The two biggest issues folks seem to have with the PR3/PR4:
1) For most versions of Windows (the exception being some versions of Windows 10), you MUST install the Digitrax-supplied driver and you MUST do it as outlined in the Digitrax-supplied instructions. If you don't, the PR3/PR4 simply will not work.
2) There are TWO distinct modes of PR3/PR4 operation, each with DIFFERENT purposes, DIFFERENT requirements, and DIFFERENT results. One is stand-alone programming mode, and the other is LocoNet pass-thru mode.
But only ONE mode will work at any given point in time, so the user needs to understand those two modes exist, understand which one they want to use, and understand the correct connections/settings that mode requires.
Here are the updated links to the JMRI pages that describe the modes, connections, and settings. They're basically the same except that the PR3 page has some extra text about a firmware upgrade (that the PR4 doesn't require):
http://jmri.org/help/en/html/hardware/loconet/PR3.shtml
http://jmri.org/help/en/html/hardware/loconet/PR4.shtml
I had been using my PR3 error-free since they became available, but fairly recently switched to a PR4 to take advantage of some of it's refined capabilities. It was a plug-replacement since the PR4 uses the same driver/power/connections as the PR3.
My PR4 has so far proven to be just as reliable and user-friendly as my PR3 was, and in addition the PR4 is a LOT faster when reading the newer sound decoders with indexed CV's.
EDIT: Fixed typo.
How are you hooked up and what setting are you using in JMRI? To use the throttles and control the layout, you need a Loconet cable between the PR4 and your system, AND you need to set JMRI up so that the command station is whatever one you have (DCS100, DB150, DCS210, DCS50, etc)
It is possible to have multipel profiles, one for DecoderPro and one for PanelPro - that's what I did, so when running DecoderPro, it expects to read and write from the PR3/4 program track connections, NOT through the system and the program track on the command station. But if I start PanelPro, then it wants to control everything through the system, so JMRI throttles, WiThrottle, and control panels all send command over the Loconet. The PR3/4 can only do one of these at a time, not both.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I am having a similiar problem. Using a PR4. Can program okay but I can't power up the throttle and get power to the track. Everything seems to be wired okay and Digitrax says the pr4 is okay.
No, but they do have a USB interface to program via the command station, or act as a cab. It's the only way to hook up a computer to the PowerCab, the Power Pro system has a serial port on the command station. Either method has limitations as to what you can do via the computers, whereas no method of Digitrax interfacing has these issues - PR3, old serial Locobuffer, Locobuffer-USB, even the old MS100. The only 'issue' with the MS100 is that, being old and not buffering data like all the newer devices, it can 'miss' information occasion. Usually onl with a very slow old computer and/or a busy Loconet (lots of throttles, detection, signalling), although I did see it happen to the Digitrax signal demo setup, a simple straight track where they have an N scale RDC shuttle back and forth with block detectors and signals that trip as it moves back and forth. On one trip, the computer missed the detection of the last block and instead of stoppign and reverseing the RDC it kept running against the bumper at the end. This wouldn;t have happened had they used a PR3 (not available at the time) or a Locobuffer.
