He rails, much thanks to all who've chimed in so far about my NCE and QSI/Tsunami questions. I am gaining a deeper understanding of this equipment and digital RRing every day..It really is a wonderful sea change to our great hobby, huh ? Will someone confirm what I believe is true : FUNCTION REMAPPING merely moves all the functions of the numbered keys over,say,one digit in order to assign a function not in the stock, out of box loco decoder. In my case , I really would like a TRAIN BRAKE on my Power Cab..I think I get what to do to set up the momentum CV values..But, by adding the brake am I forfeiting something else such as WATER STOP ? Also, I'm ashamed to ask, where is F11 on the key pad for the brake? Is it really button 9 or 0 but, as everything has shifted one or two over one has to 're-number' in one's mind the numbers on the key pad ? Bachmann manual (on CD w/ten wheeler) calls F11 available for a brake..So, again, where is or where will be the brake button once I've programed it in correctly (which, obviously I can't do yet ) ? Finally, I suppose I can believe this addition (brake) remains in memory after power goes off..
Title above should be QSI. It's a typo..Wonder why the 'edit post' feature doesn't allow a title change/correction after it's entered..I think all forums are this way..
On the Power Cab controller F11 is the "shift" and "EXPN" keys at the bottom of the controller. Function re-mapping occurs in the decoder. For a Tsunami the default for the brake is F11. If you wanted to swap this to F7 which is normally the "dim" function you would set CV41 to 128 and CV45 to 8.
So, I assume then it is a matter of trading off one for another..But I don't get why NCE just didn't call F11 the brake in the first place, as I would think most folks would rather have a brake than a light dimmer..Or, at least design it so one can dim light as an alternate command with F11, but after dimming, menu/scroll back to brake...Also, isn't this a physically odd place for a brake; way at bottom ? Don't we want our thumb right near the brake button ? Maybe we can swap 'momentum' button with F11 and have brake right next to 'direction'.. Or am I missing something ? Anyway, thanks for explaination.. Still a bit confused but I'll go try this out...Mark
NCE didn't label F11 as the brake because it's only the brake with Tsunami decoders. Not all decoder manufacturers have every sound on the same function. THe horn and bell are fairly standard but not everything else. You don't really have to trade off anything, its simply a matter of pressing two keys to get the F11 function. You can access up to function 28 but above 12 requires using the option key.
OK, but to have brake at bottom of controller is really odd seeming to me ..Or maybe I just simply am not getting it..I would think that all or most decoder makers (QSI,NCE,Tsunami) and throttle makers(NCE, Bachmann, Lenz, digitrax ) could have at least agreed to having the brake be up near throttle wheel just as direction and momentum are. I mean, whats more important than the speed, direction, and the brakes on the model or the real one..? It's as if braking is considered a lower tier of control . Even my old and trusty analog MRC Tech II has a brake right there with speed ,direction,and momentum. Having to scroll and map or hit 2 buttons at once to get brake action is, to me, perhaps the only negative feature I seem to see on the Power Cab..Again, maybe I just am not savvying it all yet. Also I did what you said (above) and nothing happened or changed after several attempts..But maybe this is due to using entire layout to ' program on the main ' as there are no other digital locos yet and old analog locos are sitting isolated in gapped track sections.. There is something in the NCE manual about possibly needing to use a ' programing booster ' if programing steps don't respond. Maybe this is the problem .. Finally ( for now anyway) what is ' paged ' mean ? It is referred to but not explained in manual as to why and when to use it.. Hope I'm not being too gruff about it all. I really do like DCC now but I quess I'm going through growing pains.....Mark
Isn't the brake function actually a sound function? I don't think that hitting function 11 will actually slow your train, I thought it just activated a brake squeal noise effect. It sounds like you are looking for an actual brake for speed control, I don't think that is what this function does. Paul/
Normally F11 controls only the sound however you can set CV61 so it will actually slow the engine. Here is an excert from teh Tsunami manual that explains how: "F11 Train Brake By now you’ve no doubt discovered that Function F11 can be used to turn Tsunami’s brake squeal sound on and off. What you may not realize is that F11 can also be used to slow your train down as if the brakes really are applied! To achieve this effect, you will need to first program some momentum into Tsunami using CV 3 and CV 4 to set the acceleration and braking rate respectively. The exact value is unimportant but should be large enough to produce a noticeable delay in the throttle response. A setting of 20 or so will do the trick. The reason for programming CV 3 (acceleration rate) is so the train does not immediately resume its old speed when the F11 function is released. Next, program CV 61 (F11 Brake Rate) to adjust the rate at which the train will slow down when F11 is turned on. A value of 1 to 128 is added to the value programmed in CV 4 which has the effect of slowing the train more gradually than by simply turning the throttle down. Values of 129 thru 255 translate to -1 thru -127 which have the opposite effect as they subtracted from the setting in CV 4 and slow the train more aggressively than turning the throttle down (as a brake would be expected to do). Be careful not to set F11 too high - if you do, the net braking rate will be zero and you will have effectively turned F11 into an emergency stop button! Note that setting CV 61 to a value of 0 or 128 has no effect on the brake rate and basically disables this feature."
First, there isn't really the need to have the manufacturers agree on which features to assign to which function keys as you can reassign them to whatever functions you want. Second, concerning the brake function you're talking about by default it's only sound and doesn't alter the running of the engine. This can be altered with CV61 on a Tsunami, but not all decoders have this capability so why would the throttle manufacturer dedicate a button to a function that only a few decoders use. Third, a programming booster is for use when programming on a programming track. Some command stations don't supply enough power to the programming track for sound decoders. However, since you said you were trying to program on the main which would have the full power of the PowerCab available which would be sufficient for any decoder. So there must be another reason why you didn't get the functions remapped. Page 25 of the Tsunami Diesel Sound User's Guide explains how to remap the function keys.
Man o man, you guys really blow me away with how you have been able to grasp all this techno stuff..I am going to go to Pg.25 of Spectum Steam Guide and see if I can get my head (of steam) around the remapping trick..No one has said yet whether or not one can swap the momentum button with, say, F11, putting momentum at bottom of Power Cab and have old momentum at top become the brake..But I'm guessing the momentum button is not programmable/remappable. Do You do see my logic that brake would be nice right next to direction ? Anyway I did figure out how to change to Pro Cab mode and turn on 'yard' to operate forward and reverse buy just rolling throttle one way or the other causing that automatic direction change after hitting zero speed..That's really nifty...If naively thought one had to own a seperate Pro Cab to do this...Now I get it !! I can become Pro Cab and someone else can then own/be Power Cab ..Or, of course, one CAN possess a seperate Pro Cab , Or several guys use Pro Cabs off my/our Power Cab !! Neato !!
