Model Railroading > Tsunami ditch light programming question

I'm programming my first units with working independent ditch lights - Athearn Genesis GP38-2s and an SD70ACe - and I'm having the same ditch light issue with all 5 units.  I have CV40 set to 6, activating FX5 and FX6, which causes F6 to activate both front ditch lights.

That all works as expected when moving forward.  However, when I reverse the units, the front ditch lights turn off.  Is there a way to cause them to remain on regardless of direction of travel, as the prototype lights do when switching?  

I've been able to accomplish this with the headlight (on when F0 is on, regardless of direction of travel) by setting CV34 (F0 (r)) to 1 (headlight).  As such, I tried linking the ditch lights to that headlight by setting both that CV and CV33 (F0 (f)) to 49 (1 (headlight) + 16 (FX5) + 32 (FX6)).  However, the results are still the same:  The front ditch lights turn on when moving forward, but turn off in reverse.

Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong?  Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

Joe,

When programming Genesis units with a Tsunami in JMRI Decoder Pro there are two boxes for function 5 and two for function 6 you can check on the lighting page. One is to enable the function in the forward direction, one is to enable the function in the reverse direction. The problem is I am not sure which CVs these boxes affect. So I guess what I am saying is it is a simple programming thing to get what you want but I don't know how to get it!

Andrew C

Hi Joe,

Try this:

CV33 = 49 : 1+16+32
CV34 = 50:  2+16+32

Since cv34 is F0(r) the value is normally 2, rather than 1 for F0(f). 

Hope this helps...  

John Parker
Longmont, CO
BNSF Fall River Division

andrewcastle Wrote:
> When programming Genesis units with a Tsunami in JMRI Decoder Pro there are two boxes for function 5 and two for function 6 you can check on the lighting page. One is to
> enable the function in the forward direction, one is to enable the function in the reverse direction. The problem is I am not sure which CVs these boxes affect. So I guess what I
> am saying is it is a simple programming thing to get what you want but I don't know how to get it!

Thanks Andrew.  At least it sounds like what I'm trying to do may be possible.  Is there an option within Decoder Pro to display the underlying CVs?  Perhaps that would show the details of what it changes?

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

bnsfbuff Wrote:
> Try this:
>
> CV33 = 49 : 1+16+32
> CV34 = 50:  2+16+32
>
> Since cv34 is F0(r) the value is normally 2, rather than 1 for F0(f). 

Thanks John.  Using those values will cause the headlight and ditch lights to be on when moving forward (CV33), and will cause the rear headlight and ditch lights to light (and the front HL and DLs to go off) when in reverse (CV34).  Let me back up a step and explain what I'm after.

When a road consist cuts off the train and makes a backing move (e.g. to spot a customer), the front headlight and ditch lights remain lit while they back.  I've managed to model this for the headlight by setting CVs 33 and 34 to 1, meaning the front headlight will be lit in both forward and reverse.  I'd now like to do the same for the ditch lights, but even when CV34 is set to 49 (adding the ditch light values of 16 and 32), the front ditch lights go out when in reverse.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

Joe,

Take a look at CV 57. This depends a bit on which solder pad or wire (FX5 / FX6 output) the ditch lights are connected to. If both ditch lights are connected to the FX5 pad then you need to set CV 57 to a value of 3. If both ditch lights are connected to the FX6 pad then you need to set CV 57 to a value of 48. If you have the ditch lights set up so they'll alternately flash with the horn with one connected to the FX5 pad and one connected to the FX6 pad then you'll need to set CV 57 to a value of 51.

Lee Ryan - Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO

I think I have it Joe! Decoder Pro does have a list of all CVs so I did some messing around with checking and un-checking boxes then looking at the CV list.

It is indeed CV57 which controls all this. Setting CV57 to 51 should activate both functions in both directions. A setting of 17 makes them operate in forward only.

Andrew

Hi Joe, sorry I misunderstood your intent.... I believe there are several ways to get this accomplished.  Lee's response to change the behavior of FX5 and FX6 should work. I also believe this can be accomplished by changing the mapping by reducing 2 from cv34 so the rear light does not light, however the ditch lights stay on in both forward and reverse.  Either way should accomplish what you want, however, it may take some experimenting based on your wiring and CV29 and/or CV19 directional settings.

If you remap, try:
cv33 = 51, 3+16+32
cv34 = 48, 16+32

John Parker
Longmont, CO
BNSF Fall River Division

Thank you all for the additional guidance.  I found that CV57 defaults to 17, but setting that to 51 did indeed do exactly what I wanted.  All units are now programmed and working well.

