I had an Atlas Trainmaster engine open last night. None of the wiring matches the NMRA color code.
South Penn
SouthPenn Odd. When I change the 'forward' direction of an engine using CV29, the lighting also changes to the proper direction. I'm using NCE decoders. South Penn
Odd. When I change the 'forward' direction of an engine using CV29, the lighting also changes to the proper direction.
I'm using NCE decoders.
Let's say that the value of CV29 is 34 (forward direction, 28/128 speed steps, long address. The headlight is on in forward and off in reverse.
Now, if I change the value of CV29 to 35, the loco will travel in reverse and the headlight will be off when I press the forward direction button on my NCE throttle. If I press the reverse direction button, the loco will travel forward and the headlight will be on.
Rich
Alton Junction
Depends. Do you want to do it right, or change some CVs and then get all confused a few years down the road when you need to reset the decoder and can't remember why the lights and direction are all messed up? That's why I (usually) test before soldering the motor wires and shrinking the heat shrink.
Or later go back and hook up some other directional function, like ditch lights, and none of the examples in the decoder manual work because - oh yeah, you have to set everything for the opposite of standard.
--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 Hmm, you think they'd have that right in an E7, since it's pretty obvious which end is the front.
Hmm, you think they'd have that right in an E7, since it's pretty obvious which end is the front.
I can see the Geep being backwards, because some railroads ran them long hood forward and some short hood forward, although first gen as delivered the majority were long hood forward. Oh well. At least it's not hard to fix. It's harder flipping the crew figures to face the right way.
TheBAYline It is off in forward and on in reverse. -Christian
It is off in forward and on in reverse.
-Christian
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
TheBAYline I reset the decoder, tried swapping the motor wires as suggested and this fixed the issue. The trouble appears to be Proto has their wires miscolored. They have an orange wire for the motor top and black for the bottom, so I had connected decoder orange to engine orange and decoder grey to engine black. By swapping the wires I now have decoder orange connected engine black and decoder grey connected to engine orange, and everything works perfect.
I reset the decoder, tried swapping the motor wires as suggested and this fixed the issue. The trouble appears to be Proto has their wires miscolored. They have an orange wire for the motor top and black for the bottom, so I had connected decoder orange to engine orange and decoder grey to engine black. By swapping the wires I now have decoder orange connected engine black and decoder grey connected to engine orange, and everything works perfect.
richhotrainCV's don't work that way.
Actually, they do. Most decoders support some form of "function mapping", which allows you to change which physical output is assigned to each function.
TheBAYlineI just want to know what CV's and what values I need to change to make the white wire headlight turn on in reverse. I'm almost certain that will fix the issue...
Re-mapping the function will fix the problem. Unfortunately, the flexibility of Loksound decoder function mapping also makes it complicated. I don't have time right now to read through the manual and figure it out. There are probably people on here with experience with that decoder that could tell you the steps. If you started a thread titled something like "Loksound V4.0 function mapping" someone with Loksound experience might respond with the correct answer.
Seems strange to LION. LION has "Reversing switch" train goes east or west depending on the position of this switch. Was so easy in DC.
Well, no, wait, LION does NOT have reversing switch on layout of him, because trains of him do not go backwards. LION grounds left rail, puts +8v dc on right rail, train goes forward. Should one want train to go backwards, yo youd put -8v dc on right rail, and train *will* go backwards.... and smash into the one behind it. Trains on route of LION are only a few seconds apart. Is way subway trains run, ewe knows.
Hobby used to be so simple, I am glad LION does not use DCC, him likes simple.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
TheBAYline I just want to know what CV's and what values I need to change to make the white wire headlight turn on in reverse. I'm almost certain that will fix the issue.
I just want to know what CV's and what values I need to change to make the white wire headlight turn on in reverse. I'm almost certain that will fix the issue.
If the white wire is not connected to the proper physical function output, the decoder programming protocol is compromised. If the white wire is connected to the proper physical function output, there would be no need to revalue any of the CV's.
So, the first step in the investigative process should be to check your wiring to confirm that the white wire is connected to the proper physical function output. My guess is that you connected the white wire to the rear light function output. That would explain the headlight going on in reverse and off in forward.
If the white wire is properly connected, then the orange and grey motor wires are probably reversed, in which case you now reverse them again and then revalue CV29.
