Ok, got my DS64’s reprogrammed and working. Now I want to setup routes for my staging yard. Any guidelines, hadn’t got this far last time? ?Can I program the DS64’s connected to the Loconet or do they need to be disconnected from it?

Wayne

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Wayne,?

Oops,

Guess I should add, my system is Digitrax. I have 9 DS64's configured with ID's and Sw# and all seem to work. Now I wanted to start adding routes to my staging yard area with JMRI. There interface looks to be much easier than Digitrax from what I've been told.

Wayne Snyder

I did find routes easy to set up on JMRI. The only negative I have is that any Turnouts do not fire in line sequence, but System name sequence. I did manage to sort this out using an editor (Atom), and now I can follow the route setting from start to finish. I would also recommend using a delay after each turnout is switched so there isn't a massive load on the supply. Thomas has a good idea about using a spreadsheet, and noting the normally closed / open positions of turnouts as some of mine are reversed.

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Another comment that I would add is that some of my operators sometimes ask, what route should I set after using a staging route so they could “return staging to normal.” ?My response is there is never a need to return staging to any particular route, unless there is a “through” track in staging which I do not have. ?You just select the route you are going to use and that is what counts at that time. ?I do have routes where staging connects to the layout since there are 4 of these connections and there is a route for this and a route that disconnects staging so that I can run trains continuously on the layout. ?Routes/Macros are really quite cool.

In JMRI you can also use Logix to setup routes with much fancier things like
complex triggers etc... For the control of which turnout first and how
quickly, you can use delays in the Action part to do the sequence and how
much delay.

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

Wayne,
I can't tell from your post if you use JMRI or not. If you use JMRI, setting up routes is much much easier than if you have to use the Digitrax throttle to do it. The DS64 manual has a copy of a worksheet in it that is helpful is mapping the routes out. The DS64 will allow 8 routes, but there is?something you need to be aware of if you aren't already. Route number 1, also know as the top route, can cause issues if you don't know how it works. The 1st route turnout number becomes the route number of each route. If turnout 50 is the first turnout in the route 1 position?in the DS64, then the route number is?50. This is where a problem can occur.
IF EACH TURNOUT NUMBER IN?THE ROUTE 1 POSITION? OF ALL THE DS64'S IS DIFFERENT, THEN YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE A PROBLEM. BUT, IF THE TURNOUT NUMBER OF THE TURNOUT IN THE TOP, OR 1ST ROUTE POSITION IS THE SAME ON MORE THAN ONE DS64, THIS WILL CAUSE A PROBLEM.
If turnout 50 is the top or 1st turnout on more than one route, then each time a route is selected that 50 is the top turnout, then EVERY route that has 50 in the top position will try and throw. From my experience one of two things will happen, multiple routes will throw or the Loconet will be flooded with commands.
The simplest way to keep this from happening is to use a DIFFERENT virtual turnout number in the top position of every route. The downside to this is that now you only have 7 routes that you can use rather than 8.
I hope I haven't confused you with this, but it cost me a lot of time before I figured it out.
Clay Smith

Ok Clay, ???. Congrats you did it, lol.

i haven’t done routes in either Digitrax or JMRI so it’s a learning curve. I looking to do them in JMRI that’s why I’m asking here. So far I’ve got the East end of my staging yard hooked up and made my turnout tables. Is the a separate table for routes? Or does it matter the order of turnout entry?

Wayne

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To me, it doesn’t make any difference to the order that things throw other than the appearance of them falling into place one after another. ?If you are running at trains that close to the turnouts before you throw them, you need to slow things down. ? :-)

Thanks for everybody help. Over Christmas break I have been able to get 10 routes programmed and working for my staging yard.

Wayne Snyder