Now my next question:  How did you all know about CV57?  I found almost nothing about it in the Tsunami Diesel Sound User's Guide, and it's not even listed in the Appendix B CV list.  Had it not been for your help, I don't know how I could have ever found this.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

Just pure luck for me, I never heard of CV57 until today! When I changed the settings in Decoder Pro CV57 was the only one that said "edited" next to it.

Andrew

This has been a great discussion, hopefully helpful to others....

The Soundtraxx diesel technical reference as well as the diesel addendum both have reference to CV57 (FX5 and FX6) directional control.

John Parker
Longmont, CO
BNSF Fall River Division

bnsfbuff Wrote:
> The Soundtraxx diesel technical reference as well as the diesel addendum both have reference to CV57 (FX5 and FX6) directional control.

Thanks again John.  I just downloaded the diesel technical reference doc, but don't see the diesel addendum you referred to.  Looks like the former will come in very handy though.

Question:  What do the "a" and "b" suffixes indicate (e.g. fx5a, fx6b, etc.) when configuring CV57 bits?  

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

Hey Joe,

My understanding is that the "A" and "B" represent each output for functions 5 and 6.  To set the lighting out for each, you would program CV 51 for 5A, CV52 for 6A, CV53 for 5B, and CV54 for 6B.   A is the first output, and B is the second output.

Lee provided the value of 51 for CV57, which means bits 0, 1, 4 and 5 would each receive a "1" resulting in the total value of 51.  Referencing the documentation, these are 5AF, 5AR, 6AR and 6AF, meaning outputs 5 and 6 A are on in both directions (Forward and Reverse).  Since this seems to work, I am assuming you have kept the Athearn wiring intact and are using the F5 and F6 pads marked on the decoder.  

Lee may wish to comment, as I'm sure he knows more about this than I do!

John Parker
Longmont, CO
BNSF Fall River Division

Install decoder pro on a computer and hook it up to your layout.  It will make DCC, sound, lighting affects, speed matching, SOOOOOOO much easier.

Cooper

John, thank you very much for the explanation.

SOU3921 Wrote:
> Install decoder pro on a computer and hook it up to your layout.  It will make DCC, sound, lighting affects, speed matching, SOOOOOOO much easier.

I probably should have started using Decoder Pro years ago, but by the time I got my first laptop, I was nearly done programming my roster. Or at least I thought I was. ;)  Also, I'm a software engineer, so the idea of having Decoder Pro doing the programming without me knowing what's going on under the covers kind of bothered me.

Today's question excluded, I really do think I'm beyond the point of really benefiting from Decoder Pro considering where my roster stands today. The few units I have left to build and program are all virtual duplicates of previous efforts.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

I agree that in almost all circumstanced using DecoderPro makes programming easier.  However, it helps to know the basics, as "manually" programming some decoders may actually be easier. A few examples include programming the LOK function key mapping and some of the secondary OEM lighting decoders such as found in many KATO units.  I realize that DecoderPro is improving as decoders are becoming more complex, however, knowing the basics to make a quick change is sometimes faster and easier (yes, even with indexing) with easy to understand documentation and a throttle.  Just my opinion....

John Parker
Longmont, CO
BNSF Fall River Division

All Tsunami decoders that come off the shelf have 4 functions so FX5 (usually the green wire) and FX6 (usually the brown wire) are the 'A' version. FX5B and FX6B are extra functions that are used for some OEMs though I think that if you know what you're looking for you can actually tap into these extra functions from an off the shelf board. I have heard rumors that there are some solder pads on the bottom of the "board" versions of the Tsunami (AT-1000, GN-1000, IM-1000, etc.) that may be FX5B and FX6B but I have never experimented with those. The regular purple wrapped TSU-1000 does not have FX5B and FX6B available via wires to my knowledge even if the capability may be hidden on the decoder.

Since your connections were one ditch light to FX5 and one to FX6, I just added up the bit values in CV57 for the 'A' versions of both of these to keep the outputs 'ON' when the locomotive is both forward and reverse.

Interestingly enough, I have found that JMRI was missing CV57 for some decoder profiles. I was able to edit the profile to add it and it works. I think JMRI was also missing CV58 which allows you to use FX5 and FX6 to turn off other functions. This can be useful if your locomotive has a red emergency light and you want to turn it on and have the other lights turn off. I think some Santa Fe F units were set up this way.

Anyway, very glad it is all working!

Lee Ryan - Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO
 

Thank you Lee!  And thanks again to everyone who contributed here.  You were all a huge help.  Had it not been for you, I'd likely still be scratching my head over this.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd