Thanks folks for all the great answers, so I am guessing I don’t want NCE. To bad, I have 6 toasted decoders to send them, 6 decoders for $62.00 seems like a good deal.
I have been sick, and have not messed with CV 2, nor have I messed with the PR 3 yet. Decoders I have for now are DH 123’s and 163’s. What is the stock CV 2 setting? Going up will increase the starting voltage just to make sure. Reason I ask is till I feel better and learn to use the PR 3 I cannot read what the CV’s are before I start.
On a funny side note, I finally tried setting CV’s in OP mode. Seems I confused PO with PG and now all my engines CV 3 is sat at 40.[:D] Even my Blue Line’s.
That is one of the things that I don’t like about the Empire Builder not having a separate programming track output. Many people harp on the lack of CV read-back, which I also consider important, but I think the ease with which you can accidentally program all of the engines on the layout is just as important. I think it is just to easy to forget to shut off the rest of the layout when programming an engine using Service Mode.
NCE does sell a product called Auto-Switch which can prevent that problem. It senses Service Mode programming commands and automatically shuts off the output to the main layout. It was designed for the Power Cab but works with any DCC system that uses the main track outputs for Service Mode programming. Something to note, however, is it only breaks the connection between the track outputs and the layout, so, for example, if you have an Empire Builder command station plus an additional booster, the booster will still output the programming commands to it’s section of the layout(unless you have an additional Auto-Switch on the booster) because it will get the programming commands from Loconet.
I guess in a way I agree. Then again, I am happy that the SEB can spank any decoder out there…certainly any of the several types I have.
Ken, I have done what you did several times. I have learned, at along last, to make it a point to look at the screen and make darned sure the number of presses I make on the “program” button corresponds to the displayed mode.
One thing about setting a CV like #3 to 40 and having all decoders comply is that you can undo it the same way. Then, of course, you must go back and configure that CV for each engine if you don’t want the new value, but you can take a second the next time you go to use it and set CV3 for something appropriate for that engine. It helps to keep a record for each engine so that you don’t have to go through a bunch of trial programming sequences.
I hope you feel better soon. Digitrax sets CV2-CV4 all to 0 from the factory. Here’s something from their manual:
Speed Tables-How the Loco Responds to the Throttle
With Digitrax LocoMotion™, there are two types of speed tables: 3 Step Tables and High Resolution 28 Step Tables. Please see your Digitrax Decoder Manual for a discussion of the 28 Step Tables. The 3 Step Tables are set up by programming 3 CVs: Start Voltage (CV02), Mid point Voltage (CV06) and Max Voltage (CV05). These values are set at 000/x00 at the factory. All have a range of values from 000/x00 to 255/xFF. We recommend the following CV values as a starting point for experimenting with speed tables.
Felt a little better tonight and started playing with the CV’s. Odd thing happened with the SD 40-2 the other night, it stopped running but I could control the lights. Pulled it and tonight I reset the DH 163 CV 8 to 8. could control the light, but still would not move. Did it again and still nothing? I was controlling the lights as cab 3, the default setting and SEB said decoder reset was good.
Wheels where nasty looking, so I hooked up the Kadee Wheel Cleaning Brush to a MRC 2500 and had at it. At first nothing, but I rubbed the brush against a pair of wheels and it finally started running. Sat it on the programing track, sat the cab back to 40, CV 2 to 1, CV 3 to 40 and for the fun of it, CV 4 to 70! Got the sucker up to spied steep 82 and backed off the power. Good thing the DT 400 has a Panic stop! After 40 feet it was still cooking and it was sharing the line with a 30 car grain train.
Setting CV 2 to 1 has helped but it was just dragging some track cleaning cars.
Each number is listed in the chart as decimal value/hexadecimal value, for example decimal 154 = hexadecimal 9A(0x is a short hand way of writing hexadecimal). Digitrax lists the hexadecimal equivalents because with the old DT100 throttles you had to program in hexadecimal(it used hexadecimal for programming because the maximum value you can program a CV to (255) can be represented with only two digits in hexadecimal(0xFF). With the DT400 throttle(or DT300 or Zephyr) you do not have to worry about the hexadecimal values.
On the SD 40-2, it is pulling a 15 car train and I do like what CV 2 has done. It starts moving with in a second or so, not long at all. No jerk when it starts to move. It all so seemed to help its low speed as well.
And here I thought I would not like playing with CV’s.
I was left scratching my head, when I saw that chart in the Digitrax decoder manual.
Don’t know why Digitrax couldn’t put a paragraph is their manual that says exactly what you said in your post. They assume that all of us know this stuff-- I know of two of us who didn’t.
I’m sure the decoder manual is due for an update since it makes no mention of the new 165 series decoders with built-in current limiters - although as far as I know there are no actual programming changes. But the latest revision is now 5 years old. Also not on Page 26 where it starts to talk about programming CVs it mentions that some throttles use hex and some do not, and refers you to Appendix B which explains how the ‘pseudo hex’ works on the DT100, mentions that hex numbers have an ‘x’ in front of them, and also includes a complete hex to decimal conversion chart.
I won’t give up posting explanatory posts on why hex is actually EASIER for bitmapped CVs (those like CV29 where the instructions say things like “set bit 3 to 1 to make this happen, set bit 3 to 0 to make that happen”) because the binary bits convert into hex in a much more straighforward fashion than converting to decimal. Of course the absolute easiest way is to avoid hex AND decimal numbers altogether and just use DecoderPro and click the check boxes for the features you want and let it handle any numeric values.