I am still exclusively an arm chair modeler as I learn more and begin to formulate a game plan for a layout.
Along the way, I have been buying scenery supplies, cars and other things that I will need when things actually begin.
I was at a local club open house and at their flea market they had a used Proto 2000 GP7 II factory equipped with DCC and sound. The price is fair and it is a road name that I want. They got it from a member estate.
I have a NCE system that I got for Christmas awaiting it's first engine to try.
I know that a new engine has the factory setting defaulted to #3. If I buy this used engine how do I know what the previous owner had it's decoder set to?
Thank You
Almost all DCC decoders come from the manufacturer pre-programmed to address 3, as you noted. If it's been changed by a previous user, almost all modelers program the address to the cab number, for simplicity. If the loco doesn't respond to address 3, try the cab number.
If neither works, you still have options. On your DCC system, there should be two sets of contacts for wires to the track: one for the mainline, and one for a programming track. If you temporarily hook up a short section of track to the programming track contacts, and put your engine on it, you should be able to use your DCC system to read the locomotive's decoder address. You can also use the programming track to change the address to whatever you want without having to know the previous address first, or force the decoder to reset to factory settings (address 3 again). Then it will be good as new. Check your DCC system's manual to see how to set up and use a programming track. Good luck!
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Steven OtteOn your DCC system, there should be two sets of contacts for wires to the track: one for the mainline, and one for a programming track.
Well, yes and no. If he has the 5 amp PowerPro system, then yes. If he is at this point an armchair model railroader, it is more likely that he has the PowerCab system. In that case the answer is no.
maxman Steven Otte On your DCC system, there should be two sets of contacts for wires to the track: one for the mainline, and one for a programming track. Well, yes and no. If he has the 5 amp PowerPro system, then yes. If he is at this point an armchair model railroader, it is more likely that he has the PowerCab system. In that case the answer is no.
Steven Otte On your DCC system, there should be two sets of contacts for wires to the track: one for the mainline, and one for a programming track.
If he has the Power Cab, there is one set of contacts used also with the program track option. I have the Power Cab.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
richg1998If he has the Power Cab, there is one set of contacts used also with the program track option. I have the Power Cab.
Umm, okay. I stand corrected. All the PowerCabs we have at the club have a single set of wires that goes to the fascia mounted panel. You can select on the PowerCab either ops mode or programming track. I have never seen another set of connection points.
Have they added something new?
Only if you also add the Auto Switch they sell, that gives you a seperate connection for the program track that automatically switches when you select a program mode.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
maxman Umm, okay. I stand corrected. All the PowerCabs we have at the club have a single set of wires that goes to the fascia mounted panel. You can select on the PowerCab either ops mode or programming track. I have never seen another set of connection points. Have they added something new?
I believe the program track contacts are on the back of the fascia-mounted panel, rather than on the cab, which as you noted has only one jack for connecting to the panel.
*** Correction: There's only one set of contacts on the plug-in panel on our PowerCab. But it can supposedly handle programming-track functions. I don't know how, but it does.
If you have a train shop nearby, you could take it there and explain the problem to them. They will likely have a system already set up, and they can guide you through the process. The same goes for a train club or even a train show.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Thanks for all the information.
I have not bought the engine as yet, but it seems like I do have options to figure out the address number should I make the decision to proceed.
Steven Otte maxman Umm, okay. I stand corrected. All the PowerCabs we have at the club have a single set of wires that goes to the fascia mounted panel. You can select on the PowerCab either ops mode or programming track. I have never seen another set of connection points. Have they added something new? I believe the program track contacts are on the back of the fascia-mounted panel, rather than on the cab, which as you noted has only one jack for connecting to the panel. *** Correction: There's only one set of contacts on the plug-in panel on our PowerCab. But it can supposedly handle programming-track functions. I don't know how, but it does.
It simply switches what signals it sends out, depending on if you are in run mode or a program track mode. Same as the Digitrax DB150 in the Empire Builder sets or the Prodigy Express. The danger, of course, is if you forget to take all the other locos off the track, anything sitting on the rails will be programmed. So you need either a manual switch to disconnect the majority of the layout and leave just a program track live, or you need something like the Auto Switch from NCE, which also works with the Digitrax DB150, which has 2 sets of terminals, one for a program track and one for the main, and automatically disconnects the track part if you go into program mode. Other systems, like the PH Pro and the DCS100 in the Digitrax Super Chief sets, have this built in and have 2 sets of terminals right on the unit, one for program track and one for mainline.
Steven Otte*** Correction: There's only one set of contacts on the plug-in panel on our PowerCab. But it can supposedly handle programming-track functions. I don't know how, but it does.
Thank you. I thought that I was losing it for awhile there. At our club we have the 5 amp PowerPro command station for the main layout. We also have a PowerCab connected to a separate track at a bench not connected to the layout in any way.
