I Just got a MRC Prod express. I Have a 4 x 8 layout, with 2 separate oval tracks. They are connected by two right hand turnouts, but I have insulated joiners separating the two tracks. I have the outside track as the program track and the inside track as the main. After I prgram my lococs can I hook both tracks to the main track outlets on my base unit in order to run locos on both tracks. I am confused on how to use both tracks as the main track. One thing I have been disaapointed about with the system is the lack of explanation as to what program tracks and main tracks are. Can anyone explain what I should do to use both tracks. I am probably just an idiot since I just got the system and I have no idea what some of the terms mean. I was hoping someone could explain this to me in laymens terms.
Hi, Smitty. My take on program tracks is that they are not ordinarily an entire loop. They are meant to be a short siding, someplace, that only you and your operators realize is also for programming your decoders. Most often this siding programming track is isolated with the flick of a SPDT toggle switch because you don’t want any signals going to the decoder to also inadvertently trigger similar changes to any other decoder getting signal from the main set. That means the programming track segment should have its own leads and should not have shared leads with the rest of the layout except when you are in normal Ops mode programming or simply running your layout…playing trains. When you are programming the decoder on this small segment of track, you would normally be in what is called Paged Mode. Unfortunately, Paged Mode is a shout to all decoders, what we call broadcast programming. So, if you had more than one engine on your outer loop and tried to Page Mode change a CV, say CV2 for start voltage, to one of the locos, the others on your outer loop will also change to that input value. You can only address one single decoder when you programme in Ops mode…the others will ignore the shout because the shouter was looking at one decoder when they look…if you understand me.
So, for ease, for insurance, your “programming track” is not meant to be longer than a couple of feet at most. That way, you can only ever really get the one loco on it in the first place and are not likely to Page Mode the same changes in another sitting on the same track. As I said previously, the way to ensure the broadcast instruction is not sent to any other decoder anywhere else on the layout is to physically isolate the programming track with wiring that is not shared on the same bus as anywhere else on the layout.
Does that help to orient you better?
Now, to complicate things a wee bit, some decoders require special programming to
From reading this I think the problem you have is that you have a bit of DC thinking stuck in your head. Since you don’t have a reverse section just hook all the tracks to your unit and run the trains. Your method of using a loop for the programming track is unusual, but there is no reason it won’t work.
Not a Expert here but, you can program on the main line with the express. I made a program track and hardly ever use it since i can just put the locos i want on the main line and program them there.Once done the express holds those numbers to memory …So you then just recall the loco number and roll on down the line.
Just thought i would add this little tidbit of info in case this isnt known.
My test or programing track is two floors above my N Gauge layout in a clean-room (back bedroom) on my bench which is also used for DC testing as well, the HO is three streets away at our club rooms. Instalation and testing are done upstairs, with fine tuning done on the layouts.
pick,
PS I use same gear only on UK voltage (Gargemaster)
During the early stages of layout construction, I had a short section of snap-track attached to my Programming Track outputs. When not in use, it just hung loosely under the layout, and when I needed it I would just plop it down on the table (mostly foam at that point) and do what I needed.
The preference for using a siding comes from not wanting to handle the engines too much. It’s better to “drive” an engine on to a siding and then throw a switch to change the track from a siding to a programming track.
This is a simple wiring job. Get a double-pole, double-throw (DPDT) toggle switch. Connect the 2 center posts to the track section, two on one end to your track bus, and the two on the other end to the programming track outputs. Insulate both rails of the track section. With the toggle thrown one way, the siding is just part of your layout. Thrown the other way, it becomes a programming track.
Programming on the main has its drawbacks. First of all, if you change a locomotive address on the main, you’re going to change the address of every decoder on the track. Yeah, all of your locomotives. You probably don’t want to do that. Second, programming on the main is full power. If you’ve just installed a new decoder, you’re much better off using the programming track, which is done at reduced power. If you’ve got a problem with the decoder wiring, you’re much less likely to burn the decoder out on the programming track.
Some engines, particularly larger ones with sound decoders, don’t take well to programming on the program track, though. The large power requirements of these engines overwhelm the programming track’s capabilities, and you get back an error on your throttle. For these, there are some tricks you can play with resistors, or power booster add-ons just for the programming track. Or, you can program them on the ma
This is only true if you use Page mode programming. If you use Ops mode programming, you have to select the current address of the engine, and only engines with that original address will change to the new address. This is not a concern with a system that has seperate programming track outputs because when you use page mode programming the programming commands automatically go to the programming track outputs.
I’ve got a Lenz system, and I don’t recall seeing those options. The instructions did clearly warn against setting loco addresses on the main with other engines, though. So, this may be one of those features that’s system-specific. What’s in your throttle holder?
I looked at a couple of the Lenz manuals, and the ones I looked at(lh90, lh100) say that you can not change the locomotive address using Ops mode programming. I don’t know if they actually block this ability, or if they say this to discourage it, because there are some potential issues with programming the address using ops mode programming. Since a long address uses two CV’s (CV17 and CV18), if you try to change the address on a locomotive that is already using a long address, after the first CV is written, if it changes then the locomotive will no longer respond to the original address and won’t accept the second CV. This should not be a problem if you are programming a long address into a locomotive that is currently using the short address because when you program CV17 and CV18 the locomotive will continue to respond to the original address until CV29 is programmed to enable the long address.