rrinker Tired of nasty messages on social media? Alt-F4 works well. --Randy
Tired of nasty messages on social media? Alt-F4 works well.
--Randy
Does that make my computer self-distruct, or the individual who sent the messeges computer self-distruct? And is there an equivalent for spam callers?
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinkerHmm, is it Shift-2, Alt-2, or Shift-Alt-2.....
Generally it is Ctrl; Alt; Del.
No, not you Ed. I meant that in general. It looks intimidating, hundreds of CVs. But it's just a simple spreadsheet, really. Say like an invoice. Each line has the same columns - Item, part number, cost, quantity, tax, extended price. 50 items on the invoice, 50 rows - but each row is the same information as any other row. That's the function mapping CVs in Loksound.
Sort of along the same lines as people thinking a DCC throttle with each funtion on its own button is more complex than one with less than 10 buttons but each of those 10 buttons has multiple shift modes because each button does 3 or 4 things depending on the combination you use. That to me is far more complex than having lots of buttons where each one only performs one function. Hmm, is it Shift-2, Alt-2, or Shift-Alt-2.....
To go back to the OP for a second...as noted earlier, real engines very VERY rarely have been set up to have automatically reversing headlights. Our models do that because back before DCC someone worked out that when setting up resistors and diodes to create 'constant lighting' (meaning the first few volts of power went to the lights and not the motor) you could also use those things to set it up to have the headlights reverse when you switched polarity on the track to reverse the engine. When green 'light boards' became standard on models, they incorporated that. When decoders came on the market, their default setting was to have reversing headlights too.
On a real diesel, the front and rear lights would each have a controller with three settings - off, dim, and bright. Switchers are required to have lights on to the front and rear when operating in a yard. I don't think they have to be bright in one direction and dim in the other, I think that's a model thing. A road engine pulling a mainline train would normally have only the front headlight on. If it had to stop to drop off a car or something, the engineer would turn the rear headlight on, but would leave the front on. He wouldn't switch it back and forth depending on which direction he was going at that moment.
rrinkerPlease don;t make it more complicated than it is.
Who?
Me?
Because I posted a page from the ESU manual?
The OP said the BELL and headlights were setup for switching mode. Wouldn't the ESU chart be the place to look for finding the function mapping for the bell (I'm not sure what he means when the bell is in switching mode)
I apologise for replying at all...
Ed
Please don;t make it more complicated than it is. All those function mapping CVs? It's just a table that repeats the same thing over and over again. It's NOT hundreds of distinct CVs. Each column in a given row sets which F key is used, which physical wire is turned on, which sound is played, and what conditions are placed on this. Then they repeat the same thing, a whole bunch of times so you can do the same thing for nearly as many functions as you want. Loksound 5 makes the table even bigger, for more possible entries. You use as many or as few as you need to configure your loco - but again, each row is the same thing
And because this is just a table of settings, there's no one way to do it. So just because an Atlas loco uses a sound project that uses a specific set of CVs, one row oof the table, to control the dynmic brake sound doesn't mean Rapido uses the same row in the table for their dynamic brake sound control in their sound project. Unless they are using a standard ESU sound project (Rapido for one usually does not), the only source for the information is the OEM. This is where having some programming method other than just a plain throttle which cna do nothing beyond showing a CV number and a value is very important.
The added complexity of indexed CVs is simply because of backward compatibility, there is a limit to how big a number can be used for a CV number in many systems, especially older ones. So in order to access those big tables, each cell cannot simply have a unique CV number, the same CVs are repeated over and over, just with an index CV changing for every few rows.
For me, getting the Lokprogrammer was a no-brainer. Any factory equipped sound loco I am interested in comes with Loksound, and I already had a couple. The few I installed myself, I used Loksound. I don;t have any others, and I don;t see a reason ever to. It's already justified the cost by improving the sounds in a couple of my older factory sound locos, and those of some fellow club members, as well as getting the coorrect combination of sounds for my most numerous type (RS-3 - the ESU project you downlooad does not have the proper horn for my prototype, so I had to swap the horn with the proper one which is in the ESU sound library - so I didn;t have to record and process the sound myself, just swap the sound slot using the Lokprogrammer). Plus it reads and writes all those CVs faster than any other option, even the very fast SPROG and PR4.
