Help needed with DCC programing

[Anonymous]

Hi all. First issue: Just finished programing acceleration and braking CV's on my new Atlas Master "4-Function Decoder" Loco on a separate programming track with my Digitrax Zephyr with no real problems. However, when I tried to do the same thing on an older (2 years old approx.) Atlas Masters, I keep getting "d nd," which is listed as meaning "open circuit" or "no current draw detected" on the programming track. Help! I went back and first loco programs fine. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Second issue: Assuming I can get past the first issue, can someone help me with CV29. I would like to run long-hood forward and "bits" are not explained (at least that I can see) in my Atlas Decoder or my Digitrax programming manuals.

Third (easy) question: What are the 4 decoder functions in my new loco and how many are in my older ones?

Thanks.

[cacole]

I can't help with questions one and three, but for CV 29 the following values are used -- just add the values together to get the number (in decimal) that needs to be in CV29. A 0 means to leave this bit off, and a 1 means to turn it on by using this value, and then add the 1 values --

32 -- 0 = Short Address; 1 = Long Address
16 -- 0 = Use built-in speed table; 1 = User Loadable speed table
8 -- 0 = Advanced Acknowledgement disabled; 1 = Advanced Acknowledgement Enabled
4 -- 0 = DCC Operation only; 1 = Power Conversion Enabled (run on DC control)
2 -- 0 = 14 speed step mode; 1 = 28/128 speed step mode
1 -- 0 = Forward Motor Direction; 1 = Reverse Motor Direction

Example: If you want to use a long address, 28 speed step mode, and reverse the motor direction, you would add 32 + 2 + 1 = 35

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Cacole. Makes perfect sense when explained.

[Stevert]

Swift, if you have a computer near your layout or workshop you may also want to look at JMRI, and DecoderPro in particular. Although knowing about CV's is a Good Thing, DecoderPro puts a nice user interface on them which makes routine programming much easier. It can also save the settings for all your locos as separate files. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux and other platforms, with your Zephyr and lots of other DCC systems, and best of all it's open source (free)! Check out http://jmri.sourceforge.net/index.html for more details.

Stevert.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Stevert. I checked it out, pretty cool. Still looking for insight on my no decoder recognition problem though. Anyone had a similar problems programming Atlas Master Dual Function (I figured issue 3 out) Decoders?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated as I have looked at every possible place/site I can for help.

[darth9x9]

Hey Stevert,

Thanks for the link. I know what I'll be doing this weekend......

[Anonymous]

Update: I was able to "reach" my units but only in the OPS mode. No programming track methods work at all. Strange. Is this typical on older Atlas Masters?

[Stevert]

DUH, I meant to reply about the "D ND" and never did. So here it is, a day late and a dollar short: That's usually the result of a dirty programming track and/or dirty wheels. The programming track works at a lower current than the main, and if the wheels and track don't make a good connection, the command station can't "see" the loco.

Since you said another loco worked fine on the programming track, it's probably the wheels on the "problem" loco. I'd give them a thorough cleaning, and if it were me I'd probably give the programming track a once-over as well, just to be sure. Sorry for dropping the ball the first time around. I hope this solves the problem.

Stevert

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I will give it a try.