Dynamis Ultima / Cobalt iPDigital Point Motors

[tycoonuk]

Hi,

I am new to all this so some "easy" help would be helpful please.

 

I have a Dynamis Ultima Controller and several DCC Concepts iPDigitial Point Motors.

 

Before I install them to my layout, I want to programme them and test them so I set up a service track and connect point 1 to one track and point 2 to the other track and tried to read / and programme it.

I got a Error 11 Read Error and when trying to programme Error 12 Write Error.

I tried it with another motor and just the same.

The Ultima manual is absolutely useless, so can anyone else help me please.

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

J. Matthew Horton

 

[traction]

Can the CV's be read on the Cobalts?

 

You can program them for the address and there are 3 CV's that are used for the self centering ( I can't remember which they are though)

To set any of these you need to move the switch on the Cobalt to the SET position.

 

I've not read anywhere that you can actually read the CV's though.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

[tycoonuk]

Those are 197,198 and 199 from what I read..... not looked at that as got the write problem. Should I be looking at them first or how do I programme it correctly?

[Brian]

Hi

You can not read CVs on a Digital Cobalt ip..  

The three 'setting' Accessory address numbers 197, 198 and 199. But you can use Accessory operating address numbers from 1 up, avoiding 197, 198 and 199.   197 is used to swap the normal direction of travel from one side to the other side.  198 is to remove the self centring feature. While 199 sets the self centring feature for easier motor installation etc.   All addressing is carried out using the Accessory commands and moving the little slide switch to the Set' position once commands are sent the switch is returned to the 'Run' position

The Cobalt is not programmed on a programming track output but via the main 'Track' output of the DCC system.

 

I produced a video showing how easy these are to set using a Prodigy Advance and a NCE Power Cab DCC system if you want to watch it.  The 1 or 2 button presses may equate to left or right direction arrows buttons on some DCC systems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs6KzOYIpHo&feature=youtu.be

Edited August 17, 2015 by Brian

[tycoonuk]

Hi

You can not read CVs on a Digital Cobalt ip..  

The three 'setting' Accessory address numbers 197, 198 and 199. But you can use Accessory operating address numbers from 1 up, avoiding 197, 198 and 199.   197 is used to swap the normal direction of travel from one side to the other side.  198 is to remove the self centring feature. While 199 sets the self centring feature for easier motor installation etc.   All addressing is carried out using the Accessory commands and moving the little slide switch to the Set' position once commands are sent the switch is returned to the 'Run' position

The Cobalt is not programmed on a programming track output but via the main 'Track' output of the DCC system.

 

I produced a video showing how easy these are to set using a Prodigy Advance and a NCE Power Cab DCC system if you want to watch it.  The 1 or 2 button presses may equate to left or right direction arrows buttons on some DCC systems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs6KzOYIpHo&feature=youtu.be

 

Thanks for this Brian. Since reading this article I bought a Prodigy Advance and followed your video and everything works well. Time to sell the Dynamis!

Many thanks.

[PaulRhB]

This is what I wrote up after also finding them a little vague

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/61841-lulworth-castle-1930s-to-2000s/?p=1888928

Edited August 19, 2015 by PaulRhB

[GoingUnderground]

Hi,

I am new to all this so some "easy" help would be helpful please.

 

I have a Dynamis Ultima Controller and several DCC Concepts iPDigitial Point Motors.

 

Before I install them to my layout, I want to programme them and test them so I set up a service track and connect point 1 to one track and point 2 to the other track and tried to read / and programme it.

I got a Error 11 Read Error and when trying to programme Error 12 Write Error.

I tried it with another motor and just the same.

The Ultima manual is absolutely useless, so can anyone else help me please.

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

J. Matthew Horton

 

 

The Dynamis Ultima Manual isn't helping you because it's the wrong manual to be using.

 

Many accessory decoders, especially, IMHO, those intended for the N American market, have the "Learn" method for programming their address and simply will not accept any attempt to write directly to the address CVs, which is probably what you were trying to do.

 

That is why you should always read the manual for the accessory decoder itself and follow its instructions when trying to program it. The manual for your, or any make of DCC controller can at best only give you generic instructions which may not apply to particular makes and models of accessory decoder. Only the manual for the product you are trying to program will tell you how to program it.

[Graham Walters]

There is an update to this.

 

The "New" Dynamis Ulitima is in my experience having similar issues, in the shop we set up a small test track for various DCC controllers, the first is the Ultima and DCC Concepts Digital motors,  we can using DCC concepts instructions get one, and only one motor to work. The Ultima instructions are a vague to say the least, but what it said to do actually worked for the first motor.

 

Stranger is that if we wire the Dynamis direct to the motor, we can control it, put it through the bus and it wont, even after checking the wiring with a meter, still no control of more than one point motor.

 

Bachmann trechie staff were/are unaware of the problem because (Ben) is touring the country with a working setup, but no-one else seems to know how he did it ( I am awaiting a call from Ben)

 

DCC Concepts had no idea there was an issue either, they say they will get hold of a Dynamis to check it out.  DCC also told me that ALL motors are now shipped with Autocentring set to OFF as the default.

[paulstephens]

Has there been any progress on this item? I've just ordered some Cobalt digital point motors and now read that Dynamis Ultima doesn't seem to addres them correctly.

[newbryford]

Has there been any progress on this item? I've just ordered some Cobalt digital point motors and now read that Dynamis Ultima doesn't seem to addres them correctly.

 

Hi Paul,

We met up with Ben from Bachmann at the Hatton's digital demo last week, where they had an Ultima on display.

We simply hooked up our Cobalt to the DCC bus/track and programmed it as normal.

Firstly you have to create the point on the Railcontroller screen and give it a number.

i.e. Put the switch on the Cobalt to SET, send a "change point" command from the screen.

Put the switch back to RUN and that's it.

 

If you are using the handset, it's a similar process - simply select the point number you want, switch to SET, send the command, switch back to RUN.

 

Cheer,

Mick

[Stucktwit]

Hi, I have the Dynamis Ultima and cobalt motors, set all the motors/addresses and all works fine especially the one IP motor I purchased for test, I think it's brilliant. The minor part is I can't remove the self centre on start up from the 8 points connected to the ADFX8 which means I need to go through each point number and press direction every time to move from centre to direction. It appears that you can't enter 198 to remove centre position as you can only go to 100 on the Dynamis is this correct? I have accessed cv settings on the controller,198 and entered 1 but reading above this is not correct ...any ideas please

[newbryford]

Hi, I have the Dynamis Ultima and cobalt motors, set all the motors/addresses and all works fine especially the one IP motor I purchased for test, I think it's brilliant. The minor part is I can't remove the self centre on start up from the 8 points connected to the ADFX8 which means I need to go through each point number and press direction every time to move from centre to direction. It appears that you can't enter 198 to remove centre position as you can only go to 100 on the Dynamis is this correct? I have accessed cv settings on the controller,198 and entered 1 but reading above this is not correct ...any ideas please

 

Unfortunately, the only way to disable the self-centring on the ADFX8 is to use a DCC system that can address 198.

 

Incidentally, earlier batches of Digital IP motors also had auto self-centre at power on enabled when delivered.

The current production of Digital IP motors is delivered centred, but the automatic self-centring at power on is not enabled.

 

(197-199 are used for special operations such as self-centring, as it was deemed that most layouts wouldn't have 200 turnouts and DCC systems could address up to 2044 accessories - the rise of systems with accessory addresses up to 99 has necessitated the change to self-centring being disabled when new)

Edited August 27, 2017 by newbryford