maxmanI don't know what will happen if you take your consist to a Digitrax railroad as I don't know how Digitrax would handle a consist addres of 127. Someone else can comment on this.
I don't know what will happen if you take your consist to a Digitrax railroad as I don't know how Digitrax would handle a consist addres of 127. Someone else can comment on this.
As long as the consist address is indeed 127, you'd just dial up 127 and run it. The advanced consist address is programmed into CV19 of each decoder. NCE does this automatically when a consist is set up. When you break the consist on an NCE system, CV19 is programmed to 00. (As long as the engine is still on the track)
If CV19 is programmed to anything other than 0, the decoder will only take speed and direction commands to the address programmed to CV19 and will ignore speed and direction commands to the short address stored in CV1 or the extended address in CV's 17 and 18.
Martin Myers
MisterBeasleyEverything on the "track" side of DCC is covered by the NMRA standards, so they should all be completely inter-operable.
Just a minor comment to this. The locomotive consist address is on the track side but there might be problems trying to move a set of consisted engines from one system to another. For example, NCE allows you to use the lead or trailing unit numbers to access a consist for operation, let's say engines 4000 and 5000. But these are really alias numbers that the command station remembers belong to the actual consist number, which let's say is 127. So, if you operate the consist on your railroad, you can access them by selecting any of locomotive numbers 4000, 5000, or the consist number 127.
Now, if you take your consisted locomotives to another NCE railroad, when you select 4000 or 5000 nothing will move. You have to remember that the actual consist number is 127 and select that. Of course, if the host railroad already has a consist 127, that set will move also.
NMRA default value for a new decoder's address is 03. That should get just about any new decoder running. I say "just about" because a few locos that come with decoders installed will have been programmed to a different address - usually the unit number. Occasionally you will find one that is just brain dead and that's generally caused by someone doing a demo in the store.
There are standard CV's listed by the NMRA. There is also a range of "manufacturer use" CV's that can be whatever the particular manufacturer decides. For that reason it's always best to have a look at the particular documentation for the decoder.
Here's a link to the NMRA RP for CV's.
I don't think that there will ever be a standard for the network between throttles and the command station. That is what makes each manufacturer's offering unique. Read that as selling more equipment.
Thanks for the reply's, so fr all intents al the locomotives should be interchangeable with possibly a few functions possibly not working. I guess if every system were completely interchangeable that would make too much sense and not give each company a competitive edge. Maybe this is something that will come down the road more of a plug n play sort of deal.Do all systems default to the same number or is that also manufacture specific. I know many decoder equipped loco's default to #3 for example. If the answer is yes then it should be fairly simple for the programmers to make all cv functions the work the same on all decoders one would think.
I think I'm just going to advise them to try it and see what works and what doesn't
A programmed engine should run on any DCC layout.
As for consisting, if you set CV19, the consist should work on different systems. I can program my engines on a Digitrax layout, then run them on a Lenz layout, using the consist address. If the engines were consisted on a NCE layout, you have to change CV19 on the decoders to get them to run on the Digitrax layout, unless you know what consist address the NCE system assigned to them. At least on the Digitrax layout, you should be able to use the programming track while other trains are running, unless using a DB150 as a command station. I know Lenz shuts down the main while the programming track is in use, not sure about NCE.
If using NCE decoders, putting them on a layout that uses the new NMRA Railcomm bi-directional standard is a fail. The decoders get confused and just sit there. I don't think you will see NCE use Railcomm in the near future.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
In addition to only having one command station, there would also be issues with components. e.g. NCE UTP panels could be used with a Digitrax command station but don't even attempt to connect Digitrax UP or UR panels to an NCE command station.
Connecting foreign boosters is possible and the manufacturers listed already have instructions for doing so. Switching out command stations could also be accomplished but would require some carefully designed and separated command and booster bus. Frankly, purchasing a throttle to use on another system would be much simpler and maybe even less expensive.
Hum..
You can take an NCE system and attache it to a Digitrax, Lenz or EasyDCC command station (IF and WHEN they are setup as a 'booster') and have the signal propagated thru the layout,
So this tells me the issue is having multyple command stations and nothing else. You can never have multyple command stations on a layout unless they are isolated from each other. Otherwise they will simply go into conflic as to who is the 'master'.
The signal sent to the track is identical.
Marc
There is also what Robert mentioned - there is some address overlap between DCC brands, IMO a flaw in the NMRA specs which allows for soem incompatibility and confusion.
The very first systems could only address 1-99. That's where the notion of a '2 digit' address comes from. But in actuality the decoders have 7 bits available for the address, and 7 bits can represent 1-127. When the revised specs were developed for long addresses, the range was deliberately specified such that you can interpret it in any way and all be valid. So, we have:
Lenz: 1-99 is short, 100+ is long
NCE: 1-127 is short OR long (and distinct - short address 3 is not the same as long address 003), 128+ is long
Digitrax: 1-127 is short, 128+ is long
I believe CVP is the same as Lenz.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
A loco programed to run on any DCC system will run just fine on any other DCC system. One exception would be Bachmann EZCommand. Any engine with an address below 10 will work on the EZCommand, but any higher address would have to be changed. That is the only exception of which I am aware.
You cannot run two different command stations on the same layout but there is no need to.
Anything on the track side of the command station uses a set of standards published by the NMRA. One system's throttles, however, will not work with a different system
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Everything on the "track" side of DCC is covered by the NMRA standards, so they should all be completely inter-operable. So, if you program your engine on a Digitrax system you should be able to run it just fine on NCE or any other system. There will be a few limitations, such as a limited number of locomotive IDs on Bachmann systems, but for the most part there should be very few issues.
You could buy two different systems and plug one OR the other into your railroad. The connections are generally different, though, for the controllers, so some care would be required. In any case, you should completely disconnect one system before connecting another. But, since the engines should run the same on either layout, I see no reason at all to do this.
Throttles are not inter-operable between systems. A Digitrax throttle won't work on NCE, and vice versa.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
You can not run two systems on the same layout at the same time unless they are on separate electrically isolated sections of the layout.
A discussion came up last night where as two brothers I know both have DCC layouts one runs Digitrax and the other NCE. The questions were asked A: is it possible to run trains programed on Digitracx to run on the NCE layout and vice versa In short would there be a conflict between the two.
B: could one railroad have both an NCE system and a Digitrax system so if the answer to a was wrong then each guy could run his respective locomotives on the other guys layout.
C: If neither of the above worked how about each guy buying one of the other systems throttles to work his respective locomotives.when operating on theother guys layout.
I sat there looking at both who were firing questions at me like tow major league pitchers being as I have some knowledge of both electronics and limited dcc knowledge that was a heck of a lot more then the tow of them had.
I told them I wasn't 100% positive but I thought the answer to all three was no. If you wanted to run lets say one of the NCE programed loco's you would have to reprogram it using the Digitrax system or are all dcc systems comparable as per nmra standards like just about everything else.