Some more quick JMRI questions

[ljudice]

Hey, Sourceforge is down and inquiring minds need to know....

- when you set up a consist - do you control it through the SHORT consist ID or one or more loco id's?

-  are lights controlled by the individual locos?

-  how do you get rid of a consist??  Deleting in consist tool does not seem to break the consist on the Digitrax (monitoring the slots)

[bdennis]

ljudice,
In Digitrax speak, there are (per the digitrax manual section 13 - Multiple Unit Operations) 3 types of consisting.
Basic, Universal and Advance.
Basic is simply a group of loco's using the same address.. - Not normally used.
Universal Consisting - Managed by the command station on a Digitrax layout
Advance Consisting - Managed by CV settings within each loco.

In my humble opinion, when using Digitrax, UniVersal Consisting is the most efficient and best method of consisting loco's
This is all managed from the throttle and is the consist is in the memory of the command station. So if you move loco's to a different layout then the consist on exists on your layout.

Advance consisting requires you to change CV's on a loco and only a 2 digit address can be used and you need to remember what you used. This 2 digit address is different to the main 2 or 4 digit address that would normally be programmed to a loco.. The Consist address can be the same number as a given 2 digit based decoder address, but, it is held in a different CV within the decoder.

Have a look at section 13 in the manual that comes with the DCS100. Or consisting in the DT402D manual.

It is fairly easy to complete UniVersal consisting from the DT402 throttle.

I have not seen (and am happy to be corrected) any way of doing universal consisting from within JMRI or the WiThrottle (on iOS)

Make sense??

Rgds,
Brendan

[bdennis]

Also to answer some of your specific questions...
- when you set up a consist - do you control it through the SHORT consist ID or one or more loco id's?
-- See above.. for Advance consisting, However If you use UniVersal, then you use the lead loco address.

-  are lights controlled by the individual locos?
In Advance consisting, you can set up any consisted locos to have lights work the same as the lead loco.
When using Universal consisting, you need to select the MU'ed or consisted loco address and control the functions separately.

-  how do you get rid of a consist??  Deleting in consist tool does not seem to break the consist on the Digitrax (monitoring the slots)
The monitoring of slots and consisting that is listed there are only for UniVersal (or command station) consists. So if you use the consisting tool in JMRI, this is Advance consisting that changes CV's in the loco, and the slot monitor in the loconet monitor does not see these.. The slot monitor is for the Universal consists that are set up using the DT400 / DT402 throttle.

Make sense?

Rgds
Brendan

[ljudice]

That makes it clear!!!!!   

I did notice in JMRI there is a grayed out checkmark in the consisting tool for "command station consisting" - which must be universal....

Now to figure out how to undo the mess I've made!!!

[bdennis]

To undo Advance consisting...

Technically you don't need to do anything.. As long as you don't use the 2 digit address you programmed into the advance consist CV..

But.. To be safe, it is best to remove it.

Have you saved each loco to your roster..??

Assuming you have, then open the programmer and choose the loco and then choose program on the main radio button and then press program.
Place the loco on the main line of the layout (not the programming track).
Simply go into the consist tab and place a Zero in the Advance consist address.
Then press on write changes on sheet.
Then you have removed the locos advance consist address.
It should function per normal using the main address you have programmed into the decoder.

Hope this helps.

Then practice using the DT402 throttle to consist the loco's.. Then if you want to get real fancy, you can have nested consist.. But that's for another time.. lol

Rgds
Brendan

[ljudice]

Thanks - I actually set this up with no Digitrax throttles, but I am convinced to put in two - one at each yard....

[peteski]

Advanced consisting it very useful when you still want to control functions of individual locos (like turning off headlights in the middle locos of the consist and also turn off the inward-facing headlights of the end locos).