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new at dcc. can't get engine to work

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  • Member since
    December 2009
  • 10 posts
new at dcc. can't get engine to work
Posted by rivman1973 on Saturday, January 2, 2010 12:06 PM

i am new to dcc and am attempting to get a new dcc equipped engine to run for the first time.

 

it is with a digitrack system (dcs 50) and it is a new atlas 8-40c engine. i set up the main track and the programing track. my non dcc equipped engines work fine. i progam in "00" for the loco id and it runs. i place the new engine on the programming track,follow the instructions for programing in a new loco id and nothing happens. the engine lights up but makes no noise on the main track and there are no lights or anything when it is on the programing track.

 

any help would be appreciated.

 

thanks

 

john

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 3,312 posts
Posted by locoi1sa on Saturday, January 2, 2010 3:21 PM

Sign - Welcome   John

  While I do not have a digitrax system I think I can help you out. You will not have lights or sound on the program track. The program track has very limited power so a faulty decoder installation will not smoke the decoder. With the limited amount of current on the program track there is not enough power to overcome the capacitors in your sound equipped loco. If your Atlas loco has the QSI sound system here is what you do. Remove all other locos from the main track. Put your Atlas loco on and power up your DCC system. Address loco 03 and see if it runs and makes sound and lights. If all is good on address 03 than set your system for programing on the main/ ops mode programing. Program the address you want this loco to be and exit programming. Then see if all is good with the new address.

          Pete

 I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!

 I started with nothing and still have most of it left!

  • Member since
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  • From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
  • 13,757 posts
Posted by cacole on Saturday, January 2, 2010 3:36 PM

 There's no need to remove the other locomotives from the track while performing an Ops mode programming unless one or more of them might also be on address 3.

When you enter Ops mode, tell your system you want to program address 3, and then give it the new long address.  Then change CV 29 to a value of 34 to tell the decoder that you want to use the new, long address.

 

  • Member since
    December 2009
  • 10 posts
Posted by rivman1973 on Sunday, January 3, 2010 8:16 AM

so just so i understand....i should place the engine on the main line and then program it from the main line? i may need some more instruction. i am very new at this and am not sure i completely understand. i will try these suggestions but if you could respond again and just give me a little more info it wouod be appreciated. i am not sure i know how to maipulate the cv stuff.

 

i am going to be watching football and working on the train set this afternoon so wish me luck.

but after all of my efforts it just seems like the info that i am programming into the train from the digitrax system is not being registered by the engine. it is strange, because the system knows that i entered a new address abut the train does not seem to know it. 

thanks

 

john

  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Metro East St. Louis
  • 5,743 posts
Posted by simon1966 on Sunday, January 3, 2010 9:44 AM

By default, the new Atlas locomotive would have been set to address 03 out of the box.  Did you try and run it using that address before trying to program anything?

If not, in future, it is always good practice to run a loco on the factory default to make sure that it is running OK before messing around with the programming. Especially when you are not sure what you are doing with programming. 

First thing I would do now is to try and run the loco with 03

Place it on the main line press the Loco button, type in 03, press the loco button again.  Make sure the track power is on and try and run it.  If it does not work, then either the loco is defective, or you managed to change the address to something else.

Step 6 of the Zephyr quick start guide http://digitrax.com/ftp/ZephyrQuickStartFinal.pdf explains this procedure exactly.

Next thing I would do is try and read the address of the locomotive on the program track.

Place the loco on the program track. 

Press the Prog button  PAGE will be displayed on the display (for Page mode programming)

Press the Loco Button AD2 will be displayed (for short 2 digit address)

Press CV-RD the display will flash a bit and then a number should be displayed eg 003 this is the short address currently programmed

To find out if a long address is programmed

Press Loco again AD4 will be displayed for 4 digit long address.

Press CV-RD to read the current long address

This will give you the two possible addresses that are currently programmed in the loco.

Place the loco on the ,main track and try selecting and controlling these addresses.

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

  • Member since
    May 2008
  • 4,612 posts
Posted by Hamltnblue on Sunday, January 3, 2010 9:57 AM

First, are you sure that the engine has DCC installed?  Does the box say DCC installed or DCC Ready?  DCC ready means that you can install a decoder, not that it has one already.

If it does have a decoder it's possible that the engine might also be in shutdown mode. Press F6 a few times to get it to start.

Springfield PA

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
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Posted by rrinker on Sunday, January 3, 2010 11:00 AM

 If it runs on address 00 then it doesn't have a decoder. You didn't mention N or HO - in HO it's easy to tell, if it's a Gold Series it has DCC and sound, if it is a Silver Series it only has a palce to plug a decoder in. In N scale they sell a ;standard' and a 'dcc' version, only the DCC version has a decoder.

                               --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    December 2009
  • 10 posts
Posted by rivman1973 on Sunday, January 3, 2010 11:10 AM

sorry to all. it is N guage.

 

i am very green at this. there was no info in the package that the engine had a default address and that that address was. i will try to decode what the address is. i thought that i tried the 003 address with no luck put i will tyr the page function to tell what the address is. it states on the package that it is dcc equipped and lists the features on the dcc engine. i will double check though.

 

i am heading up now. i will keep you all posted.

 

thanks

 

john

  • Member since
    December 2009
  • 10 posts
Posted by rivman1973 on Sunday, January 3, 2010 6:46 PM

hey everyone!

 

not sure what was wrong but it works. nothing i tried worked. but......in frustration i took the cover off the engine and looked at the inside to see if something was a miss. well i pushed on the electronics and placed the engine on the tracks without the cab. and it worked!

 

best i can figure is that the connection of the electronics and the motor were loose from shipping. it had the 001 code i plugged in but it was not able to run until i pushed on the control board in the engine.

wow what a pain! thanks for all the help. i am sure i will need more. no on to powering up the switches!

 

john

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Pendleton, IN; USA
  • 37 posts
Posted by NEALNP on Sunday, January 3, 2010 9:15 PM

rivman1973
in frustration i took the cover off the engine and looked at the inside to see if something was a miss. well i pushed on the electronics and placed the engine on the tracks without the cab. and it worked!

 

 

I don't think that was your trouble. I had a very similar problem when new to Digitrax. I am not sure still what i did to fix the problem, but it may have been simply reselecting the loco once off the programing track and on the main line.

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