Just to refresh my memory, were the decoders you were trying to program MRC, or something else?
While I'm happy that everything worked out for you, it is still not clear how your problem was solved.
When you opened JMRI and found the MRC decoder that you were looking for, all JMRI did during the programming process was to load your decoder with the default values someone had put into JMRI. And those default values should have been the same values as found in the decoder instructions. So that 63 you put into CV 5 manually is the same 63 that JMRI would put there.
If you open JMRI and look at the programming for your loco, go to the CV tab and see what the value is for CV 5. Assuming you picked the correct decoder from the list, the value should be 63.
I was not able to find the instructions for the 1730 decoder on the MRC website so I don't know if 63 is the correct value. I have no reason to doubt that you didn't mix up the instructions, but I did see that some MRC decoders have a value of 32 instead of 63.
This really does not make any sense, really. If you program CV5 to 63 with the handheld, or program CV5 to 63 with JMRI, it's still 63. It's not a 'different' 63, so there is no reason for differing behavior of the decoder. All JMRI does anyway is act as a throttle and send out the CVs as if you were keying them in on the handheld. While MRC likes to do things their own way, it's usually common for the speed control CVs, 2, 5 and 6 to use values from 0-255, not 0-63. So I'm surious, if you program it in JMRI and it runs as expected, what do you get back if you read it from the handheld? And if you set ot in the handheld, where the loco is then gutless, what does JMRI read for a value? It could be that the MRC manual is in error, but the decoder definition in JMRI is correct and allows the true maximum value.
Also it is typical that a 0 in any of the speed control CVs means a standard default, which in the case of CV5 would mean allow maximum voltage. So if you want to get the max out of the decoder, you could simply set these CVs all to 0.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker Also it is typical that a 0 in any of the speed control CVs means a standard default, which in the case of CV5 would mean allow maximum voltage. So if you want to get the max out of the decoder, you could simply set these CVs all to 0.
If this information is correct, then it is contradictory to some of the answers given in the "what resistor to use across the motor leads" thread where it was stated to set these values to zero to prevent any voltage from getting to the motor.
Yes, you do not want to use 0 with most decoders. You'd want to set CV5 to 1 and that's all you really need to set, but you might want to set CV6 to 1 as well just in case - the default with CV6 = 0 is to make the mid point in th emiddle of CV2 and CV5, and if there is no middle point (there's no step .5!) the decoder may do weird things. You can do silly things like set CV2 = 0, CV5 = 100 and CV6 = 200, which is nonsensical, and the decoder MIGHT try to do it. So setting CV5 and 6 to 1 might be best for keeping the power down.
0, definitely not it. At least not fo most decoders - check the manuals, most all say 0 is the default value and is the equivalent of not setting the CV.
I would not lose too much sleep over an MRC decoder not following the supposed manual. Nor would I expec tmuch help from MRC - they couldn;t tell me what value of the horn select CV was what type of horn, they told me they "don't keep track of that". This is probbaly a 'feature' that the various volumes do not work for the aux sounds.
The JMRI definitions can only go by what information is supplied by the vendor, so if the manual is wrong, JMRI will probbaly have it wrong as well.
rrinker I would not lose too much sleep over an MRC decoder not following the supposed manual. Nor would I expec tmuch help from MRC - they couldn;t tell me what value of the horn select CV was what type of horn, they told me they "don't keep track of that". This is probbaly a 'feature' that the various volumes do not work for the aux sounds. The JMRI definitions can only go by what information is supplied by the vendor, so if the manual is wrong, JMRI will probbaly have it wrong as well. --Randy