rrinker This is TOTALLY a Windows issue, it has nothign to do with Digitrax. Most computers these days don;t even have regualr serial ports, so COM3 seems like a safe bet. Unles syou DO have a real serial port on COM1. Old-timers remember that COM1 and COM3 share interrupts, as do COM2 and COM4, and you can;t always have a workign device on both at the same time. 1 and 2, or 3 and 4, or 1 and 4, or 2 and 3, but not 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. In fact, because there is an industry group that keeps track of USB IDs (every USB device has a unique ID), and it costs money to get an ID there are very few makers of the interfaces themselves - who knows, the chipset used in NCE's USB interface may be the exact smae as the one in the PR3. 99& of the computers out there, you just follow the directions, load the driver and plug in the device and it will work. Now that you haev it working, try it hooked to your Loconet as well. Combined with JMRI you'll be able to do things you could never do with NCE or any other DCC system commonly available. You cna monitor everythign that's goign on through JMRI - turn a throttle knob, see the data. NCE, Lenz, and CVP can;t do this, because the computer interfaces on those system don;t 'see' activity on their polled cab busses. Loconet is more liek ethernet, only slower. This is what allows the 'slot following' feature where you can set two DT throttles to the same address and have a more experienced user guide a trainee engineer - if the trainee starts goign too fast, the instructor can dial back the speed and the change is reflected on both throttles. This is also why to get 29 functions all you have to do is upgrade your DT400 to a DT402. Or just buy a DT402, and plug it in. No command station changes needed, new features can be added by plugging in newer devices. In the history of Digitrax there is only 1 device that can't be used on a modern layout, that is the LA-2 Loconet Adapter, which wa spart of the pre-Loconet Big Boy set. The old boosters still work fine, and the old throttles as well, although they won;t have as many features as the newest ones. But they can plug right in and be used. --Randy
This is TOTALLY a Windows issue, it has nothign to do with Digitrax. Most computers these days don;t even have regualr serial ports, so COM3 seems like a safe bet. Unles syou DO have a real serial port on COM1. Old-timers remember that COM1 and COM3 share interrupts, as do COM2 and COM4, and you can;t always have a workign device on both at the same time. 1 and 2, or 3 and 4, or 1 and 4, or 2 and 3, but not 1 and 3 or 2 and 4.
In fact, because there is an industry group that keeps track of USB IDs (every USB device has a unique ID), and it costs money to get an ID there are very few makers of the interfaces themselves - who knows, the chipset used in NCE's USB interface may be the exact smae as the one in the PR3.
99& of the computers out there, you just follow the directions, load the driver and plug in the device and it will work.
Now that you haev it working, try it hooked to your Loconet as well. Combined with JMRI you'll be able to do things you could never do with NCE or any other DCC system commonly available. You cna monitor everythign that's goign on through JMRI - turn a throttle knob, see the data. NCE, Lenz, and CVP can;t do this, because the computer interfaces on those system don;t 'see' activity on their polled cab busses. Loconet is more liek ethernet, only slower. This is what allows the 'slot following' feature where you can set two DT throttles to the same address and have a more experienced user guide a trainee engineer - if the trainee starts goign too fast, the instructor can dial back the speed and the change is reflected on both throttles. This is also why to get 29 functions all you have to do is upgrade your DT400 to a DT402. Or just buy a DT402, and plug it in. No command station changes needed, new features can be added by plugging in newer devices. In the history of Digitrax there is only 1 device that can't be used on a modern layout, that is the LA-2 Loconet Adapter, which wa spart of the pre-Loconet Big Boy set. The old boosters still work fine, and the old throttles as well, although they won;t have as many features as the newest ones. But they can plug right in and be used.
Does NCE even make a stand-alone programmer that is equivalent to the PR3 (that can do stand-alone, connected to the command station and download sound file updates ? I am not aware of any.
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
John, correct me if I am wrong, but I am fairly sure that Windows makes the COM assignments for USB connected devices, not Digitrax. Generally Windows just looks for, and assigns the next available COM port. I have used USB to serial adapters where the Windows assignment created a conflict and had to do just what you had to do.
For what it is worth, NCE does not even make a device like the PR3 that allows stand alone decoder programing and sound file uploading. So you are correct, you could have avoided this headache with NCE because this product does not exist with NCE.
Since you have Decoder Pro, I would use that for reading and writing the non-sound decoders rather than the Digitrax sound loader program
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
CUDA KEN:
Success at last! Finally figured out that I had a port conflict. After a lot of time in Windows Control Panel, I reassigned the PR-3 to COM 7. It seems that the Digitrax software tries to install itself on COM3. But if it can't do that, there doesn't seem to be anything in the install menu to alert you to that fact. Typical Digitrax. Their products may be great, but their documentation is written by techies for....other techies!
