I bought A UT4 about 4 years ago. Finally got to the stage where I'm going to need it for running multiple trains.
Here's the deal. I entered the 2 digit loco number, plugged the UT4 directly into the back of my Zepher Xtra. The green light appeared on the UT4. I turned on "Track Power" on the Zepher X. Back to the UT4, I moved the direction switch to "fwd", advanced the throttle control and the locomotive moved nowhere.
I'm a rookie in the hobby so I'm not familiar with all the paraphernalia. What is causing this? The power for the UT4 would be coming from the Zepher, right? It doesn't sound like a battery is involved unless infrared is being used. So, once again I appreciate your help.
No you don't need a battery if you are connected to the Loconet. Don't be offended but did you program the 2 digit address into your decoder? If not try entering address 3 with the UT4 and see if that works. Does the loco respond if you enter it's address directly on the Zephyr's keypad?
Joe
Try selecting the address on your Zephyr's throttle and running it. If that doesn't work the problem is not your throttle. you need to program the decoder with the correct address.
a battery is not needed in the UT4 but I would use one so it saves the setting if it is unplugged. A battery also reduces the drain on loconet.
Martin Myers
sounds like from your process you tried aquiring the loco then turned on the zepher.
so do it in this order
1. turn on zepher turn system on.
2. plug in the ut4
3. make sure your left two dials are set at 0 then you two digit add. on the right two dials.
4. hit the "sel" on the ut4
light should turn green not red, and hopefully your ready to go.
btw ive never have had a battery in my ut4 and ive never lost an address, and its been over 4 or so using one
hope that helps
g
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Tnx to all who have replied. Couldn't believe it was so quick.
Sorry, forgot to mention that the loco decoder had been programmed using the two digit format and that the loco works perfectly using the Zephyr X.
Tried using 3 and also tried Ggooler's procedure with no success.
Just for kicks I dialed in another two digit address (94) other then the correct one (02) then pressed "Select" and lo and behold the light went Green. Tried a few more that are not my loco's and every time the light went from red to green. Something tells me that's not right.
Another thing I failed to say was that I haven't hooked up the UP5 circuit board yet but it looks like all it does is connect back to the Zephyr so I would think plugging it directly in the back of the Zephyr should work. Got me confused.
Green light only means that you can control a loco with that address (if there were such a loco) with the UT4. Did you try plugging the UT4 into the other Loconet port?
Dante
P.S. Once you dial in a loco number, you won't "lose" it when you turn it off unless your other throttle steals it.
No, that's right. It will go "green" even if you don't have a loco programmed to that address.
You have to remember the way DCC works, is that the command station sends packets that contain an address to the track, and every decoder on the track parses each one of those packets. If the packet's address doesn't match the decoder's address, the decoder simply ignores it and goes on to parse the next packet.
But the throttle and the command station have no way of telling whether or not anything exists at that address. They'll keep on blindly sending those packets as long as they're told to (by whoever's holding the throttle!)
So as long as you properly enter a validly formatted address, the UT4 will say, "Okay, I'm going to send commands to that address" by going green.
Anyway, to the point of your issue: The loco's address is probably "2", not "02". Try having the three high-order selection knobs turned to zero, then plug in, set the "2" on the last knob, and then hit select.
I have a UT4r but it works the same when it is plugged in. You should have the Zephyrs track power turned on. If you are trying to run address of 2 the dials should be set left to right 0002. Before you plug in the UT4 is the address of 0002 showing on the Zephyrs display? If so you will have to steal it from the Zephyr before you can run it. Press the steal button. I have found that my UT4r will only turn green if there is a decoder with the selected address on the track. If you dispatch the address from the Zephyr before plugging in the UT4 stealing will not be necessary. You may want to do a command station reset to clear out the memory of all the loco addresses that have not been properly dispatched. I believe it is command station option switch 39. This will remove all addresses from the Zephyrs memory. I usually do this memory reset once a month on my clubs two systems
Doing a memory reset will not affect the locos decoders so there is no need to remove them from the layouts track.
Red light means the loco is already selected on a different throttle (ie, the Zephyr itself). To gain control of this address properly you need to release it from the other throttle, but you can also press and hold the STEAL button on the UT4 when you plug it in. You should then get a green light. The problem is, if it is still selected on the Zephyr, the loco may suddenly stop even though you didn;t change the speed knob, because you have two throttles fighting for the same loco, one set to stop or a slow speed, the other set to whatever speed you are trying to run at. When all throttles involved are the encoder type, like on the DT402, this isn;t a problem, as the last command always wins, since speed is not dependent on the knob position. But with potentiometer throttles like the Zephyr and UT4, the loco speed will change to match the knob setting of whichever throttle last sends a command, so the speed can bounce between two points.
See the section in your Zephyr manual about properly dispatching locos when you are done running them. Note that you should also remember to put the direction lever in the brake position, since the throttle knob might not actually be at 0. And all functions need to be turned off. Once you actually dispatch the loco on the Zephyr, you should be able to plug in the UT4 witht he address selected and get a green light instead of red. That's what's happening when you pick random addresses which are not any locos you actually have programmed - they were never selected on the Zephyr therefore there can be no conflict with the address already in use.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Sorry to be slow getting back but got an invite for 18 holes this morning. Thanks to all for your replies. The UT4 is now running loco 02. Stevert nailed it by suggesting that I have the left three Rotary Selectors set on 0. I actually put all four on 0 then followed his instructions. I was almost surprised as the loco started down the track as I advanced the throttle control.
The locomotive is actually 7502 but using two digit addressing I programmed it as 02. What I don't understand is why the address is 2 and not 02. I guess that's not critical but I'm curious.
Thanks to dante, retsignalmtr, Randy in addition to Steve for the explanations and suggestions. I now have a much better understanding of how the UT4 and the Zephyr work with each other. I really appreciate the help I've recieved.
midcon077...What I don't understand is why the address is 2 and not 02...
With Digitrax, there is no difference between "2" and "02". On some systems, a leading zero will indicate an extended address, and on those systems "2" is a primary (2-digit) address of 2 and "02" is an extended (4-digit) address of 2. On Digitrax, all addresses below 128 are primary addresses, so you can not have an extended address of 2.
Now, more to your point, if you were trying to set your throttle to "02" by setting the first two digits to 0 and 2, then you were actually setting it to 200 because looking at all four digits you would have "0200".
retsignalmtr ...I have found that my UT4r will only turn green if there is a decoder with the selected address on the track...
If the LED on your UT4r does not turn green when you select an address, it is either because your slots are full or the address is selected on another throttle. The UT4 and the Zephyr do not know if a particular address is on the layout or not.
Another suggestion: Go back and dispatch all those other addresses that you put in while you were working through your problem. That way you won't run into unexpected problems later.
Thanks for the explanation on the primaries. Actually in this case I was setting the last two selectors to "02" So that across the board it read "0002". I might not have explained it correctly.
Only recall the "94" but someone mentioned a memory reset function on the Zephyr that doesn't affect the decoders so that may be my escape route.
midcon077 Thanks for the explanation on the primaries. Actually in this case I was setting the last two selectors to "02" So that across the board it read "0002". I might not have explained it correctly.
Then what did you do different?
Hi Robert,
I ran through so many different ways of doing this that I don't recall exactly what I did different. I would guess that I either missed a step, added a step, or misinterpreted an instruction. However I just went into the train room, fired up the layout, went through my little procedure and the UT4 runs train 02.
Thanks to posts I received from you and others not only can I get it working ok but I understand now how the Zephyer and the UT4 work together.