I have 2 Atlas U23B's with MRC 1811 decoders, neither will program on the main even though MRC says it's supported. Both units are working fine except for this problem. I did some googling and searched the forum with no luck, is this a common problem?
4 digit addresses are already set, no matter what I try they don't respond, change bell/horn sounds, start voltage, set up a consist, my Challenger (which has an MRC also) responds just fine when using the power cab or USB interface.
Yeah yeah yeah, we all know the common consensus, I was looking for help not opinion, there's no other drop in option for the U23B.
Maybe they need to be told explicitly to use the long address. There's a bit in (IIRC) CV29 that tells the decoder which address to use and it doesn't always get set by just changing the address value CVs.
Thanks for the reply Mike, I'll have a look at that, the decoder manual doesn't even show CV29 as an available value, I'll do some hunting and see what I can find.
Ya I know. Its just so dissapointing that of all the great DCCmanufacturers there are one of the worst is the only one that makes drop in style decoders.:tb-hissyfit: Still no help, but I wonder if the resistor accross the program track trick will work here. I think its a resister anyway. Helps increase the load causing the command station to give the decoder a bigger kick in the pants so to speak to do as requested.
I'm not sure, I don't really think it's a power issue as the usb interface works just fine, and unless I'm way off in my thinking it's powered by the same souce as the power cab. I think the issue is with the MRC decoder (no big shock there!), not every MRC decoder obviously as the one in the Challenger works as it should, and seeing as how I'm stuck with them until another mfg releases one for these loco's I thought I'd try to find a solution, as futile as that might be
A resistor across the track generally is not needed when using the PowerCab - it has sufficient protected output in programme mode. The USB acts as the go between for the command station portion of the PowerCab and PC. The PowerCab still provides the voltage to track. Maybe it is simply an awkward decoder? Unfortunately there's no straightforward alternative with sound that is easily installed.