I just bought a Digitrax Chief II. I have been trying for two days to reprogram some decoders that were supposedly addressed to the color "black." Was there some primitive DCC system that used colors for addressing? How do I reprogram a decoder when I don't know its original or last address? I also lost contact with a decoder that I was changing a number from another 4-digit address to the 4 digit #0003. Now I can't communicate with it as either #03 or #0003. Is there a fix for this or did I just blow a decoder? Help appreciated. Thanks.
I am assuming you are using a programming track or section, the Chief supports this. Also, no matter what you program in you can always read it back with the Chief. Also, you can always reprogram it. Nothing you program is forever. You can always change it. You don't need to know what number you assigned at all. You just put the loco on the programming track and make your changes or read out what you stored. I have a Chief not the new Chief II but the only difference is the DT300 throttle (I assume you have this and not the DT400). The original Chief had the DT100. The Chief also has CV read back so you can view what is stored in all the CVs. Select the CV you want to program and then press the Display key. It will display the value stored in that CV. If it isn't correct, crank in the correct value and store it. You also have to make sure you are storing the value in the correct format. I believe the DT300 default format is decimal while most values listed in the decoder manuals are in hex. If I remember correctly you can change to hex by pressing one of the knobs. See your manual for the specific details. I am not familiar with "Black". Maybe someone else can help on that. I am not sure if you can program a decoder to a long address of 0003. You can address it as a short address 03. When you program a decoder you have to tell it whether you want to use long addresses or short addresses, you can't "use" both at the same time. You can program in both values at the same time. Normally a value of 2x hex is stored in CV29 to tell the decoder to use the long address. The x is replaced by some value that also tells the decoder to do other things. I normally enter 22 hex in mine. The 22 means use long address, 128 speed steps, and don't do analog conversion (it won't run on regular DC). And finally, the real experts on Digitrax are on the egroup at Yahoo. I would strongly recommend you join that group. Beginners are always welcome. No question is stupid. You will be amazed at the knowledge that resides there. That said, if this doesn't solve your problem, then let me know what you did and the results and I will try to help you as best I can. [ 24 December 2001: Message edited by: ncng ]
Thanks for the reply. I'll give this a try when I get a chance, which may not be before Wednesday. I'll report back after I give it a try.
This may not be it as I thought they fixed this bug with the DT200, but maybe not. While you can program a decoder to any 4 digit address you want, you can't pick up any address in run mode below 0128. It automatically defaults back to 2 digit/hex mode. THis is annoying as hell as I have several locos numbered 100 or 101. This may be completly up the wrong tree, but thats what it reminds me of.
Yes, I agree that the numbering is a problem. I don't know if it is a Digitrax thing or all DCC. Looking in my Digitrax book it looks like short addresses are 01-127 plus 00 for analog. Long addresses are 0128-9980.
I put this problem on hold for a while and haven't been able to check out all the possibilities yet. I'm not sure now if the engine even has a decoder since it seems to run like an analog engine on 00. Perhaps the guy that I bought the engine from didn't know what he was talking about. When I get a chance, I'll pop the the shell and see what is inside. I'm still in the process of setting up my system and I don't have my programing track installed. It may take me a while to figure all this out!
