Hmmm. It seems that Gregg introduced the specter of dcc. Ya gotta wait till the 3rd page, Gregg, to hijack a thread. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)
Waiting to Hijack a thread is so over-rated… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
Thread is now open. No tags, no limit. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
Andy Clarke said:
Waiting to Hijack a thread is so over-rated… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
(https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)(https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)(https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Steve- most of the popular wireless systems (as far as I can tell) allow for control of multiple trains simultaneously from a single throttle. You just scroll between your active trains and the others freewheel until you get back to them, with an optional shutdown timer in case they haven’t heard from you in a while. Functionally, it works the same as DCC. Under the hood, it differs in that the communication is direct instead of going through a command center.
Eric, just a side question or two- when you say ‘free wheeling’ do you mean idle packets are going out to that address and the locomotive just remembers it’s last throttle setting? Or does the controller remember the last throttle setting and keep sending that? I’m just wondering what their mechanism is. Oh, and the shutdown timer, what values does that take? I really appreciate your reverse engineering posts, quite informative.
Next question, does deadrail offer the same plethora of options in dcc that live rail offers?
I’m pretty sure that the answer is no, which begs the original question, how is deadrail dcc substantionally different from battery/RC?
Andy Clarke said:
Waiting to Hijack a thread is so over-rated… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
I agree dad !
I’m still gonna renew my 2018 permit to “carry my feelings concealed” . I think you should as well ! I’m still upset you spent my college fund on YOUR railroad!
It’s all about you isn’t it!
This post has been edited by : Rooster
Steve Featherkile said:
Ok, so I’ve updated the pc boards in my SD45s, added REVO II in both, 18.5v batteries, and I’m ready to go, right?
MU is easy, so it says in the destructions. Ummm, not so fast.
After a tutorial by Don Sweet, I get it sorted out. Thanks, Don, much more understandable than the Chinglish that comes with the REVO.
One of the locos starts at 2% of throttle earlier than the other. Is that enough of a difference to cause a problem? If it is problematic, is there a fix
Is there a way to turn off the bell and horn in the trailing loco?
Thanks for your help.
Steve if you found a easier way please tell us.
Richard
Uhh… Steve, Jon Radder mentioned deadrail (and thus DCC on the 3rd, back on page 1)… next post talked about DCC too, by some guy called Steve who lives in Washington state. Something about the pot calling the kettle black here?
Steve Featherkile said:
Hmmm. It seems that Gregg introduced the specter of dcc. Ya gotta wait till the 3rd page, Gregg, to hijack a thread. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)
Richard!
The answer is on page 1, use the asterisk… you read the first post, but not posts 3 and 7 and you skipped to the last page.
Greg Elmassian said:
Richard!
The answer is on page 1, use the asterisk… you read the first post, but not posts 3 and 7 and you skipped to the last page.
What ever Greg those are not posts By Steve and I did not ask you
Richard
For the most part, yes, DCC in a wireless (“deadrail”) environment offers most of what you can do with DCC in a traditional track-powered environment–at least for what I would consider the “average” DCC modeler. You have the same control over lights, motor, sound, and other functions via the decoder in either operating environment. You can consist locos together, control multiple locos independently of one another, and control lineside accessories. (Consisting ease and functionality may depend on the specific controller being used.) What you cannot do is much in the way of automation. Depending on the manufacturer of the decoder, you can create different behaviors in the decoder based on the kind of voltage the decoder detects from the rails. For instance, “stop on DC” is a common means of block control where if the decoder detects analog DC instead of DCC’s bi-polar AC signal, the loco will slow down and stop. Often this is used to control crossings and other areas where you don’t want two trains meeting unplanned. You can’t do that with on-board batteries, since there’s no power to the rails for the decoder to detect.
With regard to the difference between wireless DCC and other flavors of on-board battery power, the key difference is in the level of functionality available. Something like the Revolution gives you headlights plus 6 auxiliary functions, which can be used to run lights, smoke, or sound. Simpler systems will give you headlights and maybe triggers for bell and whistle. The DCC systems are limited by the decoder itself, but many modern decoders give you 28 functions you can control, which can be lights, sounds, smoke, or even combined so lights and sounds can work off the same key. The other “advantage” to the wireless DCC systems is that you can use any DCC decoder on the market, so you can tailor your choice of decoder/sound to the specific locomotive you’re doing. You can use lower-current (cheaper) versions of the receivers and decoders for small locos which do not draw a lot of current. The other flavors of wireless tend not to give you a whole lot of options in that regard.
