I finally did a test install of my Prodigy Advance Sq. system last night. Its a tempory setup just so I can have a little fun and test new locos. I LOVE DCC!!,I had so much fun playing with it, I was almost late for school this morning. Just couldnt tear myself away from it. I wish I'd switched years ago. Since I had a Bachmann Spectrum 4-8-2 pull a string of 20 hoppers on the track already, I decided to try it out. The loco started moving on step 1 !! The sounds where very cool and easy to control. The only problem is I couldnt get the locos address changed from the factory 3 to 118. The Spectrum uses a Tsnami sound decoder which is suppossed to be ablle to be programmed on the main. I followed the instructions to the letter. The screen said "send" but no success. Any ideas? Other than that I LOVE DCC. With the coiled cord I bought, I can reach all areas of the layout with ease. Fun, fun.
Santa Fe all the way! I finally did a test install of my Prodigy Advance Sq. system last night. Its a tempory setup just so I can have a little fun and test new locos. I LOVE DCC!!,I had so much fun playing with it, I was almost late for school this morning. Just couldnt tear myself away from it. I wish I'd switched years ago. Since I had a Bachmann Spectrum 4-8-2 pull a string of 20 hoppers on the track already, I decided to try it out. The loco started moving on step 1 !! The sounds where very cool and easy to control. The only problem is I couldnt get the locos address changed from the factory 3 to 118. The Spectrum uses a Tsnami sound decoder which is suppossed to be ablle to be programmed on the main. I followed the instructions to the letter. The screen said "send" but no success. Any ideas? Other than that I LOVE DCC. With the coiled cord I bought, I can reach all areas of the layout with ease. Fun, fun.
Try programming in the long address 118 and then set CV29=34 to active it.
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
I've never had to change the short/long address CV on any of my locos, but I've also never tried to program an address on the main.
The PA has a series of common CV "questions" that come up after you press the program button and select "prog (track), main or read". It asks if you want to program the address first, then it asks about accell, decel, start volts, and top volts, before getting to "proper" CV programming.
I'd suggest using the prog track and seeing what happens.
I've changed the address on a dozen BLI, a dozen ESU, several non BLI QSI,and just about everything else including Digitrax,Soundtrax, NCE,Bachmann,TCS, etc, EXCEPT a Tsunami.
Just a thought, are you cycling through the "prog" menu until "main" comes up?
If you can read the address,I'm assuming you have a programming track, as the PA can't read from the main. I don't think any can, as it defies logic, because it has to know the address since there could be many on the main.
Santa Fe,
Where did you find an 8 conductor coiled cord to work with your PA Squared? I have wanted to do this for my older PA but have never been able to find a suitable cord.
Hornblower
Digitrax Transponding and Lenz Railcom can read CVs from the main. ALthough you already know the address since you need to select a loco and then program to it on the main. You can't change the 'active' address - if your loco is using short address 3, you can program it to some long address, but not short address 6, while programming on the main. Or the opposite - if it's already long address 2100, you can't make it long address 2102 on the main, but you coudl make it short address 3.
It would be useful to know MRC's division point between long and short addresses. It's all over the map with other systems because of what I consider a flaw in the NMRA specs, they left it so that all of the various combinations are all valid per the spec but NOT compatible with one another:
NCE: 1-127 is short, 01-0127 and 128+ are long - so you can have 2 locos as '3' - one woudl be '3' as a short address and the other would be 03 as a long address.
Digitrax: 1-127 is short, 128+ is long
Lenz: 1-99 is short, 100+ is long.
All meet the NMRA standards, but loco with short address 120 would only work on NCE and Digitrax, Long address 050 woudl only work on NCE, long address 120 would only work on NCE and Lenz.