Guy Papillon I like how the Loksound decoders behave but I don’t need all the frills they offer.
I agree with you there, Guy. I'm learning right along with you. ESU's North America rep, Matt Herman, had been making helpful "how-to" videos available but these have seemed to dwindle to a trickle.
As Loksound makes more features available, documentation seems to be coming forth less and less. A few on-line sources such as Larry Pucket and others are attempting to fill in but there is still a lot that hasn't been covered.
Add to the special "effects" that certain manufacturers include in their OEM programming options, Rapido, Atlas and Intermountain to name a few, things can get overwhelming fast.
Geez, my Royal Hudson plays speeches from the Queen and plays O Canada when I hit F23 or something in the upper reaches.
I'll mess around with the RS-3s I have when time permits and see what I can find.
Big Daddy had a similar thread here:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/p/264444/2986023.aspx
[edit]
Reading the two CVs for front (259) and rear (267) I have a value of 2 in each of these which gives me standard front and rear, dimmable (using F9 or F12 with full throttle) headlights.
For the dimmer and LED special effects CVs, (263) front and (271) rear I have a value of 144 in each (128 + 16). Be sure to use the index CVs when setting these.
Reading my notes now, I realize that I downloaded and installed a completely new Alco 244 Full Throttle sound project in both my RS-2s so the Atlas defaults are long gone.
Regards, Ed
Thank you Ed.
You have been an helpful guy in the past and I do appreciate. I understand that using the Lokprogrammer is an asset but I actually don’t think I will get enough Loksound decoders to worth the cost of it. I like how the Loksound decoders behave but I don’t need all the frills they offer. I would certainly appreciate if ESU could make it more simple.
Thanks again for your input.
Guy
Modeling CNR in the 50's
F1 is the de-facto standard for bell on North American locos.
With a control like the Proto Throttle, you can set a total oof 4 function keys to the lights - headlight on off and headlight dim.bright, and rear light on/off and dim/bright, for a true prototypical experience. After all, there are 20 functions to use, and most of them aren;t needed for playing sounds.
Hi, Guy
I have a couple of Rapido locomotives that the "switching mode" can be toggled using the F7 function command. This limits the top speed and causes the headlights to function like your RS-3 dim in the opposite direction of travel.
I also have a pair of P&LE RS-3s that once behaved the way yours do. I remapped the functions of the headlights a few years ago when I first got them and I used the Lokprogrammer to make the changes in the function mapping.
I would have to "revisit" these engines to see exactly what I did to alter the headlight mapping. The nice thing about the Lokprogrammer is that you simply place a check mark in the matrix you want the function active in, then click "write to decoder". I would have to read-back CVs to see exactly how it was done. Like speed-dial on the phone, I don't memorize phone numbers anymore
In the meantime here is the Atlas DCC manual explaining some of the functions if you don't already have it:
http://download.atlasrr.com/DCC/FINAL%20User%20Manual%20-%20Atlas%20Gold%20Series%20Diesels%20with%20LokSound.pdf
I'll update as I have time to "experiment".
You could try setting the F0 headlight functions to the default settings as shown in ESU's mapping matrix.
Select_Map by Edmund, on Flickr
Mark R.I set all mine ........ and F1 for the rear light on non-sound decoders and F5 for sound versions.
Curiosity question. Why do you do this? Is it because you use F1 for some other purpose on sound decoders?
Thanks
Not to answer your question directly, but directional lighting on a model is far from proto-typical. Unless the engineer manually turns it off, the light in the opposite direction does not turn off automatically.
I set all mine for F0 to be the front light and F1 for the rear light on non-sound decoders and F5 for sound versions.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
When I bought an Atlas CNR RS-3 equipped with a Loksound Select, a few years ago, I didn’t care about the fact that the lights and bell were programmed in Switcher mode, meaning that both front and back lights are lit constantly, only dimming when the locomotive is running the other way. Now I want to run this loco as a road locomotive. Based on what I learned on this forum with members help, I succeeded in adjusting the bell for a road locomotive instead of a Switcher.
However, despite the fact that I think I understand how to program CVs for lights effects, I can’t figure out, or find out the information, on how to adjust the lights so only the front light is on when going forward and only the back light is on when going backward.
All the other locomotives equipped with Loksound decoders I own are performing as Road locomotives. How can I do the same with this one?