athearn unit is not detected?