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NCE Power Cab Question


Guest Digital

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Guest Digital

Today operating "The Sidings" with Nick at the DEFine show we noticed the following.

On the NCE Power Cab when we selected a loco which was sitting on the layout with lights and sound already on, the lights and sound would switch off. If the loco was already in the stack and selected from the stack then both sound and lights would stay on.

Anyone had any experience of this.

Thanks

John.

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If you mean recall for stack then thats normal operation.  If you select the loco from fresh you need to turn on engine and lights before touching any other button then it will continue to run otherwise you need to use recall.

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Just to expand a bit this is the scenario. Loco 37422 is selected and driven onto a siding with lights & sound on where it is left to idle. Loco 37405 is selected and driven onto the next siding. 37422 is then manually selected again and when the address and enter is hit the lights and sound shut down? 

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Nick,

 

As DougJ said, what you are experiencing is entirely normal on Power Cab.  If you select 37422 after running 37405, the sound and lights will extinguish as soon as you touch the speed buttons,  However, if, as DougJ said, you press the zero 1 buttons before you touch the speed buttons, all will be well.  If you look at the display during this process, you will see that upon re-selecting 37422, neither lights nor sound is shown as "on" - until you press 0 and 1.

 

Harold.

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The answer is, if you don't want to have everything reset to off, keep the locomotives in the recall stack and use that. All settings will be 'remembered' while in the recall stack.

On all current Power Cabs with v. 1.65 EEPROMs. you can have up to six recall 'slots' - the default out if the box is two.

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This is the default behaviour of the PowerCab. It is because when selected, the system does not know what the loco was set to do, so it makes sure it knows but resetting everything to off. So there is a good reason for it

I must admit that I didn't like it either. The good news is that it can be switched off if your PowerCab is running v1.28b or newer, which was released in July 2008.

This is covered on mine by a release note added by the vendor, not NCE:

 

To locate this new option press ESC on the throttle until SET COMMAND STATION appears on the screen.

Press ENTER to accept the current settings for each of the options displayed

After SYSTEM RESET on the PowerCab and after FUNCTION REFRESH ENABLE on the PowerPro a new function is displayed. This is called SELECT LOCO REFRESH. Options are Y=1 and N=0.

The default setting of 1 will switch lights and sound off when a loco outside of the recall stack is selected, though the loco will keep moving if it is already in motion.

A setting of 0 will keep any lights and/or sounds currently switched on in their current state and the loco will keep moving if it is already in motion.

 

I am not sure about the bit I underlined. I seem to remember selecting a loco in motion used to stop it dead. It is unusual to select a loco in motion though because if it is moving, it would usually already be in your recall stack anyway.

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The answer is, if you don't want to have everything reset to off, keep the locomotives in the recall stack and use that. All settings will be 'remembered' while in the recall stack.

 

On all current Power Cabs with v. 1.65 EEPROMs. you can have up to six recall 'slots' - the default out if the box is two.

If you are running v1.65 then you should be able to switch this feature off as above. I would hope they included it somewhere in the manual (if you have the patience to find it). My manual is for v1.28 which is why the seller slipped in a release note sheet into the box of mine.

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Guest Digital

This is the default behaviour of the PowerCab. It is because when selected, the system does not know what the loco was set to do, so it makes sure it knows but resetting everything to off. So there is a good reason for it

I must admit that I didn't like it either. The good news is that it can be switched off if your PowerCab is running v1.28b or newer, which was released in July 2008.

This is covered on mine by a release note added by the vendor, not NCE:

 

To locate this new option press ESC on the throttle until SET COMMAND STATION appears on the screen.

Press ENTER to accept the current settings for each of the options displayed

After SYSTEM RESET on the PowerCab and after FUNCTION REFRESH ENABLE on the PowerPro a new function is displayed. This is called SELECT LOCO REFRESH. Options are Y=1 and N=0.

The default setting of 1 will switch lights and sound off when a loco outside of the recall stack is selected, though the loco will keep moving if it is already in motion.

A setting of 0 will keep any lights and/or sounds currently switched on in their current state and the loco will keep moving if it is already in motion.

 

I am not sure about the bit I underlined. I seem to remember selecting a loco in motion used to stop it dead. It is unusual to select a loco in motion though because if it is moving, it would usually already be in your recall stack anyway.

 

 

Thanks for the information.

Just set mine as per your description, works a treat .

John

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Thanks Digital.

