On 1/6/2025 9:27 AM, Howard Witt wrote:
To configure you send a switch command from the CAB,I did this using the NMRA address 436.The signal responded to the switch commands. (I also trid the DCC address 440 and that worked as well)
I then tried it from the Turnout control in JMRI, that worked fine.
That would _seem_ to imply that the Dapol semaphore is running in some sort of a "switch-controlled" mode. In some signaling devices , this is one of two or more modes.
But when I tried it from the panel by closing the turnout or occupying the blocks there is no reaction.
I _suspect_ that you are talking about "throwing a physical switch" on the JMRI panel which prevents a "route" from the signal. And so, when the physical switch is "lined" against the route from the mast, the mast should display "Stop" (or "danger").
Please confirm! Understanding this question can drastically re-direct this question to a different problem! (But read on, regardless of your answer. There may be useful stuff below!
Below is the signal set up for this mast. Have I missed something?
This is because you have set up JMRI to configure the Dapol searchlight with the _assumption_ that it is configured in its "NMRA Extended Accessory Decoder"-mode (i.e. "Aspect"-mode).
But the Dapol Semaphore was running (from your tests using "Switch" mode), at the top of your message, in its switch-controlled mode, not in its "Aspect" mode!
Imust dmit not sure what the 31 in UNIT ASPECT means
With the "Aspect" mode, everything comes down to "aspect" numbers sent to a _single_ address associated with a "NMRA Extended Accessory Decoder"-mode device.
for "Searchlight", "Color-light", "Color-Position light" and "position-light" signals, and probably sone other types, the lamps can be "un-lit" (i.e. "all-dark", and this is useful in some prototypic situations.
But for a "Semaphore" mast, the position of the arm gives it an aspect, whether or not the lamp is lit. This is generally true for US-prototype "Semaphore" masts.
From the NMRA DCC "Aspect" number perspective, and for use with JMRI's "prototypical signaling systems", the idea that an aspect number might apply as "Unlit" is generally "not very usable" for a semaphore. In JMRI, one probably should not "enable" the "Unlit" feature for any semaphore signal head and/or semaphore signal mast.
But you must figure out whether you can reconfigure the Dapol device to use the "NMRA Extended Accessory Decoder" mode. Until you do so, the "Marrin LT25 to B5" signal mast will not be usable.
