When using decoder pro with NCE prwer pro, is there an interface besides the USB cable? I wonder where the necessary programming voltage comes from.
73
Bruce in the Peg
You don;t want the NCE USB if you have a PowerPro system, there are too many limitations with that. You want a simple serial cable to plug right in to the front of the PowerPro, or if needed, a USB to serial adapter - but NOT the NCE USB unit, that is meant mostly for the PowerCab.
The power comes right from the command station - all JMRI is doing really is simulating a throttle. That's why they always say on the JMRI group when troubleshooting to see if you can program or control the loco from your throttle. If that doesn't work, there's no way JMRI would work.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Bruce,
I would first go out to the JMRI web site and read up on the various connections possible with NCE systems:
http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/html/hardware/nce/NCE.shtml#phpro
The NCE USB interface will only program with the Power Cab system. What you need is one of the following:
A 'real' serial data cable if your PC still has a serial interface on it(sorta rare these days). This connects directly from the serial interface on the Power Pro system and the other end goes to the serial port on the computer. Make sure you get a data cable, not a modem cable.
If you computer has a USB port - even better. Purchase the 'Keyspan' USB/serial interface referenced in the JMRI on-line documetation. This is the device:
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/model.cfm?txtmodelid=3914
Basically you plug the serial port end into the Power Pro, and a USB cable from your computer goes in the other end. It is configured as a 9 pin serial cable.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Jim is correct. I have an NCE Power Pro and that is the way mine is hooked up. The serial data cable can also go by the term 'serial extension cable'. There has been much discussion about the serial to USB adapter, and the Keyspan adapter is just about as fool proof as you can get.
If there is a problem, it is with the computer selecting the port to use. You may have to go in and set it manually. The JMRI Yahoogroups user group can help you with that.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Thqnks gents. I have the keyspan serial to USB interface cable. You folks have said to use the serial configuration with this adapter. So, i select NCE, ans "serial" on the install wizard. That same menu then asks what serial port! I will be using a USB port.
What am I missing here?
When you plug in the Keyspan adapter and install the drivers, it assigns a COM port. If you are using Windows, you cna open Device Manager and then the Ports section to see the COM ports. It may or may not be the only one - if only one is listed, that's it, if more than one is listed, it almost certainly isn't COM1 - the wya to tell is, it will be the one that goes away when you unplug the Keyspan cable from your computer. It will come back when you plug it back in.
OK, I have it installed up to where it asks me for a program mode. I want to use my program track but it is not one of the methods listed.
What now ol chums?
What are the choices? ANd where in JMRI is this? On the setup screen it shouldn't be asking for that. You should be picking NCE, Serial Interface, then putting in whatever COM port is asks for. Everything else can be left at defaults. Any newer version allows multiple connections, but you shouldn't be adding more than one. I happen to have two conenctions on my railroad computer, one to my layout and oen to my standalone PR3. In that cse, it makes you designate which connection to send program commands to and which to send throttle and panel stuff to. But you only have one connection and one system so this shouldnt even come up. On the connection screen, of there is more than just a tab that says NCE and a tab with a + sign, you've set p multiple interfaces, and that's probbaly where the confusion is coming in.
Once you set the config, you have to restart JMRI (it makes you do it). It shoudl then open to the main screen of whichever application you launched, PanelPro, DecoderPro, or DecoderPro 3. The first two are actually exactly the same, DecoderPro 3 is a new option for programming.
If you launched using the icon for DecoderPro, there should be two blocks in the middle, one says Service Mode Programming and the other says Operations Mode Programming. Service Mode is the same as using the program track, Operations Mode is using the main (no reading anything).