 

Has anyone done this mod on a Powercab V1.28 or a Power Pro system, please?

 

Dave

According to my instructions, it was a new feature with v1.28b of the PowerCab.

I have just tried it on my Power Pro (bought last year, no firmware revision number, just dated March 2007). The feature does not seem to exist & re-selecting a loco does indeed reset the functions, including sound.

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As the "vendor" Pete refers to perhaps some clarification is needed.  When we were trading we were the main outlet for NCE products in the UK (and Europe) and as such we had quite a close relationship with NCE, even acting as their outlet for upgrade EPROMS as and when they became available. We also did minor fault finding and rectification on their systems here in the UK, which saved customers (and us!) postage costs to the US.

 

We had direct input to the development of a number products from various manufacturer (such as TCS and NCE) including the NCE modification which has been detailed in the above posts, hence the PowerCab upgrade from 1.28 to 1.28b and the release note only we provided with our own sales to enhance this undocumented functionality.  Following the addition of this feature to the PowerCab I then had discussions with NCE about adding the feature to the PowerPro system.  NCE then provided me with a number of new EPROMS (I can't remember exactly how many - possibly 10 or 20) which included the SELECT LOCO REFRESH functionality - these EPROMS had the version date set as JUL 10 2008.  However, although successful, NCE have never sought to upgrade the PowerPro EPROM to include this feature as they never considered this something which their US customers wanted.  As far as I can see the PowerCab manual release 1.65 includes the function but it seems to be undocumented in the electronic copy of the manual I have, as is the PROCAB POWER UP SECONDS setting.

 

Following illness in 2012 and having to close the retail business I have rather lost contact with NCE and had hoped than another retailer in the UK would have taken up this role. I am sure that having a point of contact for referring issues and discussing developments did much to further the way in which NCE perceived their market in the UK and the different ways that layouts are operated over here, though I think that more needs to be done to encourage them to update their systems, especially with regard to radio and other methods of remote operation as technology progresses.

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As the "vendor" Pete refers to perhaps some clarification is needed.

Hi John,

 

You were the vendor I was referring to who added the mentioned release note for v1.28b as a slip of paper in my v1.28 manual.

As it is the only manual I have, I did not know if it was added to the manual proper for later releases.

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As the "vendor" Pete refers to perhaps some clarification is needed.  When we were trading we were the main outlet for NCE products in the UK (and Europe) and as such we had quite a close relationship with NCE, even acting as their outlet for upgrade EPROMS as and when they became available. We also did minor fault finding and rectification on their systems here in the UK, which saved customers (and us!) postage costs to the US.

 

We had direct input to the development of a number products from various manufacturer (such as TCS and NCE) including the NCE modification which has been detailed in the above posts, hence the PowerCab upgrade from 1.28 to 1.28b and the release note only we provided with our own sales to enhance this undocumented functionality.  Following the addition of this feature to the PowerCab I then had discussions with NCE about adding the feature to the PowerPro system.  NCE then provided me with a number of new EPROMS (I can't remember exactly how many - possibly 10 or 20) which included the SELECT LOCO REFRESH functionality - these EPROMS had the version date set as JUL 10 2008.  However, although successful, NCE have never sought to upgrade the PowerPro EPROM to include this feature as they never considered this something which their US customers wanted.  As far as I can see the PowerCab manual release 1.65 includes the function but it seems to be undocumented in the electronic copy of the manual I have, as is the PROCAB POWER UP SECONDS setting.

 

Following illness in 2012 and having to close the retail business I have rather lost contact with NCE and had hoped than another retailer in the UK would have taken up this role. I am sure that having a point of contact for referring issues and discussing developments did much to further the way in which NCE perceived their market in the UK and the different ways that layouts are operated over here, though I think that more needs to be done to encourage them to update their systems, especially with regard to radio and other methods of remote operation as technology progresses.

So John.

 

I have been seeking this upgrade to the Power Pro ever since I bought a system in 2009. The lack of it causes a lot of problems on ourClub layout at exhibitions.

 

So what is the outcome. Is it in the Power Pro chips or was it just in the few chips they supplied you. I can't check mine as its kept at our Club.

 

Dave

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So John.

 

I have been seeking this upgrade to the Power Pro ever since I bought a system in 2009. The lack of it causes a lot of problems on ourClub layout at exhibitions.