THis was, I still believe, done to accomodate Lenz, who's original design was the source of the basic NMRA spec, and who's original system could only address up to 99 - literallt 2 digits, even though on the microprocessor inside the decoder it was two HEX digits - 2 bytes - which can represent any value from 00-FF, or 0-255 in decimal - 1 bit was reserved so instead of 8 bits only 7 are actually available, 7 bits can represent any number from 0-127 in decimal. But Lenz only had a 2 digit display on the cab, so 0-99 it was. Digitrax got aroudn this early on by using a psuedo hex notation - 01-99 as normal, then A0-A9 for 100-109, B0-B9 for 110-119, and C0-C7 for 120-127 (A in hex is 10, B is 11, C is 12). Actually pretty straightforward but the origina of the "OMG you have to use hex with Digitrax" cries. It's been years since Digitrax made throttles that did that, goign back to the long discontinued DT300 they added 4 digit spaces to the address display so any valid DCC address could be displayed as a straight ordinary decimal number.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Guys, here's an update. I decided to try programming on a program track. After setting CV 29 to 34, I was able to set the address to 118. After this sucess, I decided to program somemore of my locos. I successfully programed a Proto 2000 GP7, and a couple Athearn Genesis F's on the main with no problems at all. A few things I noticed(you may already know) the Bachman Spectrum 4-8-2 was the best sounding and running of the 4. I did notice a momentary cutout of sound when I went from speedstep 0 to 1. Cant remember now, but either the Genesis f's or the Protto GP7 wanted to take off at speed step 3, so I changed the speed steps to 128 and that improved the slow speed somewhat. I've enjoyed my DCC system so much, I've spent almost all my free time playing with it. I was almost late for school again today!!! My next project is to install a motor decoder to my BlueLine Big Boy and get it programmed.....hope it goes well. Any helpful hints on this proceedure would be gratefully accepted.
Hornblower, the coiled cord works great!!!!! I got it from www.digikey.com for around $12. Im sorry, I cant find the part number back.
Thanks for the tip about Digi-Key. I found eight-conductor coiled data cords finished with RJ45 ends in various lengths (5, 7, 10 and 14 foot lengths). If anyone is interested, the ten foot long "reversed" (data style) coiled cord in black, part number is H2882R-10C-ND, is priced at $10.59. White, black and silver colors are available.
Hornblower, happy to see you found what you needed.
I went ahead and programmed the rest of my engines. It was a snap with my Prodigy Adv Sq., why do so many people have so many problems programming decoders?
Santa Fe all the way! Guys, here's an update. I decided to try programming on a program track. After setting CV 29 to 34, I was able to set the address to 118. After this sucess, I decided to program somemore of my locos. I successfully programed a Proto 2000 GP7, and a couple Athearn Genesis F's on the main with no problems at all.
Guys, here's an update. I decided to try programming on a program track. After setting CV 29 to 34, I was able to set the address to 118. After this sucess, I decided to program somemore of my locos. I successfully programed a Proto 2000 GP7, and a couple Athearn Genesis F's on the main with no problems at all.
I am glad that worked. Randy brings up a good question though, in that at some point you'll need to know the cutoff between short and long addresses. I am guessing it is based upon decimal and not hex (I.e. 1-99 = short). It would be nice if the manual stated the answer.
Thats a good point, I'll check all the litature that came with the loco, but Im sure it was 1-127 short, 128-9999 long.
I checked their website and while I couldn't find any manuals posted (very odd) I did find a document for running locomotives. It says:
Each Cab has a memory stack that holds up to 25 locos. Only mobile decoder addresses, 2 digit (1-127) or 4 digit (1-9999), can be stored in the stack. Accessory decoders that use a special accessory decoder address will not show in the stack.
This doesn't match what you saw. My guess is that however you programmed in the 118 address, it got loaded into CV17/18 and not CV1, which is why you had to change CV29 to 34. It may be that this system requires short addresses to be programmed in manually into CV1. A simple check would be to default the decoder config. Load CV1=118 and then see if it works.
Ok, now Im getting ready to program the address on my Genesis F3A and B unit consist. Im thinking of putting the two locos on the programming track and using one address(lead units road number). Will the Prodegy Adv.Sq. program both at the same time with both on the track and using one address???Im thinking so.
Program one at a time. You could program one, then put the other one in its place, and give it the same number.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com