Model Railroading > Getting back into DCC and an On30 adventure....

Recently I bought a MRC Prodigy Advanced 2 to operate my under construction On30 shelf layout. Having been out of the DCC mix for almost 10 years I thought I would try a much simplified system compared to my elaborate Digitrax Chief that I used on my old 11 x 21 ft HO layout.

I'm fairly well versed with wiring up the layout, decoder installs and programing decoders. Now for the issue I'm having. For some reason my Bachmann Porter, which is factory DCC equipped with a Tsunami sound decoder, will not allow the MRC to program the decoder address. No matter what I do the address stays '0'. I also cannot make the loco move in either direction, but I can turn the headlight on/off and access the various sounds (whistle, bell, hiss, etc.)

I have tried to program it the program track and the main track but to no avail. I plowed through all my MRC and Bachmann info for a solution. Never had an issue programming decoders before and this one has me stumped.

Any MRC folks out there programming Tsunami's with some info? I'm sure it's a simple fix that I'm missing (hopefully!)

Thanks,
SV

You need a powerpax to reliably change the address on a tsunami with a prodigy. Been there, done that, got the powerpax to prove it.

Posted from iPhone

Friend of mine has a MRC, and said he can only assign single digit numbers as i.e. 8501 is number 1, etc.

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Very much not true, with a prodigy advance, advance squared or prodigy wireless, any 4 digit address can be programmed so long as the decoder permits it.

Posted from iPhone

Finderskeepers Wrote:
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> Very much not true, with a prodigy advance,
> advance squared or prodigy wireless, any 4 digit
> address can be programmed so long as the decoder
> permits it.
>
> Posted from iPhone
I am not sure which one he has, but he has switched to NCE and is happy with that, although he keeps the MRC on 1 track, I know I know !!nuff sed !

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

I have the Prodigy Advanced also and love it. However I found out from programming Bachmann sound decoders that you have to change the factory address of 3 to a long address first then you can change it back to a short address. I read that in one of the earlier discussions. It would be nice if it was mentioned in the information that you receive with your engines. Try that and hopefully you can get it to work.

Steve

Could be open wire to motor.

Steve, I have the 4-6-0 with factory sound and was able to change the factory setting of address 3 directly to the engine's cab #10, never did the 4 digit first.

Posted from iPhone

dieselweasel Wrote:
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> Could be open wire to motor.

No open wire, loco runs fine on regular DC and 'clicks/chirps' momentarily while trying to set CV's. Like I already posted, I can turn the headlight on/off and activate the sounds. I just can't get it to move in either direction under DCC.

The address remains at '0000' and not '3'. Tried to restore the decoder to factory defaults and can't seem to do that either. I tried another locomotive that was already programmed for DCC (Digitrax DH121 decoder) and also could only get the headlight to turn on/off and the address stayed at '0000' even though if it is programmed with the short address or the long address.

I tried reprogramming each unit separately on the 'Program Track' and on the 'Main Track'. No bueno, same thing. I know it's gotta be something simple I am missing in the manual, which I have read several times as well as the info for each one of the decoders. I've programmed close to 100 decoders (Digitrax, Lenz, NCE, Soundtraxx and MRC) in the past and never had this much trouble before.

Looks like I'm going to have to dig out my Digitrax Chief equipment from storage to set up a test track and go from there just to rule out if the Prodigy system has a glitch.


Really stumped....
SV



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/15 20:23 by SandingValve.

Glad I went to NCE have had good luck with most of it. A call to there help line took care of other problems with my understanding what all younger people know about computer stuff. A side note, I have my DCC and sound installed by someone. On my latest and will be having all the others retro fitted the stay alive module that Soundtrax came out with that lets you run over very dirty track or switches that sometimes cause problems. On there web site it shows an engine running on track covered with tape.

If you are trying to program sound decoders, many of the systems do not have enough power to get the decoder to turn on. The way that I understand it is thaw the standard is set low so that if you have something miss wired you will not have enough power to damage the decoder but enough to program it where as the sound decoders need more power due to the sound part of the decoder. This is why Digitrax makes an amplifier to program sound decoders. I use the Sprog 3 with Decoder Pro from JMRI to get around this problem.

I really like the Sprog 3 and the decoder pro setup as it keeps a copy of all of the settings for each locomotive on your computer hard drive if you want. That way if idiot child looses it's memory all you have to do is set it back on the programing track and rewrite all of the CV's. It will also read the decoder and tell exactly what is written where and what was written.

Andre



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/15 11:24 by Andre.