I am having one heck of a time trying to program BTI locomotives with the Digitrax Empire Builder system. I follow the directions “to the letter”. The programmer will say that it has excepted the program but I am not able to even change the locomotive address. Makes me want to either shoot the thing or go back to DC. Help please.
Is it an older one with a QSI decoder or a newer one with a Paragon II? The QSI decoders are too slow to accept the automatic setting of CV29 that is done when the address is programmed - even with the verbal response turned off it can;t take the CVs as fast as Digitrax sends them. SO after you set the address, go back and program CV29. You can use a calculator like the one here: http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29%20calculator.htm to figure out what value to put in CV29.
–Randy
What number are you trying to assign to the loco, I had a similar issue with an Atlas train… I was trying to assign 103 using the 4 digit programing when I had to do it with the 2 digit programing because 2 digits really goes to 128 (or something close to that)
SEB? Follow my steps to the letter.
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Place loco on the track (SEB doesnt have programming track leads so you place it anywhere…but remove any other locos or they will be programmed too)
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On your DT400, hit program until you see “Pg” in the middle of the LCD display.
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Move the LEFT knob until you see “ad2=??”.
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Double click the RIGHT knob and you should see “ad4=???”
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Type in your loco’s number with the key pad or use the knobs to select the first and last 2 numbers.
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Hit “enter” (the loco will move to 2 beeps)
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The display will say something about activeate 4 digit…press “Y”. I suspect that you are skipping this step. Without it, your CV29 will be wrong and your loco will not respond.
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Hit “exit”
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Hit “power” (using Page Mode programming Pg turns off the power to the track. After you are done programming the address, you need to turn the power back on with the throttle…this is what this step is for…and the next one)
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Hit “Y”
If you follow these steps with ANY locomotive, it will program the address. It will do this because the SEB doesnt have a current limited programming track…it is full powered.
If this doesnt work, then you did something wrong.
Should take about 10 seconds with practice.
After you have the address programmed, then you can use “Po” or OPs mode programming to program any other CVs. Only the address needs to be programmed using Pg mode programming. Remember to use Ops mode programming, you need to be controlling that particular loco BEFORE you enter “Po”.
Hope this helps. I have been using the SEB for over 10 years now…and I havent met a decoder that cannot be tamed by it.[}:)]
David B
Digitrax has four programming modes,pg, ph, pd, and po. Digitrax recomends the pg mode, but i’ve found that trying the other three modes is essential if the pg mode is not able to complete the programming. I have had some digitrax decoders that will not program on pg, but some with the same number will. I have the Super Empire Builder and don’t have any problems programming. just try all of the available modes. My club has two digitrax systems. An empire Builder on our N sacle layout and the Super Chief on our HO layout. Most times members have to use the Empire Builder on the N layout to program HO loco’s.
I don’t program through Digitrax. Instead I use Decoder Pro and dedicated programing track hat is attached to my computer thru a Digidtrax PR3. THis simplifies setting up anything I need to set up within a lcomtive decoder. You’ll have to pay for the PR3 but Decoder Pro is freeware and can be downloaded from JMRI,
Irv