I just want to know what CV's and what values I need to change to make the white wire headlight turn on in reverse. I'm almost certain that will fix the issue. I even emailed ESU but they haven't gotten back to me yet.
Randy
You could have saved yourself a lot of work and just changed CV29.
I have a few consist that are permanently connected together. When I need to have an 'A' unit run in reverse as it's primary direction, I just change the entry in CV29. Usually this is just changing CV29 from '35' to '34'. If you're using a NCE decoder, CV120 should be set to '1'. The decoder is smart enough to know when to turn the light on. CV121 should be set to '2' for the reverse light. Press F0 on your throttle to turn the lighting function on. Or press 'Headlight' on a NCE throttle.
Also, if your light is a LED, make sure you have the polarity correct: the blue and white wire are not reversed.
As far as wiring is concerned, you can drive yourself nuts trying to keep the color codes 'by the book'. As long as the Red & Black go to the track and the Orange & Grey go to the motor, your decoder should be able to make the necessary changes. If not, get a different decoder. (my Stewart/Kato 'F' units have no markings on the motor. The motor is buried deep in the frame and a real pain to get out. I just hard wire them and use the decoder to make it run like I want it to.)
If you download the Digitrax Mobile Decoder Manual, on page 34 is a chart showing CV 29 values and what they do. AS CV29 is the same in every decoder, all these adresses should work.
And if it does run the right way on DC - then you want to hook the orange wire to whichever motor wire was connected to the right rain, since the NMRA DC standard says the loco should go forward when the right rail is positive.
The order of the track pickup wires, red and black, does not matter because the DCC signal is symmetrical. The motor wires, orange and grey, are pulse width modulated DC and polarity there does matter.
I have 4 Proto 2000 GP-7's. Despite protoypical details INCLUDING the F decal on the long hood, they were all wired to run short hood forward. I had to wire every one of them 'backwards' so they run the right way.
davidmbedardOk...just rewire it correctly then you will not have to mess with CVs.
LOL
We seem to be going nowhere fast with this thread.
We are not really getting answers to our questions, so here is my advice to the OP. Since you have two identical locomotives with two identical decoders, both of which you have hardwired, take off the shells and look closely at your work. Are the orange and grey motor wires wired the same on both locomotives? Are the white wires wired in the same positions on both locomotives?
Everything should be identical. If it is not, that is undoubtedly the problem. If everything is wired identically, which I am beginning to doubt, then the problem is the CV values in one or both of the decoders. In that case, reset both decoders to factory default and then re-program both of them.
TheBAYline Motor direction on both is fixed, but I still need to figure out how to program the headlight on the one to operate in reverse on the one. -Christian
Motor direction on both is fixed, but I still need to figure out how to program the headlight on the one to operate in reverse on the one.
The usual suspect for locomotive running backwards is decoder wiring to motor is incorrect. While the locomotive's physical direction of travel can be matched to throttle direction selection using CV 29 or other means it just moves the problem elsewhere, where the locomotive performance or lighting effect depends on the throttle selected direction – forward or reverse.
TheBAYline Well on NCE systems I just discovered they have a one step fix for backwards running on the configuration menu. It took only a few button presses and it was all switched correctly.
Well on NCE systems I just discovered they have a one step fix for backwards running on the configuration menu. It took only a few button presses and it was all switched correctly.
Both of these locos are hardwired installs.
The RIGHT way to fix backward running it to flip the motor wires. When this is not possible, like when there are no wires to flip because of a board repalcement decoder with motor contacts, like many N scale locos, then is a good time to play with reversing NDOT using CV29.
Why? Because when the time comes you need to reset the decoder, the default value of CV29 will have it running backwards again, and 3 years from making the change, will you remember that this is how you fixed it? Also the lights issue.
With two identical locomotives and two identical decoders, it is difficult to imagine one headlight operating correctly and one headlight operating incorrectly.
What is the CV29 value in each decoder? Are you sure that the white wire is connected to the correct tab on both decoders? Are the orange and grey motor wires connected in the same position on both decoders?
My E7 model has no rear light, I used the AUX 1 function green wire for the lower headlight and the white wire for the mars light above it.
How does the rear light behave?
Is the headlight always lit, both in forward and reverse?
Or is the headlight only on in reverse while the rear light is only on in forward?
Thanks Rich. I ended up fixing both. But now one of them only has the headlight on in reverse. What do I program to change that? This is the white wire on the decoder and is Function 0.