odd mfg id

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Hi guys.

I had an old Atlas classic RSD4 sitting around and decided to put a decoder in and place it in service. I had an older TCS A4x bought years ago and removed from a previous install. I did the usual install and LED lamps. Placed it on the program track. My Power Cab reads the MFG and version number at the start of a standard program. It read MFG 255 and version number 30. I had thought that odd but kept programing anyway. Address, motor and lighting CVs all programmed fine. Exited programming and test run. Tweaked the Dither settings as usual and tested great. I entered programming mode again and read CV8. It still reads 255. According to the NMRA it should read 153 not 255. MFG ID 255 does not exist.

I did a reset and it took but the MFG ID still reads 255. Is this something I should worry about or just run it as usual? This decoder is one of the ones that need the power cycled to get the right direction in consist. That is why it was removed from another loco and also it does not have BEMF. The consist issue is not a problem for this loco, It is in yard and local service.

Pete

2

CV 8 is read only. Resetting the decoder will make no change whatsoever to the value. If the decoder is functioning properly, ignore it.

3

255 is often the default ‘failed to get a real value’ number, since depending ont he program mode the command station simply tries each number in sequence, the decoder can basically only say “yes” or “no”, the decoder does not send the actual number for a CV value to the command station when reading. So you get “is it 1” “no” “is it 2” “no” etc. After it failes ot be 255, the value of 255 is usually returned ot the display.

–Randy