Model Railroading > MRC/Tsunami Programming Problem/Solution

The other day we ran into an interesting problem at the club layout. We had three locomotives, two Atheran and one Stewart/Bowser that came from the store DCC/Sound equipped with Tsunami decoders. All three locomotives were new out of the box and had the same issue. When we went to program them on the programming track, the MRC (Prodigy Express Squared) system did not recognize them. When we placed them on the main track the engines ran and could not be slowed or stopped. The sound also worked, without any control.

We stumbled upon a solution. While holding the locomotives on the main track (with them running) we got the handheld to recognize them by manually typing "3" (not 0003, just 3) in the address line, hit enter, then assign them an address number.

Don't ask me why, but it worked for all of them. My guess is that they might have been shipped with the deocders in DC mode and perhaps forcing the handheld to recognize them as "3" fixed that. Not sure, just a guess. I'm new to DCC, so perhaps someone else on here knows what happened and why, but I'd like to offer it as a solution to others if it helps.

03 is the default decoder address for most DCC decoders sound or non-sound for DCC operation. 0 is the normal address for DC operation on most decoders used on DCC equipped systems.

ATSF429 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 03 is the default decoder address for most DCC
> decoders sound or non-sound for DCC operation. 0
> is the normal address for DC operation on most
> decoders used on DCC equipped systems.


Yes, I realize this, but this is the first time we had the problem of the system not recognizing the locomotive on the programming track. Just trying to offer some advice to others.

The MRC decoders are dual decoders and none of the cv's can be read, regardless of system.

Not sure about that system, but you may need to install a programing booster on the program track to be able to program sound equipped locomotives. This is a common problem.

For Example;
http://www.tonystrains.com/technews/powerpax.htm

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/09 00:14 by funnelfan.