The trade-off is that the simpler systems tend to be much more user-friendly to set up. DCC gives the user a very high degree of flexibility, but that comes with a high degree of complexity. Manuals for decoders frequently run 100 pages or more to cover all the various programming options, with varying degrees of user-friendliness. No wonder folks’ eyes glaze over. The good news is that the simpler systems are fairly full-featured in their own rights, with the most basic of systems still offering enough functionality for probably 70% of folks when you take a practical look at what they want to control.
Later,
K
Martin: my reseaech Is limited to the AirWire T5000 throttle. It only sends packets to the locomotive that is currently selected. If you switch locomotives, the one you were controlling keeps rolling, even though it’s not seeing any packets. In fact, when you switch locomotives, you may also be switching frequencies. The throttle remembers the frequency (channel) associated with each locomotive.
There is a CV that can be set between 1 and 255 seconds that will stop the locomotive If it hasn’t seen a packet in that time. 0 disables the timer.
Richard, I’m guessing that your inquiry is about turning off lights, bell and horn in the trailing locomotives.
The answer is that the software does it for us. Who knew? (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)You can even change the designated lead locomotive by depressing the * key at the bottom of the keys on the Tx, if you decide to reverse the lead. That works for 2 locos in a consist. I’m just guessing, but i suspect that with 3 or more locos in a consist, the software would toggle between the first loco entered into a consist, and the last one.
On the first page of this thread, about half way down, Gregg linked to Dave Bodner’s excellent review of REVO II. In it, Dave mentioned how to change the bell from momentary to latching.
It’s ok for someone else to answer a question. We don’t own these threads, they belong to everybody.
Hope this helps.
Greg Elmassian said:
Uhh… Steve, Jon Radder mentioned deadrail (and thus DCC on the 3rd, back on page 1)… next post talked about DCC too, by some guy called Steve who lives in Washington state. Something about the pot calling the kettle black here?
Steve Featherkile said:
Hmmm. It seems that Gregg introduced the specter of dcc. Ya gotta wait till the 3rd page, Gregg, to hijack a thread. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)
Actually, Gregg, you mentioned DCC in the first line of your first post in this thread, but who’s counting? (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)
OK, I’ll bite richard… here’s your post, what are you referring to? English would say you are asking an easier way to turn off the bell and horn.
I was trying to help you, pointing you at the answer, especially since people were feeling “derailed” (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
That question was indeed answered in the posts I referenced. I’ll stand by my interpretation of your post that it’s how most people would read it.
So, I’m trying to help you, and you fire back a nasty response.
Greg
Richard said:
Steve Featherkile said:
Ok, so I’ve updated the pc boards in my SD45s, added REVO II in both, 18.5v batteries, and I’m ready to go, right?
MU is easy, so it says in the destructions. Ummm, not so fast.
After a tutorial by Don Sweet, I get it sorted out. Thanks, Don, much more understandable than the Chinglish that comes with the REVO.
One of the locos starts at 2% of throttle earlier than the other. Is that enough of a difference to cause a problem? If it is problematic, is there a fix
Is there a way to turn off the bell and horn in the trailing loco?
Thanks for your help.
Steve if you found a easier way please tell us.
Richard
That is true Steve: “Yes, go to DCC ha ha! (honestly this IS simple in DCC)”
But that was not introducing the “spectre of DCC”, it’s you that put the topic into play by actually asking about DCC.
I wonder if many people do what I do, is go back and re-read the entire thread from the beginning before posting?
Greg
Thank you Steve for the reply but what I was asking
MU is easy, so it says in the destructions. Ummm, not so fast.
After a tutorial by Don Sweet, I get it sorted out. Thanks, Don, much more understandable than the Chinglish that comes with the REVO.
What did you learn from Don that made it easier
Richard
Working on it. Im on a tablet, so when i light off my tower, i can access it. Basically, it has to do with Cab Numbers, making sure they stick.
If you are planning on putting REVO II into a SD45, make sure that you have the new boards for the loco. If your boards are dated in 2001/2002. 11/15/2000. you need to get the new boards from Navin. $40.00/loco. The old boards will fry the REVO II. The Chinese found a cheaper less expensive way to make that board, and ignored the design drawings. The SD45 is the only loco so affected, according to Navin.
Edited to correct wrong board date.