Looking back, I wish I had gone with North Coast Electronics (NCE) instead of Digitrax. I've heard a lot of good reviews agbout their systems.
Only problen I have now is that I can't get the Digitgrax Soundloader program to read a non-sound decoder, I seem to have a sound file that keeps wanting to be loaded, locking up the system.
But at least the beast is working. I'm not sure it was worth either the money or the effort, but we'll just have to see.
Thanks again for your input.
Johm
John I had same problems with my PR 3, Simon 1966 came over and found I was using the wrong file from JMRI. What ever he did sort of fixed the problem!
I can now read and write none sound decoders. But, when I try to read a QSI sound, Blue Line sound or Loksound I get the same error as you. What drives me nuts is some people here using the same PR 3 and PS 14 can read Blue Line decoders, I started a post some time ago but never followed up with trying a bigger power supply.
Try a none sound decoder and see if it works.
Far as giving up on DCC, BOY YOU ARE PREACHING TO THE CHORE! But, with some of the great folks here and Simon 1966 dropping by and helping I am glad I stuck with DCC.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
johnwillmott JEFF: Got the same error message regardless of which switch setting I was using on the PR-3. Steve, in an earlier post, said you didn't need to set those switches because they were bypassed when you set the "preference" tab in Decoder Pro. In any event, the error message is still there. I've never seen anything as frustrating as this mess. Think I'll switch back to DC! John
JEFF:
Got the same error message regardless of which switch setting I was using on the PR-3. Steve, in an earlier post, said you didn't need to set those switches because they were bypassed when you set the "preference" tab in Decoder Pro. In any event, the error message is still there.
I've never seen anything as frustrating as this mess. Think I'll switch back to DC!
John
Please tell us what the indicator lights are on the PR3. That will help a lot. Also when you go into Device Manager on your computer under Administrative Tools--> Computer Management and you select ports, what com ports do you see ? 1,2 and 3 ? Then click on COM Port 3. For the manufacturer does it say Digitrax or something else ? The Location value should say "VCOM port"
Here's the error message from the Decoder Pro manual:
The program did not hear back from the command station when it expected to.
This is by far the most common error message when people first start using JMRI. In that case, it usually means that the connection to the command station isn't correct. This could be a problem with the cable(s) making the connection, or a problem with how the preferences are set. Picking the wrong serial port is particularly common.
Once JMRI is working properly, this error may occasionally happen due to a transient error. DecoderPro generally will retry it successfully in that case.
STEVE:
Unplugged and replugged the cable. Still the same message. But from your analysis, I'm starting to think the problem is in my computer and perhaps not in the PR-3.
johnwillmott STEVE: Tried all your optuions, but still n.g. Ran the uninstall program and reinstalled the drivers per the instructions. Reset all the preferences in Decoder Pro. Ran the programmer but still got the error message. Ran the "Logging Loconet" function and could see proof the thing is trying to read the decoder. At this point, I'm about to give up on the stand-alone option and try hard-wiring it into Loconet in the next room. In all my years in this hobby, I've never seen such chaos as the DCC-era has brought us! John
Tried all your optuions, but still n.g. Ran the uninstall program and reinstalled the drivers per the instructions. Reset all the preferences in Decoder Pro. Ran the programmer but still got the error message. Ran the "Logging Loconet" function and could see proof the thing is trying to read the decoder. At this point, I'm about to give up on the stand-alone option and try hard-wiring it into Loconet in the next room.
In all my years in this hobby, I've never seen such chaos as the DCC-era has brought us!
The PR3 is made to operate in two modes: stand-alone or with a command station (I.e. MS100 mode). If youa re trying to program on a piece of track connected to the PR3 (i.e. stand-alone PR3 mode), make sure you have set the PR3 properly. Here's the info from the PR3 manual:
The Mode Switch:
The Mode Switch next to the Green “USB” LED is used to toggle back and forth between MS-100 mode and PR3 Programmer Mode. This Green LED will wink once per second if in the MS-100 Mode or toggle every second when in the PR3 SFX sound programming mode. If this LED is unlit there is no USB link established.
