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NCE Power Cab Question


Guest Digital

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I sounds like the following is happening:

When selecting a loco from outside the recall stack, the PowerCab assumes all functions are off because it cannot read them back.

When turning the first function off, it refreshes all functions. The first one will be off & all others on.

 

I am just wondering, have you set your recall stack to 6 or is it still 2?

With 6, I rarely find myself needing to recall an already running loco into the stack.

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Recall stack is 6, and potentially could have more than 6 locos on the layout at any one time.

 

Another way round it for operation at shows was to "send" a loco to another controller (my layout operates with 3 throttles) which transfers the whole loco and current settings including direction to the required throttle. Particularly useful for departures to the fiddle yard, where the main operator having run round the loco can send it to the fiddle yard operator who drives it out, without the sound or lights going off.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am just wondering, have you set your recall stack to 6 or is it still 2?

With 6, I rarely find myself needing to recall an already running loco into the stack.

 

 

How do I set the recall to 6?  I'm sure I had all three of my current locos in the recall stack when I last used the Powercab before two of them went away for chip changing from Zimo to ESU, but now I can only recall two. I must have worked out how to have the three at least in the recall settings but I'm blowed if I can remember how I did it.   :scratchhead: Anyone help  on this please?

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How do I set the recall to 6? I'm sure I had all three of my current locos in the recall stack when I last used the Powercab before two of them went away for chip changing from Zimo to ESU, but now I can only recall two. I must have worked out how to have the three at least in the recall settings but I'm blowed if I can remember how I did it. :scratchhead: Anyone help on this please?

Have you checked to see if there are 6 'places' available in the stack.

 

Click the Recall button to see what loco numbers appear. You may have 6 differing ones or some may be repeats. If you come across a repeat, select a loco by entering a new number. It doesn't have to be a number of a loco you even have. This new number should go into the stack. Then check again to see what you have. If it's less than 6 you may need to reset the stack number.

 

Another thought is have the new chips in those locos been set to there same numbers as the old chips or are they all No 3.

 

Dave

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How do I set the recall to 6?  I'm sure I had all three of my current locos in the recall stack when I last used the Powercab before two of them went away for chip changing from Zimo to ESU, but now I can only recall two. I must have worked out how to have the three at least in the recall settings but I'm blowed if I can remember how I did it.   :scratchhead: Anyone help  on this please?

 

You could use the manual!!  But failing that, keep pressing PROG/ESC until you get to SET CAB PARAMS.  Press ENTER  - the first option is SHOW TRACK CURRENT, make your selection, that takes you on to RECALLS - press 6 then ENTER.  Press ESC to get out of the options and take you back to loco control.

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Have you checked to see if there are 6 'places' available in the stack.

 

Click the Recall button to see what loco numbers appear. You may have 6 differing ones or some may be repeats. If you come across a repeat, select a loco by entering a new number. It doesn't have to be a number of a loco you even have. This new number should go into the stack. Then check again to see what you have. If it's less than 6 you may need to reset the stack number.

 

Another thought is have the new chips in those locos been set to there same numbers as the old chips or are they all No 3.

 

Dave

 

The recall button just brings up the last two locos used. If I then punch in the number of the third loco and Enter, one of the other locos is then no longer listed in the recall stack if I press recall again and scroll through.

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You could use the manual!!  But failing that, keep pressing PROG/ESC until you get to SET CAB PARAMS.  Press ENTER  - the first option is SHOW TRACK CURRENT, make your selection, that takes you on to RECALLS - press 6 then ENTER.  Press ESC to get out of the options and take you back to loco control.

 

I went through the manual again but for the life of me couldn't see how to get more than the two locos listed - think what I thought the relevant page says you have just two locos you can recall.

 

Given it worked once before, I'll follow your instructions above - the procedure you describe is starting to ring bells in my memory cells, so hopefully tomorrow I'll get it sorted and will report back. Thanks for the replies from both of you - much appreciated.

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Just checked with my Powercab.

Following the instructions on Page 58 of the manual

 

I did this on mine to check the manual is correct.

 

Press  'Prog/esc' then '6', screen shows 'Set Cab params'. Press 'Enter' followed by 'Recall' this then allows the setting of the number of locos in the recall stack. Put in the required number and press 'Prog/esc' to get back to the main screen.

 

John

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I've found that, once in a while when I boot it up, the number in the recall stack has changed to 5 or less.  Similarly, one of the addresses has changed to something different.  Only happens occasionally for some reason.

