Mr chapman Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 Hello. I have a small layout and I'm using an Nce powercab. My friend has a huge layout and he also uses the powercab system. Just the basic not a procab. Now, he has a couple of spare sockets around the layout so he can control it from different areas. What I want to know is when visiting (if that's ever a thing again) is there a way to plug my powercab in and use it as a spare throttle to share control? I thought I read somewhere you could do it many moons ago, although the manual now shows a dedicated spare throttle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BromsMods Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 It can, indeed, be done quite easily. You need to first check with your friend if there are any other items on the cab bus using the address 3 or above. Assuming there aren't you will need to plug your PowerCab into his cab bus with the curly cable and as you do so keep the SELECT LOCO button pressed down. This will enable you to change your cab address to a vacant address above 2 on the cab bus. The downside of this is that when you next use the cab on your own system you will need to change the address of the cab back to 2 (using the flat cable and the method described above) or your own system won't work! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted November 4, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 4, 2020 What John said used to do this with my exhibition layouts - my regular operator had a Powercab and this is how we used to work at shows until I had the chance to buy a Procab throttle cheaply. Been using this setup ever since. Still not had to use that spare encoder @BromsMods after all these years Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 What's been said is all correct. However, the PowerPro system could setup so it didn't have any resident Cabs (throttles) on the default of "2". Thus the first visitor with a PowerCab could plug-in without changing anything. A second visitor bringing another PowerCab would have to change cab addresses to a spare value. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr chapman Posted November 4, 2020 Author Share Posted November 4, 2020 Top banana! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
norman Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 You can't use a banana as a throttle that's a no no never. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crosland Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 You could use an apple. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arff999 Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 Or a pear Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crosland Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 He's already trying to use a pear (of Powercabs). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BromsMods Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 You can use whatever is ap-peeling for the individual! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ron Ron Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 Sorry to sow seeds of doubt, but this has become a fruitless thread....we should get back to the core issue....which was.....errr? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenser Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 Just to warn - the one time I've tried this, there seemed to be quite a marked lag in response when using the "slave" Powercab 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr chapman Posted November 6, 2020 Author Share Posted November 6, 2020 Fruit salad aside, what do you mean by lag? A delay between hitting stop and the train actually stopping? May sound stupid, but with the two cabs on the same layout is it just a case of selecting a vacant locomotive? And what happens if you try to select a locomotive being used by the other cab? And if you really want to impress me work a kiwi fruit into your answer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BromsMods Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 8 hours ago, Mr chapman said: Fruit salad aside, what do you mean by lag? A delay between hitting stop and the train actually stopping? May sound stupid, but with the two cabs on the same layout is it just a case of selecting a vacant locomotive? And what happens if you try to select a locomotive being used by the other cab? And if you really want to impress me work a kiwi fruit into your answer I doubt if there is a wiki thread on this but for the answer to the question about selecting locos, see page 44 of the manual which deals with ASSIGNING A LOCO TO A CAB. ASSIGNING A LOCO TO A CAB (shortcut = PROG 2 ) This selection passes a loco or consist from one cab to another. This is especially useful when the other operator is a novice or has a Basic Cab. The locomotive/ consist is passed to the assigned cab and the locomotive/consist controlled by the other cab is passed back to the original cab. In effect the locomotives controlled by the cabs are “swapped”. This way you will not accidentally ‘lose’ a locomotive in the system. ASSIGN THE LOCO Enter the loco/consist number you want to assign to another cab, then press ENTER. If you want to assign the loco you are currently running just push ENTER. WHICH LOCO: _003 ASSIGN THE CAB You need to know the address of the cab you want to ‘receive’ the loco you are assigning. Enter the Cab number then press ENTER. LOC:1234 TO WHICH CAB? _ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenser Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 14 hours ago, Mr chapman said: Fruit salad aside, what do you mean by lag? A delay between hitting stop and the train actually stopping? May sound stupid, but with the two cabs on the same layout is it just a case of selecting a vacant locomotive? And what happens if you try to select a locomotive being used by the other cab? And if you really want to impress me work a kiwi fruit into your answer I mean just that. If you selected the loco on the master PowerCab it responded immediately. If you used the slave it took 1-2 seconds to respond This cannot be solved by the use of a slice of kiwifruit, though it will still apply if you are controlling a container train with a model of a 20' integral reefer of chilled kiwifruit on it 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 2 hours ago, Ravenser said: I mean just that. If you selected the loco on the master PowerCab it responded immediately. If you used the slave it took 1-2 seconds to respond There are two different situations, which may be being confounded. Situation 1: PowerCab system, with a second handset added to it. The PowerCab is the command station. Situation 2: PowerPro system, with a number of handsets. Each handset must have a unique cab address. A PowerCab can be a handset on such a system, but behaves like a PowerPro handset. I make no comments on the lag reported, other than pointing out that Situation 1 is different to Situation 2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenser Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 1 minute ago, Nigelcliffe said: There are two different situations, which may be being confounded. Situation 1: PowerCab system, with a second handset added to it. The PowerCab is the command station. Situation 2: PowerPro system, with a number of handsets. Each handset must have a unique cab address. A PowerCab can be a handset on such a system, but behaves like a PowerPro handset. I make no comments on the lag reported, other than pointing out that Situation 1 is different to Situation 2. This was Situation 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted November 6, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 6, 2020 Have you tried switching the throttles around to see the effect? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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