Tell us what the indicator lights are on the PR3 when you are getting the error message.
johnwillmott Ran the programmer but still got the error message. Ran the "Logging Loconet" function and could see proof the thing is trying to read the decoder.
If you're getting the 306 error it can't be trying to read the decoder. The 306 means that the computer can't communicate with the PR3. And without the computer telling the PR3 what to do, it won't do anything (in PR3 mode, anyway).
I'm not near my PR3 now, and won't be for a several days so I can't test. But I'm guessing that what you're seeing in the log is the computer trying to access the PR3. After all, the computer has to try to communicate with the PR3 to in order to discover that it can't, right?
Unplug the USB cable and try the operation again. Do you get the same "proof"?
Steve
johnwillmottbuit I keep getting an error 306 message: "Timeout talking to command station".Tried both settings on the side of the PR-3, but no luck.My settings are: Serial Port: Com 3;
buit I keep getting an error 306 message: "Timeout talking to command station".Tried both settings on the side of the PR-3, but no luck.My settings are: Serial Port: Com 3;
Three possibilities:
1) You didn't install the Digitrax PR3 USB drivers as described in the PR3's instructions. If you let Windows install it's own drivers, the PR3 won't work.
2) Wrong COM port selected. Go into Device Manager, expand the "Ports" branch, and plug/unplug the PR3. You'll see a COM port appear/disappear. That's the one you need to use.
3) Bad hardware (PR3 itself, USB cable, etc.)
johnwillmott Interesting that there appears to be NO reference in the JMRI link to two settings on the side of he PR-3. I wonder why? You have to dig through the Digitrax sandskrit to find out about those settings
Interesting that there appears to be NO reference in the JMRI link to two settings on the side of he PR-3. I wonder why? You have to dig through the Digitrax sandskrit to find out about those settings
That's because you don't need to worry about them with JMRI. It sets the correct mode in the PR3 based on your "preferences" selections.
Thanks to all who replied to my question. I'm currently using Decoder Pro Version 2.2. Set it up as per the excellent JMRI link one of you provided, buit I keep getting an error 306 message: "Timeout talking to command station".Tried both settings on the side of the PR-3, but no luck.My settings are: Serial Port: Com 3; Baud Rate: 57,600; Connection Uses:No flow control; and Command Station Type: PR-3 Standalone Programmer. I'm using the Digitrax power supply. I've even tested the system with two different decoder-equipped locos. So what's my problem now?
johnwillmottI want to use it as a stand-alone programmer. Anyone have any ideas?.
I want to use it as a stand-alone programmer.
Anyone have any ideas?.
I happen to have 2.3.4 on this computer and there is a choice for PR3. You'll need to seelect a COM port - open up Device Manager on your computer after installing the PR3 driver from the Digitrax CD and you should see under Ports what COM port it's using. You can't change the baud rate, it's locked at 57,600. Below that is an option for the type of command station, but the first choice is PR3 Standalone Mode. Use that for using the PR3 as a programmer not connected to your system. Don;t forget you need a power supply, and soemthign a bit beefier then the PS12 12V supply, 14-16V is now recommended.
johnwillmott I'm having a heck of a time configuring my new Digitrax PR-3 programmer. I want to use it as a stand-alone programmer. But when I try to set it up with Decoder Pro, one of the first choices I'm faced with is the type of layout connection. Decoder Pro gives you a whole list of choices, but nothing seems to work. A call to Digitrax wasn't much help Anyone have any ideas?.
I'm having a heck of a time configuring my new Digitrax PR-3 programmer. I want to use it as a stand-alone programmer. But when I try to set it up with Decoder Pro, one of the first choices I'm faced with is the type of layout connection.
Decoder Pro gives you a whole list of choices, but nothing seems to work. A call to Digitrax wasn't much help Anyone have any ideas?.
I use Loconet PR3 with the COM port set at 57,600. I am using version 2.3.6 . What error message are you getting or what isn't working ?