I'm looking at using the AZL supplied tiebar with the F3A/B and was wondering how people are addressing the units in DCC: running as a consist with 2 addresses or running both units with the same address? Mark
I'll guess it depends on whether you need to speed match the units. If they run equally you might even use one decoder to run two Loco's. Verstuurd vanaf mijn ANE-LX1 met Tapatalk
That's what Speed matching is for. put a decoder in each leave them as individual units and speed match them. then connect them with the drawbar or tiebar as you call it. and change the address so both are the same and you are done
I have been running my MTL engines GP35 and GP 9 as well as SD40-2 in pairs with TCS decoders and use the same unit number for each engine in the pair, occasionally I mu two pairs just use their the two pair addresses, works for me. use Power cab as my DCC system.
Thanks for the input. Being somewhat a newbie to DCC, I was looking for feedback from folks who are already experienced with drawbar sets. I was thinking about using two decoders, one address. It seems logical since I can't use the road numbers (6001A/6001C) as the separate addresses, I could use 6000 for both. It seemed that mu-ing the two would unnecessarily use up mu spaces in the controller. What I don't know is if there are advantages/disadvantages of one over the other. It seems that the drawbars aren't really being use. Mark
For my AZL F3 AB set I have a decoder in each loco. I assign each decoder the same address so I don’t have to do the consist. Going this route I used function mapping CVs 33 and 34 to remap the rear light of the A unit to F3 and both lights of the B unit to F3. That way the lights of the B units or reverse light of the A units never come on. You can also just cover the lights with electrical tape. If you go with a consist and assign each decoder a separate address, the lighting should automatically be handled by the consist.
I've been using drawbars and others in our BAZ BoyZ group, for many years. For locos with same numbers (6001 A-B-C, for example), you can use any number that you can remember (e.g. 6011, 6012, 6013) or, just use the same decoder number in each loco. Each loco can have it's own speed table (whether or not basic 3 normal CV's or, a full-on 28 step table). The Command station does not know that each as a different speed table in what ever form and just sends the current Speed Step. Each loco will interpret that using its own settings. Remap the light functions as Curn suggests, paint them black, use black electrical tape or just bust them off the board.
Thanks. As for the LEDs, I actually have plans for all of them. I'd like to add a backup light to the B unit. One of my childhood memories of the F units run on the Peninsula line was that they always seemed to leave the lights on in the engine room and I'd like to try to simulate that with the extra LEDs.
