.
Let's make that a clickable link:
https://youtu.be/jtx-ViM_IjQ
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I used to set up one engine to run the way I wanted, then put another engine on a parallel track and match engine number two to the master, both forward and reverse. When I was happy engine number two, I would remove it and install engine number three. Then match number three to the master. When I was done matching them on the parallel track, I would run them nose to tail and make tweaks as necessary. With my Digitrax system I would have to move each engine to the program track to make changes. With the NCE system I would make changes on the track.
Now I use RailPro for my consist. No speed matching. Just select which engines you want in the consist and run them. Any speed matchining is done automatically by the decoder and controller. The only thing you might have to do is tell a trailing 'A' unit to run in reverse of the other 'A' unit...with only two buttons to push. No CVs to change, no special addresses, no pain in the arse programing. Want to break up the consist, press one button...'Unlink.' Some times I set up five engines in the consist, put three at the front and two near the rear of a 30 car train. No stringlining, no bunching, no wrecks even on a 2% grade around curves.
SouthPenn no pain in the arse programing.
Now I have a curiosity question. If you want to limit the high end speed of one of your locos to 55 smph, for example, can you set CV 5 to the appropriate value with RailPro? And then what happens when you want to consist a second loco to the first one? Does RailPro adjust the speed of the second loco down to the first, or the other way around?
And speaking of the other way around, what happens when you get to the end of the line and the lead loco becomes the trailing loco? Do you have to break up the consist and start again? And what will RailPro do to the speed of the loco that you had set to 55 smph?
SouthPenn .....Now I use RailPro for my consist....
.....Now I use RailPro for my consist....
Now that sounds great. I run almost all my locos in consists. Am I correct in thinking this RailPro is a full DCC control program... that is, I would have to set aside my Digitrax Throttles?
Does Rail Pro have IR and other wireless connnecting throttles? I will have to look into this.
tstage Let's make that a clickable link: https://youtu.be/jtx-ViM_IjQ Thanks...I did, but sometimes some glitchy thing happens and I go back and the post has altered itself. Tom
Thanks...I did, but sometimes some glitchy thing happens and I go back and the post has altered itself.
The next button to the right lets you embed the video right in the thread.
Of course if you want to see full screen you still have to visit YouTube.
Ed
There are no CVs. You select the engine you want to adjust from the handheld controller touch screen. Press the tools button. Then select the top speed graph. Turn the speed control knob to change the top speed; you will see the graph change. Back out of the speed control screen to the first page of the Tools and press the Save button. Then press Prev Page and you are back to the engine you selected. This whole operation takes about 15 seconds to do.
It's my understanding that all engines in the consist 'follow' the whichever engine you selected as 'Lead'. But I have never tried setting just the lead engine to say 50% speed, but I'll give it a try as soon as I can.
I have run with the rear engine in the front of the consist and never had any problems. But I didn't have top speed reduced in any of the engines.
RailPro is a complete radio control system. The hand held controller talks directly to the engine and it is a two way connection. (duplex?) I run my RailPro trains on my layout with my NCE DCC trains. You need three things to run RailPro; A RailPro hand held controller, a RailPro decoder, and a power supply. If you already have DCC, RailPro will run with the power supply you already have. No boosters or antennas.
maxman,
I have a five engine consist. I set the lead engine to 40% speed and the other four engines also ran at 40%. I went from 100% to 50% and then back to 100%. All the engines ran at the exact same seed as the lead engine no matter what it was set at. AMAZING!
SouthPenn ....You need three things to run RailPro; A RailPro hand held controller, a RailPro decoder, and a power supply.....
....You need three things to run RailPro; A RailPro hand held controller, a RailPro decoder, and a power supply.....
Ah, I see. That makes sense. Rail Pro works with its own decoders only? If one has not installed RailPro decoders in the locomotives one will not have control over them with Rail Pro.
In that case, does Rail Pro make a good line of sound and motion decoders?
Sorry for the questions...I will head over to the site and read up on it.
SouthPennWith my Digitrax system I would have to move each engine to the program track to make changes. With the NCE system I would make changes on the track.
Don't know where you got the idea you had to move each engine to the program track with Digitrax, it suppots Ops mode progrmming the same as NCE.
CSX Robert SouthPenn With my Digitrax system I would have to move each engine to the program track to make changes. With the NCE system I would make changes on the track. Don't know where you got the idea you had to move each engine to the program track with Digitrax, it suppots Ops mode progrmming the same as NCE.
SouthPenn With my Digitrax system I would have to move each engine to the program track to make changes. With the NCE system I would make changes on the track.
I never really caught on to what 'OOPS' mode was. By the time I fumbled through all the 'OOPS' setings, I could put the engine on the program track, make changes, and be back to running. And it was, to me, a lot safer than posibly programing the wrong engine.
The NCE system says 'Program on the main' which tells me exactly what I am doing, not 'OOPS' or 'POO'. The NCE system is more intuitive and tells you exactly what you are doing in a step by step style.
Two of us were running trains with the Digitrax system installed. Then the engines we were running stopped, like I had a power failure. After checking everything I could think of, I took one engine and did a reset of the engines decoder. I put an address of 3 in the controller and the engine ran. Turns out, every engine on the layout had the same address in it. The address of an engine sitting in the yard, not being run. I ask Digitrax for some help or suggestions on what to check and the reply said basically - send us money and your equipment and we will check it out for you. Every piece of Digitrax equipment, except for some decoders, including auto reversers is in a land fill some where.
Adding RailPro to my layout is the best thing I have done to my layout since I installed NCE.
SouthPennI never really caught on to what 'OOPS' mode was. By the time I fumbled through all the 'OOPS' setings, I could put the engine on the program track, make changes, and be back to running. And it was, to me, a lot safer than posibly programing the wrong engine.
I sorry you felt uncomfortable with Ops mode programming with Digitrax, but there are no settings to "fumble" through, so there is no way that it would be quicker to move an engine to the program track and back. Regardless, to say you "had" to is incorrect and can misinform other readers.
SouthPennI never really caught on to what 'OOPS' mode was. By the time I fumbled through all the 'OOPS' setings, I could put the engine on the program track, make changes, and be back to running. And it was, to me, a lot safer than posibly programing the wrong engine. The NCE system says 'Program on the main' which tells me exactly what I am doing, not 'OOPS' or 'POO'. The NCE system is more intuitive and tells you exactly what you are doing in a step by step style.
Well Ops mode, which stands for Operations mode, is the correct NMRA term for the progamming mode. I actually prefer that manufacturers use the correct terms instead of making up terms that don't necessarily have a standard meaning and can often lead to confusion. Ops mode actually does a better job of describing what you are doing (programming the loco while it is operating), because what is important is what mode you are in, not where you are doing the programming. When you do service mode ("program track") programming with systems that do not have a seperate program track output (such as the Digitrax Empire Builder and NCE Power Cab), if you do not provide a way to break the connection to the layout then you are still "programming on the main".
I had a double pole double throw switch on the output of the Digitrax 150 (?). One set of wires went to the layout, the other to the program track. It was almost imposible to have power or commands going to both places at the same time.
I got a chance to test consisting. If you set the 'lead' engine to 40% max speed (or any max speed) all the engines in the consist will do the same speed and have the same max speed as the lead. If you choose to control the consist from any other engine in the consist, all the other engines will do whatever max speed was set in the 'lead' engine.
I didn't get a chance to test other settings like acceleration and braking being set in the lead engine to see if the other engines will do the same.
In a land fill, what a waste. What did you have?
Mike
My You Tube