One of my locos (that has a Digitrax decoder that supports programing in Ops mode) lights stay on when I put in the address of other locomotives. Something evidently is programmed wrong and I’m thinking about a reset to factory default to try and solve the problem. The instructions for the decoder says to set CV8 to a 008/x08 to reset to factory default. On my Zephry I don’t see a / (slash) nor an x. Does the / mean that more than one key at the time is pressed?
How do you physically enter this?
Thanks,
Jarrell
If I have two locos on the track, and switch between locos to run them, the light on both stays on. Also, the non-selected one, a steamer, will do pop-off, air pump, & injector sounds…cuz they did…even at idle. I would presume that idling diesels will have a light on in DCC.
The digitrax manual can be a little hard to follow at first. (I know it was for me). What Crandell said is right. If you don’t turn the loco’s light off before switching to a different loco., then the light WILL stay on. If you want it to go off, you have to TURN it off.
When it comes to doing the reset. What they mean by “set the CV to 008/x08” is that if you are using hexidecimal, then you would set the CV to x08. If you are using decimal (which I am going to assume you are using) you set it to 008. When they give a value for setting a CV, the first number (before the “/”) is the decimal numer to set it to. The second number (after the “/” is the hexidecimal value. I hope that helps!
Thanks Kevin and Crandell. I guess it is programed right then. What would cause this situation? I’m running #1 dcc locomotive while #2 is sitting on a spur. Loco #1 hit a dead spot in a turnout and I turn the power down and set the Zephyr to ‘brake’, pick loco #1up and put it on the track in another spot and loco #2 comes alive and zooms nearly off the track before I can stop it, even though #1 is the number punched into the Zephyr and #2 has been sitting on the track not used for the last 5 minutes?
Jarrell
Jarrell
Did you dispatch #2 first when you parked it?
Dave, I’m sorry I’m kinda new to this… what does ‘dispatch’ mean, power it completely off?
Thanks,
Jarrell
Jarrell:
In my experience, the most common reason for erratic loco behavior like you describe is that analog conversion is turned on. This feature allows you to move the locomotive off your DCC layout and run it on a straight DC layout with a decoder in it. The decoder will “sense” the straight DC and pass it straight to the motor, allowing you to run your loco on a non-DCC layout.
While analog conversion is handy if you move your locos around, it is also the source of much erratic behavior on a DCC layout. It appears that voltage spikes from shorts or even setting a new loco on the track can cause a decoder set to analog conversion ON to misinterpret the slight variation in the track power and either cause the loco to stop responding to DCC commands or to suddenly take off at full speed.
The way to get rid of most such erratic behavior is to ALWAYS turn analog conversion OFF in all your decoders. Assumiing that analog conversion is ON (which is the default setting in most decoders), you set analog conversion OFF by subtracting 4 from the current value in CV29. Or for those of you who understand how to bit-fiddle CVs, that’s bit 2 (from the right … bit zero, bit one, bit TWO):
xxxx xxxx
|........ this bitOf course, with things like DecoderPro (free program for your PC), you just uncheck the analog conversion mode check box with your mouse. [:D]
Joe, this is making sense. I was in the train room a little while ago and I had been running this loco, the one that has the dcc converter installed. I had parked it on a siding, set the speed to zero and set the Zephyr to ‘brake’. I then put in the number of another loco and while I was taking it around the track it came across a ‘dead’ switch. I immediately turned down the power and cut the power to the track, completely. I walked over and picked up the loco on the dead switch and when I did t