Strategy for addressing

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

One thing I haven’t figured out yet is how I should set up my addressing for detection, turnout control and locos. I have a multilevel layout with the Digitrax Super Chief to be connected to JMRI via the Locobuffer USB. I have placed a panel with detection boards and switch motor drivers (all RR-Cirkits) on each wall to handle the devices on that wall on all levels. My reverse loops are controlled with PSX-AR’s. I am starting to set up the computer to run JMRI today.

Obviously the first choice for locos would be to use the cab number as the address, but what about the other devices? How do you come up with a standard that allows you to instantly identify a device by it’s address? Do the other devices share the same address range with the locos (I’m afraid of coming up with a standard that would cause me to assign a SMD the same address as a loco).

The other thing I’m not clear on is the sequence of events. It seems that Layout Editor in JMRI prefers to have the BOD’s and SMD’s already known to JMRI before placing them on the panel. Also all of the RR-Cirkits devices start with the same address so they need to be added one at a time. What is the correct order of the steps in installing, wiring and defining all of this?

And lastly, I’ll have the computer, command station, and the RR-Cirkits devices. When I get it all set up, what it the correct order to power it all up?

2

Just set up some standards for yourself that accommodate what you have now and leave room for expansion, and stick to them

Basic guidelines would be no overlap**, no duplicate board ID’s, and no boards left at their default address (Board ID 1, for most (all?) Digitrax devices). That way, if you add a new board, or if a board loses it’s programming, you can both find it and fix it easily.

**Overlap between stationary decoder addresses and mobile addresses are okay, because they are handled differently by the command station. Not sure about the RR-Circuits stuff, though. You may want to check on that.

3

Just to maybe clarify this a bit, the command station handles these differently because there are actually two (actually three if one counts consist addresses) different address ranges, one for mobile addresses, and one for accessory addresses. So even though a loco and an accessory may have the same address, the command station looks for them on different streets.

4

Rule #1 is, never leave any device at the default address.

It can actually be a lot more complicated than it seems, but unless you have a REALLY huge layout with dozens if not hundreds of stationary decoders, signal controllers, and block detectors, you can keep it fairly simple by using a dedicated range of addresses for each type of device and not worry about what’s allowed to overlap with what. In many cases, Loconet devices that have multipoe inputs and/or outputs will use a board ID which is used to determine the specific address of each input or output - there are lots of Loconet compatible options, and they don;t all do things exactly the same way, so you need to consult the manual for the specific device.

Plan it out BEFORE hooking anything up. If you figure on needing, say, 50 detection blocks, allow for at least 100 in a range even if only half will be used immediately - you may expand the layout later.

In case it’s not clear with the previous replies - mobile decoder addressing (locos) has nothing to do with accessory addressing, so there is no need to worry that you have a loco with the same address as one of your turnouts.

And while I’m being repetitive - DOCUMENT. Keep lists of which devices you assign what addresses to, and where they are located on the layout. For devices that have some sort of case, make a label and stick in on. For bare boards, put a label next to them where you mount them.

Think of it as building blocks, not one giant pile of components. Each individual unit is one element, and each additional one is just more of the same, but with a different ID and/or address. Don;t try to install everything at once and then configure it, get one working, then add the second, and keep going until it all works. Test as you go, so that when you install the next element, if it stops working, you know it has to be the most recent addition and not some previous work at fault.

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5

I used numerical ranges for the board addresses. North wall devices could be in the 100 range. 1xx. In this range, detection boards could be 11x series, turnout controllers could be 12x series, etc. If you have more than 10 of each type of board on one wall, you could use a range, like 12x to 14x for detection boards, 15x to 16x for turnout boards etc. East wall boards could be in the 2xx range, south wall in the 3xx range, etc.

6

Just a slight variation on GD idea, Do what the prottype does and use mileposts to break things up. Then things just go in numerical order regardless of whatthe decoder is.