Down at the lower left corner of the cab is a Prog/Esc button, which takes you to the cab menu. First press of the button takes you to "program on the main", and fourth press takes you to "use program track". So if someone has an issue with a loco we put it on the test section and see if it will run there. We can also make the normal on the main programming. If for some reason the loco's decoder is "confused", or the loco has not been previously programmed, we switch the cab to the program track mode and perform those functions.
Those individuals who only have the PowerCab can, as Randy said, connect it to the NCE Auto Switch which allows them to have a separate program track. Now, how it does this I don't know, but somehow it seems to know if program on the main or use program track is selected on the PowerCab. Like the 5 amp Power Pro command station, one cannot have the programming track and the main in operation at the same time, at least with the basic PowerCab system. There are add-ons that can expand the PowerCab if more power is required. I don't know if the addition of these items changes the "you can only use one option" thing.
Possibly a topic for the DCC Corner column?
Try and read back CV1.
David:
Your answer is correct, but I think you missed the fact that you are responding to a modeler who has, by his own admission, very little experience with DCC.
If you really want to help then I would politely suggest that perhaps you could try being a little less brief. Your expertise is wasted if the OP (and many of the rest of us poor souls) can't understand your answer.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Hi Productionmanager:
In case nobody has said it so far, Welcome to the forum!
We can answer your question better if we know which NCE system you have. Then we can walk you through the steps needed to identify the locomotive's address if the above explanations haven't answered your question.
Simplest thing to do if you don't know the address is just program it to the address you wish. No real mreason to know what the wrong address is. Just give it one you like and play trains.
Martin Myers
mfm37 Simplest thing to do if you don't know the address is just program it to the address you wish. No real mreason to know what the wrong address is. Just give it one you like and play trains. Martin Myers
This is the best answer so far. Too many seem to be concerned with what settings a decoder already has. Just set it how YOU want it, and you'll be off and running.
As noted, you can just program the ID no. to the cab no. or whatever you want. Odds are if the previous owner was using the engine, the engine no. is the ID no.
Some very early decoders could only do two-digit ID numbers, so it might just be the last two digits...but that's not all that likely.
Definitely not an issue with a P2K with factory sound. If it's still Life Like packaging, it's a QSI decdoer, if Walters, it could be a Tsunami.
Ummm, I have more than 50 locos with 2 digit addresses. Just keeping it simple.
hobo9941 Some very early decoders could only do two-digit ID numbers, so it might just be the last two digits...but that's not all that likely. Ummm, I have more than 50 locos with 2 digit addresses. Just keeping it simple.
hobo9941Ummm, I have more than 50 locos with 2 digit addresses. Just keeping it simple.
To each, their own. But I don't know that this is exactly simple. Unless the locos only have a one or two digit cab number, how does one remember what the address is? Is it the last two numbers of a four digit address? The first two numbers? First and last number? Is there a list one has to consult?
Just asking.
Productionmanager I was at a local club open house and at their flea market they had a used Proto 2000 GP7 II factory equipped with DCC and sound. The price is fair and it is a road name that I want. They got it from a member estate.
Who would have thought clearing this up would take 23 posts. With my Digitrax system, it would be a matter of placing the loco on the program track and reading back the address. Pretty simple process.
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
NP2626Who would have thought clearing this up would take 23 posts. With my Digitrax system, it would be a matter of placing the loco on the program track and reading back the address.
Yes, for the rest of us. However, it seems that the OP didn't have a clue as to how to do this. Also, he said he had an NCE system but didn't specify if it was the PowerCab or the larger 5 amp PowerPro system. With the 5 amp system it is difficult/impossible to read back sound decoder information. And with the PowerCab there is not really a stand alone programming track without thinking about what one is doing.
Understood Maxman! Only commenting on how easy this is with my Digitrax system.
I thought I commented on how easy this is to fix with any DCC system. Just program the engine to a new address.
Two weeks from now can't remember what address you programmed? Program it again.
How do you "read back" a 4-digit address ? A 4-digit address is stored in CVs 17 and 18 and the read back numbers bear no semblance to the actual number. Do you have a reverse 4-digit calculator ? I've looked for one with no success.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Most DCC systems, at least Digitrax and I'm sure NCE, when you read back the address, it does the conversion for you and shows the actual address. If you just read CV17 and CV18, you get the unconverted 'raw' values.
There are calculators all over the place - http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29%20calculator.htm is one, and Digitrax has a Toolbox app for iOS (and maybe Android too) that includes CB17/18 and CV29 calculators.
Thanks for that link Randy, I've been looking for a reverse calculator ! My early Lenz and EcoS system won't read back a 4-digit directly.
rrinker Most DCC systems, at least Digitrax and I'm sure NCE, when you read back the address, it does the conversion for you and shows the actual address. If you just read CV17 and CV18, you get the unconverted 'raw' values.
Randy: I'm not sure how one "reads back" the long address directly, since it is not a CV value. I know that the ProCab system will tell you the long address if you go through the initial programming steps for addressing a loco on the program track (at least for non-sound decoders), but I don't think you can read back the address directly in the normal sense that read back is used.