 

So what is the outcome. Is it in the Power Pro chips or was it just in the few chips they supplied you. I can't check mine as its kept at our Club.

 

Dave

 

As stated in my post However, although successful, NCE have never sought to upgrade the PowerPro EPROM to include this feature and as far as I am aware there have been no general PowerPro EPROM upgrades since 2007.

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Hi All

 

Whilst turning off this feature enables loco's to be left idling when stopped which is great, - I would add a note of caution - the powercab will obviously default to FWD '000' when a loco is re-selected, so cannot really be used for locos in motion as any touch of the throttle will send that command.

 

But great for leaving loco's idling at a stabling point.

 

I remember going to York in the 70's and sitting on the grandstand steps outside the NRM with 20 or more loco's left idling and Deltics accelerating away to the north - great days!

 

 

Regards

Andy

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Hi All

 

Whilst turning off this feature enables loco's to be left idling when stopped which is great, - I would add a note of caution - the powercab will obviously default to FWD '000' when a loco is re-selected, so cannot really be used for locos in motion as any touch of the throttle will send that command.

 

But great for leaving loco's idling at a stabling point.

 

I remember going to York in the 70's and sitting on the grandstand steps outside the NRM with 20 or more loco's left idling and Deltics accelerating away to the north - great days!

 

 

Regards

Andy

 

Yes, I've also noticed this feature.

 

Consequently, when we set up for a running session at Club or Show, all locos face the same way. ie, they all go the same way when FWD is selected. Then you know in what direction a loco will move is. Very useful for the few without lights. All my locos have a tiny mark on one bogie to indicate Forward.

 

Dave

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As the "vendor" Pete refers to perhaps some clarification is needed.  When we were trading we were the main outlet for NCE products in the UK (and Europe) and as such we had quite a close relationship with NCE, even acting as their outlet for upgrade EPROMS as and when they became available. We also did minor fault finding and rectification on their systems here in the UK, which saved customers (and us!) postage costs to the US.

 

We had direct input to the development of a number products from various manufacturer (such as TCS and NCE) including the NCE modification which has been detailed in the above posts, hence the PowerCab upgrade from 1.28 to 1.28b and the release note only we provided with our own sales to enhance this undocumented functionality.  Following the addition of this feature to the PowerCab I then had discussions with NCE about adding the feature to the PowerPro system.  NCE then provided me with a number of new EPROMS (I can't remember exactly how many - possibly 10 or 20) which included the SELECT LOCO REFRESH functionality - these EPROMS had the version date set as JUL 10 2008.  However, although successful, NCE have never sought to upgrade the PowerPro EPROM to include this feature as they never considered this something which their US customers wanted.  As far as I can see the PowerCab manual release 1.65 includes the function but it seems to be undocumented in the electronic copy of the manual I have, as is the PROCAB POWER UP SECONDS setting.

 

Following illness in 2012 and having to close the retail business I have rather lost contact with NCE and had hoped than another retailer in the UK would have taken up this role. I am sure that having a point of contact for referring issues and discussing developments did much to further the way in which NCE perceived their market in the UK and the different ways that layouts are operated over here, though I think that more needs to be done to encourage them to update their systems, especially with regard to radio and other methods of remote operation as technology progresses.

 

Guys FYI.

 

In the light of this and because we use a Power Pro NCE set up, I emailed NCE as I felt that as they had produced those few EPROMS sent to Bromsgrove, they at least can produce them again. I asked if they could program some EPROMS for the UK.

 

Their reply took me back a bit, "No that feature is not available.".   That's it. Nothing else, not even a name.

 

And I though Americans were supposed to be courteous.

 

Dave

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Thanks for the tip on this fix, it annoyed me so much that the sound would go off when selecting a loco outside the stack! 

 

One observation - when selecting the "new" loco having left F0 and F1 on previously, F0 and F1 are off, but the lights and sound remain on (great!).

If you press the Headlight button first, then press F1, the lights stay on, but the sound goes off (loco shuts down). Loco then goes through start up procedure once shut down. (annoying) 

If you press F1 first, the sound stays on, and operates normally when you move the train, but the headlights go off as soon as you hit F1. Hitting Headlight turns them back on again. 

 

Obviously the latter is the better option, although slightly annoying, but most people won't notice the Headlights going off and back on again in a few seconds, but are more likely to notice when the sound shuts down, as it did before.

 

The method is to hit F1 first then the Headlight button as soon as you select the loco again. 

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