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Ken I did use the same port. I also tested the serial ports just now with other devices; the ports work fine. ?So I think the issue is my computer doesn't like the PR3.

That I'm having a connection issue with PR3/Soundloader presents an opportunity to get Digitrax help desk to assist.

John,

Keep in mind this about startup of signals.
1. It requires some input to change to trigger it thinking about what to
display.
2. If an input is not in a valid state, it stays at stop. So if any turnouts
are not CLOSED/THROWN or sensors not ACTIVE/INACTIVE, you won't get the
signal working.

-Ken Cameron, Member JMRI Dev Team
www.jmri.org
www.fingerlakeslivesteamers.org
www.cnymod.org
www.syracusemodelrr.org

Digitrax Zephyr Express has an integrated PR4 interface.? So you need to purchase a USB type A to B cable as Digitrax does not provide one with the DCS52.

Plug the USB cable between your DCS52 and computer and let Windows load the proper driver. Then setup JMRI DecoderPro to talk with the DCS52.



Marc

Hi Bill

My 2 cents about what I found with the single Arnold 81210 I have.

Right the 1st Hornby decoder (R8215) can't be read and works only with short address.

But Arnold/Rivarossi decoders 81200 and 81210 can be read using an ECoS, (but not using the 1st MS-TRIX Command station, and may be many others). CV8=Mfg=173, is detected by JMRI, but CV7 being undocumented, you have to chose one of the 2 available from JMRI.

However, I found an issue when resetting it (undocumented, but CV8 set to 8) with a Rivarossi DCC German BR96, with a "user manual" :( ) :
>>>> it puts nearly all CVs, including dozens of undocumented ones (speed table...) to 255, thus put the decoder in an unauthorized long address (CV17 and 18 to 255), consist addres? (CV19) to 255 (ie short address 127 travel in reverse). To put it back in order, I had to set CV17, 18 and 19 to 0, then also set CV49 to 0 for DCC mode only (value 8 being Analogic only!), then define short or long address as wanted.

Happily, I was able to read some CVs and had a saved backup of the engine in a spare USB stick.

If you drop me an email, I'll send you 2 scanned PDF files for both Arnold 81200 and 81210 decoders. However both manuals have the same (lack of) informations, and miss most of the decoder CVs.

Alain

--
Alain355

Hi Bill.

If you can read the decoder of another dcc fitted loco on your program track that will rule out any problem with your Decoder Pro, SPROG 3 interface. If other dcc locos can be read then you could try & reset the decoder.
I'm sure someone on here can tell you what number to put in what cv to reset the decoder which is giving you problems.

Regards.
Tony.

Hi Dave,

while the ringfield design of my Hornby 4-4-0 is old, the loco was purchased brand new recently, it is a THOMAS range “Edward” which was only recently discontinued by Hornby when they gave up the Thomas franchise. So it is a recent production of an old design.

Im not trying to be secretive about the “HackIntosh” OS version, I simply don’t remember exactly what it is, although I’m pretty sure it was an early version of OSX.

I didn’t notice any RF Suppressors in the Hornby loco when I had the tender shell off, but the motor is kind of sealed up, so they could be inside. Would it be likely that the suppressors cause problems for the SPROG3/DecoderPro programming and not for the NCE PowerCab? It seems to be that way since the NCE was able to program and read back the address but the SPROG wasn’t.

How would I go about making the newer versions of DecoderPro look like version 2? Is it something a novice like myself could do, or is it better attempted by someone who is more of a computer hobbyist than just a train nut?

Bill in FtL

Barry,

You sure of that last date? I recall traffic in January on CATS. Yahoo
doesn't keep track anymore, but is still a list server.

-Ken Cameron, Member JMRI Dev Team
www.jmri.org
www.fingerlakeslivesteamers.org
www.cnymod.org
www.syracusemodelrr.org

Thanks Tony,

That’s good to know, However, the loco I have is a recently purchased new Hornby 4-4-0 that came with an 8 pin socket, but my decoder is an old Arnold/Rivarossi unit (mfr #173, version #021) which I seem to recall was actually made for them by Lenz. My NCE was able to read the decoder info and also read back the decoders short address during the programming process, my SPROG3/DecoderPro setup could not. You may be right about not being able to use a long address with this decoder, it is very old. I got two of them back in 2005 when I was working for Model Expo, who was the US distributor for Rivarossi & Arnold at the time, and the decoder wasn’t a recent release even then. I also got the NCE/TTX DH102EU decoder at about the same time, it was made for Tony’s Trains by NCE. They all had 8 pin plug & play plugs attached from the factory, and as soon as I can find the box containing most of my HO locos I will have my Atlas DCC-ready U36c chassis that I used for a DCC testbed, so I'll be able to experiment more with the two remaining decoders, which I am sure were working when they were put in the spare parts box. I got my first DCC system (an original Digitrax Challenger - I still have it) back in 1993 and also still have a few locos with decoders from that era. Decoders have come a long way since then and have gotten a lot less expensive as well, those old very basic decoders sold for $40-$50 at the time!

Thanks,
Bill in FtL?

I am no JMRI expert but have spent a lot of time on the site. ?The ethos here is you must demonstrate you have spent time trying to resolve your issue by (a) exploring the site and (b) describing how you used the knowledge acquired to attempt to resolve your issue. Just announcing a problem won't get you responses. Personally I find that Googling with"JMRI" and the specific issue in my search string gets me to the pertinent parts of this site the fastest. ?Look for hits referencing the JRMI site.?

THANK YOU. EXCELLENT. I am going to try it this coming week.?

Hi All,

I think I have it working now ...
No need for any action ...

Hi All,

I have created a panel in PanelPro layout editor.

I have placed it in the problem files area DaveS directory.

