Has anyone else experienced this? - I'm programing my fleet of engines, so far I have only about a 50% success rate! The engines that won't program run fine on address #03, but won't do a thing when I program a new address. The engines are are mainly Atlas N scale, in more than one case I have engines from the same factory batch, just different road numbers, one that will program and one that won't. I have four Broadway E8's, 3 programed fine but again one runs on #03 but won't take a new address. Only on two engines do I get an error message on the throttle 'NoPg', these won't run on any address. My DCC system is a Digitrax Super Chief, I have put a resistor across the programing terminals but it didn't help, just changed the error message on the two absolute non runners from No d to No pg. Help!
Hey Andy-I actually just started exploring this section of the forums in hopes of finding an answer to your very problem: I have a massive fleet, grand total 3 locos lol. Two came equipped with DCC, the other I converted myself. I'm using a MRC Prodigy Express system, and am having the issues you describe, or at least, very similar. The two locos that came equipped won't reprogram. One is stuck on address #02, the other #03. Oddly, when I first installed my DCC system, they programed fine, consisted, and behaved perfectly. Then at some point, they just changed themselves to those addresses. I know the Prodigy Express is working fine due to the third engine which still works perfectly and reprograms when desired. I am absolutely dumbfounded. Also, they won't respond to CV changes, or even turn on the lights. -_- So yes, anyone who can shed some light on this for us, boy, would you ever be a godsend!
I use the Super Empire Builder as my system. I find that some of my engines have also had problems with programing. I have Atlas with factory and Digitrax decoders and Kato engines all with Digitrax decoders. I have found that if the motor tabs do not make good contact with the decoder this will give you problems. The decoder making good contact with frame is something to check also. I have had some that were not making a good connection and had to be reworked. Good clean wheels and programing track rails are a must. I clean both before any programming is done. I have never tried to run any of them on 03 as there has never been a reason to do so. I install the decoder or one is already installed then i program it. When I have any program problems I first do a CV8=8 factory reset then redo the engine number or other programming. This seems to work most of the time. Some still do not take CV8=8 reset so I just do it over until it takes. Then do the engine number. This seems to work. One day every thing runs great the next day nothing seems to work correctly, That's the way life seems to be so DCC is just a part of life. DCC is lots of fun though with lots of potential.
Have you guys with Digitrax systems tried all four of the programming modes? Digitrax recommends pg, but I have found some decoders will not respond when programmed in pg mode so I use the other modes until I find one mode that does the job. I have the SEB with radio throttles. It does not matter who the decoder is manufactured by or the brand of loco or whether they are N scale or HO. Once I have programmed a loco (N scale) with my system the decoders never jump back to factory defaults on their own. But I do have HO locos that regularly have to be reprogrammed due to shorts occuring on the layout at my club. These are Atlas and Proto 2000 loco's with QSI sound decoders. My club uses a Super Chief on the HO layout and an SEB on the N layout. In addition at the club. We can't seem to program addresses on the Chief and have to use the SEB on the N scale layout to do the addressing, but CV adjustments work good on the Chief in the ops mode. I have made a decoder tester using old light boards taken from anolog locos and test my decoders before installing and I can even program the new addresses before installing in the loco's. You should always run the loco on 03 before reprogramming the decoder. This way you will know if it is your decoder at fault or your installation.
These locomotives should program in OPS mode on the mainline. You will need the CV17/18 calculator, you can download it here: http://www.broadway-limited.com/supportdocumentation.aspx After you're done programming CV 17 and CV18 using the above, you have to set CV 29 to 34. At that point, your engine should be programmed to the new address.
I strongly recommend using Decoder Pro to program all of your decoders. Google the name and download the software [shareware]. It is an awesome program. Since I began using Decoder Pro I have never had any issues.
This is a well documented problem with some batches of decoders. They work fine at the default address of 3 but as soon as you program a 4 digit address, they stop. In many cases this was due to defective decoders. If it registers as 03 and runs on that address, then there is no issues with the motor contacts. If you installed and tested on address 03, then changed the address to something else and it no longer responds, then the decoder is bad. Part of the base decoder memory was fried by the programming change. Motor contacts have nothing to do with whether a decoder will accept programming. That is a separate part of the decoder. Your best bet is to contact the decoder manufacturer and see about a warranty replacement. DecoderPro is a wonderful tool, but if the decoder behaves like I think it is, even DecoderPro will not be able to communicate with the decoder. Remember, it relies on the DCC controller to be able to communicate with the locomotive as well. Decoders are a commodity product that are mass produced with little or no QA testing. So it is best to realize that and give the decoders a fair shot and if they are problematic, contact the manufacturer. They all seem to be doing a good gob with warranty coverage these days. I hope this helps!
Hey David, thanks for your thoughts. I had suspected that it was a defective decoder issue, but it's nice to hear someone else voice the same opinion. I'm pretty much a DCC noob, so I'm going to have a go at setting CV8 to 8 and seeing if the reset helps anything before I work at contacting Lenz about the issue My thanks to everyone for their helpful contributions!
If this was a factory decoder in an Atlas locomotive, you would need to contact Atlas. They bought the license to make their own decoders using the Lenz designs. The last True Lenz decoders, menaing manufactured by Lenz, in Atlas locomotives was almost 10 years ago.
Could be a defective decoder. But if the motor does not make contact with the decoder I don't think that you are going to get any decoder to program. The motor must be connected to the decoder for what is called an acknowledgement pulse. Try a known good decoder, dis-connect the motor leads and see what happens.
Ah, very interesting-learn something every day... Alright then, thank you! I did try the CV8=8 a couple times (it's nice having the layout so close to hand) and nothing took, so I guess it's off to Atlas customer support I go then
Solution I may have sorted out my problem at least. The older Digitrax manual I was using specifies pressing the Y+ button within a specified number of seconds when programming four digit addresses. In my haste I was pressing this a fraction too early in some instances. I note this wording has been taken out of the current Super Chief manual. I still have some locos where I am getting error messages but the scale of the problem is managable. In the meantime thanks for the responses, I have learned a lot from them. Thanks for the support Trainboard!
Andy, Glad to see you are figuring things out. So far I have had to only send back one defective Digitrax decoder. I have tried the other programing modes and for me they did not seem to work any better then Pg mode. As to those who say to use a computer program to do the programing, that is all fine and good if you have a computer and layout in the same building or can afford to have two computers. Good way to do it though if you can.
Atlas factory decoders program best using direct mode. You problem sounded like the decoder may have been getting the address change (long address?) but not the necessary CV29 change to activate the long address. You have to press the Y/+ button while the prompt is being displayed on the throttle. If you miss it the display will revert to the ADD4=xxxx screen. xxxx being the address you want to program. Just press the "Enter" button again.You will see the prompt again and then press Y/+. Took me a bunch of times at first to get the timing down but after awhile it becomes second nature. You also didn't mention the model of Atlas engine and decoder.The older Lenz made decoders used a different reset value. I think it was 32. It can be found in the decoder manuals that are available on Atlas' web site Martin Myers
This probably doesn’t have any bearing on your situation (maybe, maybe not) but I’ve had problems with Lenz /Atlas preinstalled decoders. The old style decoders are not capable of much of anything other than running the locomotive via address 3 in forward and backward, lights on/off. That’s it, period. Do you have some of these “basic” decoders? This is the reason I’ll NEVER buy another locomotive with a preinstalled decoder. Brian