 

One annoying thing with the PowerCab is that I have it set to show track current but if I use it to program a cv it reverts to the clock.  So then it is back to cab params and I also check on the number in the recall stack while I at it.

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I've found that, once in a while when I boot it up, the number in the recall stack has changed to 5 or less.  Similarly, one of the addresses has changed to something different.  Only happens occasionally for some reason.

 

One annoying thing with the PowerCab is that I have it set to show track current but if I use it to program a cv it reverts to the clock.  So then it is back to cab params and I also check on the number in the recall stack while I at it.

Have not found the recall stack changing on mine - so far.

 

Yes the reversion to clock is irritating, but all I do pull and replace the plug on the Powercab that does the trick. Saves faffing around in cab params!

 

John

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I went through the manual again but for the life of me couldn't see how to get more than the two locos listed - think what I thought the relevant page says you have just two locos you can recall.

 

 

 

You need to check which firmware version you are using.  The latest version, as far as I know, is 1.65.  The number of recalls in previous versions was limited to 2.  You can check the version by going to SETUP COMMAND STATION (or press SHIFT and the number 5) - first option is software version.

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I followed the instructions and set the recall number to 4 and it now scrolls through the three I have plus one blank space - could set it to 3 but plan on adding another loco to the fleet shortly.

 

A new issue now, though. I read on one the DC sites that if a loco was a tiny bit juddery on start and stop (the Lionheart pannier is), set CV54 to 0, press F1 and the loco would move off at high speed then adjust itself which should iron out the juddering.

 

I did this and whilst it's reduced the judder, the chuffs have gone into more than double speed mode - I have a chuff less than every quarter revolution instead of the previous approx. half so now it's chuffing away really quickly whilst the loco's only accelerating slowly. Any ideas what's happened and what to do to correct this?  I should remind all that it has an ESU chip now instead of the original Zimo.

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The latest version is 1.65B, fixes an issue some Power cabs had with 1.65.

Check (Google is your friend) with NCE for more details, you also have to upgrade boosters to the same version, they sent me a chip for the booster at no charge, and it's an easy replacement.

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I followed the instructions and set the recall number to 4 and it now scrolls through the three I have plus one blank space - could set it to 3 but plan on adding another loco to the fleet shortly.

 

A new issue now, though. I read on one the DC sites that if a loco was a tiny bit juddery on start and stop (the Lionheart pannier is), set CV54 to 0, press F1 and the loco would move off at high speed then adjust itself which should iron out the juddering.

 

I did this and whilst it's reduced the judder, the chuffs have gone into more than double speed mode - I have a chuff less than every quarter revolution instead of the previous approx. half so now it's chuffing away really quickly whilst the loco's only accelerating slowly. Any ideas what's happened and what to do to correct this?  I should remind all that it has an ESU chip now instead of the original Zimo.

Loksound's auto-tune changes several values. Any one of them (probably a combination) will have caused this.

I was lucky in using JMRI & had a backup, so I just re-wrote all the settings.

If you are unable to roll back the settings like I did, then the next best is to compare it with an un-modified chip, but this is very difficult to do from a PowerCab handset.

A factory reset may be your only option. Some providers recommend avoiding this if possible.

I tried this with my HST & its maximum speed was about a third of what it was previously.

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Some people will be getting bored with me saying this but:

 

When you get a new chip or chipped loco, go through CVs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 54 & 63 and record the settings.

 

If you mess them up at some stage, you will then be able to return to the originals.

 

Good luck.

 

Dave.

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Some people will be getting bored with me saying this but:

 

When you get a new chip or chipped loco, go through CVs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 54 & 63 and record the settings.

 

If you mess them up at some stage, you will then be able to return to the originals.

 

Good luck.

 

Dave.

Good advice Dave.

As a JMRI user, my habit is to read all CVs of a new decoder to DecoderPro and then press [save].

It will take 1/2hr or so with a modern sound decoder (go make coffee while it's reading), but it's worth it to have a record of all settings before you start adjusting things.

John K

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Good advice Dave.

As a JMRI user, my habit is to read all CVs of a new decoder to DecoderPro and then press [save].

It will take 1/2hr or so with a modern sound decoder (go make coffee while it's reading), but it's worth it to have a record of all settings before you start adjusting things.

John K

I do the same.

I have made use of it too. I used Loksound's fine-tuning feature on my Hornby HST & this reduced its top speed to about 40mph so I was able to use JMRI to roll back the changes this made.

Mine takes well under a minute to read or write all values, not half an hour.

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