If the startup delay doesn’t work in your LokPilot 5 Basic, then you need to kill the delay in your LokSound 5. Try setting SoundCV13=0 (CV167=0).

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Mark Granville

Ted, Definitely better asked in the LokSound group. All my locos have LokSound. None have LokPilot so I don’t have direct experience. The on-line manuals for LokPilot 5 and LokPilot Basic are not helpful. I can’t find a mention of starting delay in either one. But my understanding is that the starting delay feature was put into later firmware versions of LokPilot V4 and the LokPilot 5/DCC. You might try CV167. That seems to be the usual one used to set starting delay time (units of 0.25 sec) in the LokSounds.

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Mark Granville

My bad. Found it on page 72 of the LokPilot 5 manual: “But only when the sound is switched on. You can set the start-up delay of the LokPilot 5 decoder in CV 252 in steps of 65ms.” Interesting that the units are 0.063 sec instead of 0.25 sec.

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You can access CV252 using the JMRI single CV programmer.

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I still cannot find it in the LokPilot 5 Basic instructions which say “A list of all decoder parameters can be found in the de?tailed manual for the LokPilot 5 Basic, which can be down?loaded from our website www.esu.eu in the ?Downloads? area.” I can’t find that detailed manual anywhere. Anyone know where it can be found?

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Mark Granville

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Ted. Some more info.

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I opened my LokProgrammer software and created a new LokPilot 5 Basic project. I can only assume this will give accurate information. Under ‘Decoder>Driving characteristics>Starting delay’ it lists two check boxes:

Delay starting if drive sound is enabled (bit 2 of CV124);

Delay starting if virtual drive sound is enabled: Time to wait before start (CV252). CV252=1 gives 0.07s. CV252=10 gives 0.66s. CV252=50 gives 3.28s. So, I think a value of 50 should match the default value of CV167=13 in the LokSound 5.

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I think ESU is saying that starting delay is available in the LP 5 Basic.

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As mentioned before, you should be able to program CV252 with DecoderPro using the single CV programmer.

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Mark Granville

Ted,

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It’s possible the LokProgrammer software is not 100% accurate. I now realize that inclusion of “Delay starting if drive sound is enabled (bit 2 of CV124)” makes no sense (but also does no harm) since the LokPilot can’t make use of it. That starting delay is tied into the prime mover startup sound sequence which depends on the sound project. The LokPilot has no way of knowing what sound project is in a LokSound 5 that might be consisted to it.

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The same thing shows up for LokPilot 5.

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I have JMRI 5.10 and find that “Prime Mover Startup Delay if Virtual Drive Sound Enabled “ shows up under “Advanced>Miscellaneous’ in the LokPilot 5 programmer. The associated value of CV252 is adjusted using the slider. CV252 is in the ‘CV’ sheet. Unfortunately, no separate DecoderPro programmer for LokPilot 5 Basic.

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Mark Granville

On Tue, 06 May 2025 Nigel Cliffe wrote:
Manual for the Lokpilot 5 Basic is found on the same page as all the other ESU manuals, second item on:?

Nigel, That’s the manual that says there is another more complete manual. That’s the one from which I quoted. You will find the quote on page 3, second paragraph under “Decoder Settings (Programming)”. I guess it’s just another case of poor documentation. Too bad.

Mark

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P.S. You can tell from the rack cutout at the top of each page that the person assigned the job of writing the complete LokPilot 5 Basic manual got lazy and decided to scan the instruction sheet that comes with the LP 5 Basic decoder. Probably did this in order to get something on the web site quickly, but then he/she has never gone back to finish the job and replace it with the complete manual.

Mark

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Ted, I’m not yet convinced that the LP 5 Basic doesn’t have the virtual sound drive delay. Please confirm that you do not get a 3 second delay when you:

1. Setup the function map so you can “turn on” the ‘virtual sound drive’;
2. Set CV252=50;
3. Have throttle at 0;
4. Use function key to activate virtual sound drive;
5. Increase throttle to mid speed.

If you do purchase a LP 5, please let us know whether you got the start delay to work.

Mark

Ted,

You haven’t posted your question in the LokSound group, so I have done so. We’ll see if there is a response from a user who has actually used a LokPilot 5 Basic, not just read the available manuals.

I’m now wondering if DecoderPro has some bugs in its LokPilot programmers. Both the LP 5 and LP 5 DCC programmers have a Sound column in the Function Map. Why? The LokPilots don’t have sound. I note that the ‘Virtual sound drive’ is listed as a sound choice. The LokProgrammer lists virtual sound drive as a choice under logical function.

Mark

Ted.

Some clarification please. How do you know that the LP 5 Basic doesn’t have CV252. Both my LokProgrammer and my DecoderPro show CV252 as being present. What version of JMRI are you using? What is your command station/programmer?

Mark

Heiko,

Thank you so much for your work on the ESU programmers for DecoderPro. Really great work done by you (and Dave Heap?).

As for virtual sound drive being sound or logical, that seems to be a red herring. Since posting my remark about that, I’ve done some checking using both my LokProgrammer and my DecoderPro and find that function mapping affects the same CVs. In doing this checking, I discovered that the current LS 5 manual actually lists a ‘Sound’ column (page 58) so the DecoderPro function map isn’t really off base. On the other hand, LokProgrammer function mapping does not have a sound column but checking virtual sound in the logic column affects the CV listed as sound in the manual. So, the inconsistency is with ESU, not JMRI.

You may need to have some inside discussions with ESU to write a correct programmer for LP 5 Basic. As noted earlier, the current manual seems to be the LP 5 Basic instruction sheet, not a complete manual containing all CVs (see second paragraph under Decoder Settings on page 3). We need a LP 5 Basic manual similar to the one available for LP 5. If ESU provides you with that, please pass on to the rest of us.

Mark

Heiko,

The current LokProgrammer software has a separate entry for LokPilot 5 Basic. That may give you some insight.

In the meantime, I have ordered a LP 5 Basic and will report back on actual testing to determine whether start delay is available. I have both LokProgrammer hardware and DecoderPro with Sprog IIv3, so I should be able to arrive at a definitive answer.

Mark