Problem with locomotive

[Mike C]

   OK I have a locomotive with Soundtraxx T2 1100 decoder . My DCC is PowerCab and I have a JMRI board attached correctly .  The problem...This loco has run really well on my system untill now . I put it on the track the other nite and it would not make any movement , can't blow whistle or use any other sound . Funny thing , it does sit there making all of the sounds that a typical steam makes just sitting there . I can change address and it still won't move , and yes by watching JMRI I know the address was changed . Now I CAN get it to run if I use the JMRI throttle .  I do know that my PowerCab is working because I can run other locos with the PowerCab throttle . I also swapped the flat coard with another one with no change . I also tried reloading the Basic page in JMRI . I haven't tried to do a reset yet but may try that later tonight .
  Any Ideas ?        Mike

[peteski]

That is an odd problem.  What address is the loco? If under 128, is it a long or short address?  Not in an advanced consist?

If the JMRI throttle properly controls all the loco's functions then the decoder is functioning properly.

What is your completed DCC setup?  Is whatever track you have controlled by JMRI throttle the same as what you use with the PowerCab, or JMRI and Power Cabs are totally independent?

[Mike C]

 Used long address 100 and has never been a consist . I can control the loup with either NCE or JMRI . ....Mike

[peteski]

Used long address 100 and has never been a consist . I can control the loup with either NCE or JMRI . ....Mike

NCE PowerCab is capable of addressing "100" as either short or long address.  If you selected the wrong 100, the will not respond.  Make sure you use the proper addressing scheme on the PowerCab.  I don't recall if you have to select locomotive "0100" or "100" to use the long address 100.

[woodone]

NCE uses 1 to 127 has a short address- if you want to use any address below 128, you have to use 0 has the leading number in the address.      Has :     0100 for the long address for address 100.

[peteski]

NCE uses 1 to 127 has a short address- if you want to use any address below 128, you have to use 0 has the leading number in the address.      Has :     0100 for the long address for address 100.

Exactly! The point I made is that NCE (unlike many other DCC systems) allows use of *BOTH* long, and short addresses for the range of 1-127.  The way Mike is describing the problem I'm thinking he he has selected the wrong length address on his PowerCab.  From what you mentioned, in order communicate with that loco, Power Cab's loco address should have been entered as 0100 and not just 100.  I didn't remember which was which - thanks!

[Mike C]

    Well I'll be dammed , 0100 worked .  But I swear that 100 worked before ............Mike


   Thanks guys !

[peteski]

    Well I'll be dammed , 0100 worked .  But I swear that 100 worked before ............Mike


   Thanks guys !

"100" on the Power Cab would have worked if the decoder was configured for 100 as a short address.  Can you read out (on programming track) the contents of CV1 on that loco?

[Mike C]

   It's 003

[peteski]

   It's 003

OK, so it is the default short address "3".  What I was thinking that if CV1 was also set to "100" then by simply changing CV29 you could have easily flip between long and short address "100". But if CV1=3 then that is not possible.  The decoder must have been set for long address "100" all along.   You are probably just not remembering the PowerCab throttles address setting correcty.

[Mike C]

   Yes short address is 3 . But I could swear that I set the long add add to 100 and not 0100 .  Oh well at least it is running now 

[peteski]

   Yes short address is 3 . But I could swear that I set the long add add to 100 and not 0100 .  Oh well at least it is running now 

Not sure if I understand.  Are you talking about the Power Cab throttle, or the decoder?
PowerCab throttle can be configured to address either long or short address in the range of 1-127.  If on the keypad you type in "100" then the throttle will be configured to address a loco with a short address 100. If you type in "0100", then the throttle will be configured to address a loco with a long address "100".  The leading zero you type in is to tell the throttle to use long address.  Makes sense since "0100" is 4 digits (just like 4-digit, or "long" addresses).

[Maletrain]

When programming addresses with the Power Cab, the short and long addresses are two separate processes.  So, when programming the long address, you only need to enter "100", and then answer "yes" to activate the long address.  In that programming step, the command station knows that you are in the long address setting process, so you don't need to tell it that by starting with "0". 

But, after the programming is over and you use the throttle to tell the command station to access an address, then you need to tell the command station which address if there can be both a short and long address with the same number (which is all numbers from 1 to 127).

So, you might remember just entering "100" for the long address when you did the programming, and then tried to use "100" instead of "0100" to call up that loco with the throttle?

[Mike C]

 Yes I programed the long add to 100 and then ran it on the layout for a few weeks . I then took it off the layout so I could do some work on it . When I put it back on the layout I just put 100 in the PowerCab . I didn't know that I should have entered 0100 .

[peteski]

Yes I programed the long add to 100 and then ran it on the layout for a few weeks . I then took it off the layout so I could do some work on it . When I put it back on the layout I just put 100 in the PowerCab . I didn't know that I should have entered 0100 .

If you ran this loco with a long address 100 from your Power Cab in the past then you must have typed in 0100 on the power cab throttle to be able to control it. Or maybe in the past you only ran that loco using JMRI throttle?