[upnick]

Hi All,

I am new to dcc though have fitted several decoders ...... but the thought of farish's 04 being fitted defeated me so off it went to a reputable fitter i recieved it back yesterday and it runs silently and silk smooth, in my delight at recieving it back it was only later setting the address for it i noticed when forward is selected it goes in reverse and vica versa.

The decoder is a CTE DCX74z (9x7x2,6mm) and my control is a gaugemaster prodigy, i have looked at the instruction sheet for the decoder and have tried to set CV 29 to no avail, is CV 29 used for setting its direction ?

Can i change the direction of the motor with the decoder as i dont fancy the prospect of swapping the motors wires over especially if they have been cut to fit inside this little shunter.

Many thanks

upnick.

 

[BromsMods]

QUOTE (upnick @ 4 Jun 2008, 18:40) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi All,

I am new to dcc though have fitted several decoders ...... but the thought of farish's 04 being fitted defeated me so off it went to a reputable fitter i recieved it back yesterday and it runs silently and silk smooth, in my delight at recieving it back it was only later setting the address for it i noticed when forward is selected it goes in reverse and vica versa.

The decoder is a CTE DCX74z (9x7x2,6mm) and my control is a gaugemaster prodigy, i have looked at the instruction sheet for the decoder and have tried to set CV 29 to no avail, is CV 29 used for setting its direction ?

Can i change the direction of the motor with the decoder as i dont fancy the prospect of swapping the motors wires over especially if they have been cut to fit inside this little shunter.

Many thanks

upnick.

If you can read the value of CV29 with the Prodigy, then reprogram CV29 by adding one to whatever the current value is. This will reverse the direction of travel.

Regards

John R
Bromsgrove Models

 

[mikeg]

When you programme with the prodigy it altomatically sets the value of CV29 to 2 so if you reset it at 3 it will go the other way, I have found this out the hard way, I had several chips that ran the correct way when installed on default 3 but when the address had been changed they ran the wrong way. I have been told this should not happen, but it does and I dont think its worth returning the unit as everything else works OK. I could be yours is the same and therefore although the direction was right on 3 changing the address may have changed it to reverse, DCC don't u just love it!

regards

mike g

 

[Brian Considine]

Hi Mike - never come across this before, but useful to know.

So, are you saying that it's best to leave setting CV29 to the last one to change with the Prodigy if the unit being used does this ?

 

[SPROGman]

QUOTE (Brian Considine @ 5 Jun 2008, 16:40) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Mike - never come across this before, but useful to know.

So, are you saying that it's best to leave setting CV29 to the last one to change with the Prodigy if the unit being used does this ?

All command station are at liberty to write to CV29 after changing the address as a convenience to save you manually setting the one/two byte addressing bit. They should not, however, change any of the other bits so there is definitely a flaw in the Prodigy firmware if it always resets bit 0 of CV29 to 0.

I know it is done a lot, but you should NEVER, EVER tell people to modify CV29 by adding or subtracting values unless you are absolutely sure of the value in there in the first place. For example, adding 1 to CV29 that already contains a value of 3 will result in a value of 4 and screw up the directional lighting and enable analogue control , which may not be desired. Similarly if the speed table is already enabled but you are told to enable it by adding 16 to CV29, you will actually disable the speed table and toggle the addressing mode. It's just a recipe for confusion.

Andrew Crosland

 

[upnick]

Problem solved by giving CV 29 a value of 3 it has corrected the direction of the loco, on another note the decoder will only accept long adresses of up to 127.

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (mikeg @ 6 Jun 2008, 00:30) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>When you programme with the prodigy it altomatically sets the value of CV29 to 2 so if you reset it at 3 it will go the other way, I have found this out the hard way, I had several chips that ran the correct way when installed on default 3 but when the address had been changed they ran the wrong way. I have been told this should not happen, but it does and I dont think its worth returning the unit as everything else works OK. I could be yours is the same and therefore although the direction was right on 3 changing the address may have changed it to reverse, DCC don't u just love it!

regards

mike g

*** Its my experience that this "direction change with address change" is almost unique to MRC and MRC decoders... and it will therefore certainly also affect Gaugemaster.

It is very, very common with their sound decoders - as are other wierd happenings - I've also had one or two that would default to the address 3 if I attempted to change sound volume brought to me for help by frustrated owners!