I am finding that some of the signal masts? have the 'Active' box unchecked?when I look at the mast's signal logic in the panel.

These masts just sit at red.

If I delete the logic for that mast and use Discover to recreate it?- the mast logic is then shown as active and the mast functions correctly.
But next time I open Panelpro the mast is again not active.

Can anyone help me to resolve this problem please.

Panelpro is 4.12. Java is 1.8.0_221

Many Thanks

Dave

Thanks George, looks good.
Andy

Bill,

On 2 Feb 2020, at 3:22 PM, Bill Nielsen <wrangler@...> wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I didn’t realize that having two engines on the track would disable the programming attempt,

It doesn't disable "programming attempts". It disables "program track reads". Huge difference.

I thought that more than one engine on the program track would reprogram them all.

That is correct, as far as "program track writes" are concerned. Both NCE and SPROG do "blind writes" - they don't listen while writing and don't care what happens on the track.

Having more than one loco on the program track when doing "program track reads" is like asking a group of people a question and having them all reply equally loudly at the same time. The result is you hear nothing intelligible.

but realistically, the Hornby loco, even though brand new, is still pretty old tech with its ringfield motor & tender drive, so I’m not sure it would be worth the expense of the latest decoder version.

If it's that old with a ringfield motor it's highly likely to have "suppressors" across the motor and/and/or in the track leads and that may be the problem.

I’m pretty sure my problem is not the the DP is too old to see the decoders, probably more likely that the decoders are what’s too old! It’s good to know that the Asus convertible should still work with the newer DecoderPro, since I really like that little computer, though I don’t much care for Windows. I thought I had read that the Java version on it was too old for the newer DP.

All Windows versions back to XP are capable of having a Java version that runs the latest JMRI.

(nstalling the correct Java version for XP is messy, but quite possible
<>

The HP/“HackIntosh” Netbook uses an early version of Mac OSX that was current right after Apple switched over away from Motorola chips, It uses a third party software to allow the HP Netbook to run an Apple OS, a door which Apple closed pretty quickly.

You don't need to be secretive about macOS versions here. Many of the developers speak Mac. DecoderPro and JMRI started life on Mac and still is the platform of choice for many of the developers.

It figures that the DecoderPro V2 graphics would be obsolete, that’s the one I’m more comfortable using!

You can actually make DecoderPro V3 and V4 look like V2 if you really want to!

Dave in Australia

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the reply. I didn’t realize that having two engines on the track would disable the programming attempt, I thought that more than one engine on the program track would reprogram them all. I am using DecoderPro with the SPROG3, the NCE PowerCab is my stand alone System. The program/test track is setup using Kato’s UniTrack and also uses their mini Molex connectors, so I can easily swap between DP/SPROG3, the PowerCab, or even an analog MRC 9500. Both of the decoders in question are quite old (I think I’ve had them for going on 15 years now), and the NCE PowerCab System was able to see, read, and write to at least the Arnold/Rivarossi decoder after a while. I’m pretty sure it’ll be the same with the NCE/TTX decoder too, but I haven’t tried yet because I had gotten sidetracked trying to get DecoderPro to work. Like I said, they are the only decoders I had on hand that were thin enough to fit in the loco, All my other on-hand decoders are too thick to fit, mostly because they all have JST connectors and shrink wrap, which makes them just a bit too thick. Since the engine in question has no lighting, there’s no need for the extra functions found on newer decoders. I would like to have a better motor control with bemf, and possibly an anti-stall capacitor, but realistically, the Hornby loco, even though brand new, is still pretty old tech with its ringfield motor & tender drive, so I’m not sure it would be worth the expense of the latest decoder version.

I’m pretty sure my problem is not the the DP is too old to see the decoders, probably more likely that the decoders are what’s too old! It’s good to know that the Asus convertible should still work with the newer DecoderPro, since I really like that little computer, though I don’t much care for Windows. I thought I had read that the Java version on it was too old for the newer DP. The HP/“HackIntosh” Netbook uses an early version of Mac OSX that was current right after Apple switched over away from Motorola chips, It uses a third party software to allow the HP Netbook to run an Apple OS, a door which Apple closed pretty quickly. My limited computer experience has been limited to mostly Apple, but I really liked the size of the HP Netbook. The software conversion was done for me by a guy in the IT department at the university where my wife worked. At the time, he said that he had converted a lot of MS computers over to the Mac OS, because Macs were very popular with both instructors and students at the school, but by then, Apple had made any future upgrades to their OS running on a PC impossible. It figures that the DecoderPro V2 graphics would be obsolete, that’s the one I’m more comfortable using!

Thanks,
Bill in FtL

There was a Yahoo Group called CATS-users@... The last message was late November, and Yahoo now has deleted all user messages as of December 14. So it would appear the only place to request help on the CATS software is here on the JMRI group, if the owners will permit such off-topic threads. Not sure if CATS is still available or being developed. Would be sad to lose it.

Barry Draper

________________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Ken Cameron <kcameron@...>
Sent: Saturday, February 1, 2020 6:37 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [jmriusers] CATS: Where is new CATS Group? Was Moving objects on the designer panel #cats

AFAIK, there is still the CATS group on Yahoo. It didn't make the move that
I remember.

-Ken Cameron, Member JMRI Dev Team
www.jmri.org
www.fingerlakeslivesteamers.org
www.cnymod.org
www.syracusemodelrr.org

If SoundLoader is working, try to make sure that JMRI is using the same
settings (Port). Make sure you try exiting SoundLoader and restarting it
too. If the issue is down at the driver level, that would also hang.

-Ken Cameron, Member JMRI Dev Team
www.jmri.org
www.fingerlakeslivesteamers.org
www.cnymod.org
www.syracusemodelrr.org