Issues Re-Starting Digitrax Throttle

[rrinker]

 But what you aren't seeing is that at least with the direction control - the DC way was always a compromise. Most if not all pre-DCC command control systems worked the same way as DCC - forward is to the front of the engine. Period. Just like the real thing. That SD70ACe in the middle of a consist facing the rear is not running in 'forward' - it is running in reverse. Yes, with DC, since direction was based on track polarity, if you lift a loco off the track and put it back turned around 180 degrees - it will now run 'reverse' without touching the direction switch on the power pack - which was always pretty meaningless as an indicator and why most power packs never labeled the positions as forward and reverse, instead just having little arrows on the label.

 As for the NMRA 8 pin plug, like I said, it IS marked where pin 1 is, but since there is no chance to put a key on there, it was carefully designed to not fail and damage anything if it got turned around. There are many considerations in the design, not too small to manage, but not so big as to not fit in many locos. There is no rule saying exactly where internally the socket is located - take a look at the various harnesses TCS offers for example. Some have the wires coming off the 8 pin plug on the pin 1 side, others come off on the pin 8 side, and others come off the top or bottom! All to make the wiring fit in various locos. It's an off the shelf electronic connector - the LAST thing we want in model railroading is more proprietary junk - the market is too small to support high volume specialty items, so they end up being low volume and expensive. Any time an existing standard can be adopted, something that's already produced in the 10's of thousands, 100's of thousands, or even millions, we benefit from a reduced cost.

 It's also not the only connector option. The 9 pin linear JST connector IS keyed - because plugging it in backwards would damage things.

 There's a way around it - the way I've used for most of my locos - remove the socket and any factory lighting board and hard wire it all, using decoders that have just wires coming out of them (cheaper anyway). It's 4 to 7 wire connections depending on the lights, at least for my first generation power with no such thing as a ditch light anywhere near. It costs less, it leaves more room inside the loco, and most of all I can see and verify that I have the red decoder wire to the right side rail pickups and so forth - no guessing or trying to follow the traces on some random factory board, or just hoping they got everything right (hint: sometimes they don't, and it has been bad enough to fry a decoder. DCC Ready is just a marketing term, not a standard).

               --Randy

 

 Then there's the whole issue of Blueline - they didn;t make those all that long for a reason. What's amazing is that you're having less trouble with those than with the Pargons. I already had DCC by the time Blueline locos came out, so not only did they not make anything I wanted, I also did not need a loco to do sound on DC. The thing is, ANY loco with more than one decoder can be a serious pain when it comes to programming. This is where most people end up having issues. So you have that going for you.

[gmpullman]

When I began programming BLI sound locomotives back in the "early days" with my DCS200 several engines would not program properly, if at all.

I bought a PTB programming track booster:

https://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/product.php?productid=678829002

It has been working in the background, flawlessly, ever since.

DCC Specialties offers the PowerPax which is similar, but I'm not familiar with that product:

http://www.dccspecialties.com/products/powerpax.htm

The site specifically mentions that it "cures" Broadway Limited programming woes.

You may have to do your programming on the main using Ops mode programming if there is not enough current on the programming track to overcome the sound decoder's capacitors.

Just a thought, Ed

[Steven Otte]

All right, that's enough of this nastiness. I'm locking this thread. If you want to discuss DCC decoder issues in a civilized manner, start a new thread. I don't have the energy on a Monday morning to separate the wheat from the chaff in this one.

[lock]