I own a MRC Prodigy Express, and just the othe day I finally got another decoder for my other locomotive. Currently I have 2 DCC equiped locomotives, Today I was trying to create a consist with them this worked quite well but when I wanted to reverse the one locomotive in the consist I could not. I followed the directions and when adding the locomotive to the consist I hit the “Direction” button but the locomotive remained in the default forward and would not change. Am I doing somthing wrong?
What brand and type of decoder is in that locomotive? Some decoders don’t support consisting.
One way around this problem is to change the address in the second engine so it is the same as the address of the first, and change CV 29 to tell the decoder to run backwards by adding one to whatever value it now has.
The Dash 9 has a Digitrax DH163AT and the SD75 has a NCE DA-SR the consisting feature works and I have used it multiple times but it wont let me reverse either locomotive.
The trick here is to actually move the loco slightly, not just hit the direction button. Short procedure:
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select trailing loco. Make sure it moves in the proper physical direction
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select lead loco. Make sure it moves in the proper physical direction
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Perform consisting steps for your system
Now both should run in the same physical direction, even if that means one is runnign in reverse.
–Randy
I’ll give that a try tomorrow… Is the direction thing a glitch the in the Prodigy Express where it just wont work?
No, but it relies on the command having being sent to the decoder to set the direction. Just flipping the direction button doesn’t send the packet if the loco is at 0 speed. Most systems work this way. That’s for consisting in the command station. If it was setting CV19 for Advanced consisting (which I don’t think the PE supports) it would likely take the push of the direction button into account when setting the value for CV19 so that unit would run backwards.
–Randy
Actually, when reading the directions it only supports advanced consisting, it does not support universal (old style) consisting. And in the directions for both ways it says to hit the direction button.
The directions for the Prodigy Express are wrong. When using the advanced consisting function of the controller, you CAN NOT reverse the direction of the engines. You can get around this by programming CV19 directly. Pick a consist number from 1 to 127. If you want the engine to run forward, program this value into CV19. If you want it to run backwards, add 128 ti this value and program it into CV19. To run the consist, select the address that you picked for the consist address. To clear the consist, program CV19 to 0 for each loco that you programmed a consist address for.
OK thank you!
CSX Robert has a right answer, an alternative is to add one (1) to the value into CV29 for the locomotive you want to run in reverse. It is too bad but some documentation pertaining to the PA has found its way into the PE manual.
On page 12 of “Tips and Tricks for the Prodigy Advance” (available on-line) it states that you cannot change direction of a consisted loco using the Express and they give the work-arounds.
They should correct the manual and should change the title of the tips and tricks to “Tips and Tricks for the Prodigy Advance and Prodigy Express”. Anyone using one of the MRC systems should always read this document.