There were similar wierd happenings with the generation of MRC prodigy advance controller that gaugemaster bought branded in their own name, but it is greatly improved / problems are reduced with the new MRC software now available.... and this also lets the controller correctly address all the higher functions (generation 1 misused NMRA allocated CV's).

Unfortunately feedback from users indicates gaugemaster are reluctant to provide this helpful upgrade to owners.

regards

Richard
DCCconcepts

 

[upnick]

Unfortunately feedback from users indicates gaugemaster are reluctant to provide this helpful upgrade to owners.

Sounds familiar ... after a call to gaugemaster apperently the prodigy isnt upgradable, which begs the question why highlight the port designated for later upgrades in the instructions ?

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (upnick @ 19 Jun 2008, 02:34) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Unfortunately feedback from users indicates gaugemaster are reluctant to provide this helpful upgrade to owners.

Sounds familiar ... after a call to gaugemaster apperently the prodigy isnt upgradable, which begs the question why highlight the port designated for later upgrades in the instructions ?

***Its upgradeable but not by the owner - it means a little work is required by Gaugemaster. MRC in the USA offer this as a $50 paid upgrade to existing owners.... a bit cheeky to charge to make it right I think but at least they will do it.

Richard

 

[Billy Rivers]

I can't understand what all the fuss is about just trying to change the 'normal' direction of a loco with DCC. I bought an NCE Powercab last week, not knowing the slightest thing about CV's or DCC and after a quick read of the manual, I find it is so easy to read and change any CV. I have used Digitrax DZ125 IN decoders and the set up of loco direction is clearly explained and takes barely a minute to program. Obviously other systems are not as user friendly or as well specified as the Powercab. Anyway thats my experience, Hope it helps prospective DCC converts.
Billy

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (Billy Rivers @ 24 Jun 2008, 18:35) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I can't understand what all the fuss is about just trying to change the 'normal' direction of a loco with DCC. I bought an NCE Powercab last week, not knowing the slightest thing about CV's or DCC and after a quick read of the manual, I find it is so easy to read and change any CV. I have used Digitrax DZ125 IN decoders and the set up of loco direction is clearly explained and takes barely a minute to program. Obviously other systems are not as user friendly or as well specified as the Powercab. Anyway thats my experience, Hope it helps prospective DCC converts.
Billy

***No Billy, most units aren't as user friendly as the NCE powerCab or PowerHouse pro by a long way. The discussion as it evolved wasn't really about that though, it evolved to be about the MRC's programming tendencies.

Anyway - re changing the direction, whilst its easily done with software its actually far more sensible to actually take the trouble to rewire the loco the proper way to start with (reverse the orange and gray leads)... otherwise the odd strange thing will happen with consisting and a decoder reset will revert the decoder to the wrong direction again.

------------------------------------------------------------------

A comment re the Prodigy settings for CV29:

It is strange that it automatically resets CV29 to 2 - the "standard" by default for every controller out there is to set it to 6... in otherwords most will automatically leave DC running enabled. If this is true then vidently the prodigy disables it automatically.

BTW - this "sets it to 2" will ONLY be true of a short address - long addresses will need it to be 34 or higher)

UPNICK - you made the strange comment that the decoder "will only accept long addresses to 127". Addresses to this level are all short!!

If CV29 is set to 2 or 3 as per this discussion, then it will only accept short addresses - ie up to what you are seeing.
SO... If you set CV29 to 3 after setting a long address, you just disabled it!!

This is a good example of what Andrew meant about the dangers of direct programming at random - changing a major control like CV29 without realising the consequences, you risk problems (Likewise, Mikeg's comment - it will ONLY change it to 2 if you set a short address - to enable a long address requires the addition of 32 so while it wasn't stated, it would then presumably set it to 34 if you set a long address).

BEST is to simply reprogramme without fiddling with CV29 at all, however if you must simply do CV29 by itself, then if you reset it to either 35 or 39 your long address will now work (35 = DC disabled, but if you chose 39, your loco will again run on DC when U want it to).

regards

Richard
DCCconcepts

 

[upnick]

Richard,
Yes it was a typo about the long addresses on the decoder it should have read it will only read up to 127 as i found out trying to set a four digit address it threw the decoder back to factory setting of 03.

BILLY RIVERS yes the prodigy may not be as user friendly as the NCE systems ...... cant wait to use my procab for my american layout ..... lol