fcwilt

Hi,

I'm not familiar with the limitations of BRONZE but if you can select a digital system type of Digitrax or LocoNet, that is what you want to use.

When the DR5000 is connected to your computer with the USB cable 3 COM ports are created.

One of these is for a Lenz type connection. The other one (the one you want) is for a LocoNet connection.

If BRONZE allows two digital systems you can use both.

Frederick

On 12/08/2019 at 17:17, bluedepot said:

hi

 

i just guess that the prev owner had changed some obscure setting in my case

 

electronics so complicated now that all sorts of glitches are possible with system and loco so bound to happen sometimes 

 

all the best

 

 

tim

What is the number of the loco? The previous owner likely set the long address to match that. You checked CV1 but that only shows the short address. 

Frederick

16 hours ago, Robin2 said:

As far as I can see they are still readily available and I don't think the newer Infineon products are available in the same convenient package. Unfortunately the trend is to design everything for surface mounting.

 

...R

 

Thanks.

Just out of curiosity do you know (or know how to find out) what the suggested new part is?

Frederick

The Infineon site has this part marked as "not for new design".

Am I looking at the correct part?

https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/power/motor-control-ics/intelligent-motor-control-ics/integrated-full-bridge-driver/tle5206-2g/

Thanks.

ok, have solved the issue - you have to guess when it is lower case as the display will always show upper case but it only enters upper case into the password when the up arrow is shown on the screen - really intuitive (not!) and unlike described in the manual

Glad to hear it. I remember using mixed case but did not remember the display was always upper case. That would be confusing.

Frederick

Frederick - 

 

I always use my own routers also, however, I need to use their one for a few weeks until the signal stabilises and TBH forcing a strong password is good practice and I know all about the good practice from the day job that funds the model railway

Hi,

I was reading an article about the person (or persons) responsible for setting "good practice" for passwords to consist of a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols.

This person (or persons) have since concluded that that approach is flawed and the use of a "password phrase", which can be longer and at the same time easier to remember, is actually a better approach.

Frederick

In common with you Iain, Keith and others, I'd quite like to know what is going on with this case.  

 

But, I am puzzled as to why ESU decoders (maker who pushes RailCom fairly heavily) appear to have problems with systems which generate RailCom signals, including those made by ESU.  (I do have an idea why this might be the case, but without some further testing, including turning off RailCom on the problem command stations.  Its around what circuitry to stop flicker might be present (or not present) on the wiring to the lights in the locos.  But its just an idea.   ).    

Indeed.

I have used a number of different command stations (Digitrax, NCE, Roco, Digikeijs) and many different brands of decoders. I never experienced any of the problems described by the OP.

Very strange.

Frederick

Both ECoS units were bought brand new from two different large UK model railway retailers.

 

The flickering lights issues appeared with the LokSound decoders only on all units using RailCom etc. (Roco, PIKO, ECoS).

They were not present on EZ, Prodigy Advanced 2 and ACE-2.

Which is why those DCC command stations allow for turning off the RailCom support.

Did you try that first?

Frederick

Hi,

I cannot check my unit now but does pressing the key with the "up arrow" (also looks like a house) change the case?

I despise devices that make me use certain kinds of passwords. I don't use the WiFi of the device provided by my internet provider, I use EnGenius units that I purchase and install, which don't try to force me to do things a certain way.

Frederick

Hi,

Well I know the unit CAN work as I have one and verified it's operation.

But I don't recall if I was able to simply follow the instructions in the manual or not.

If I was home I would fire it up and check it out. I will do that asap if you haven't solved the problem before then.

Frederick

Does the LED on the unit turn on and off with the little push button?

Frederick

Hi,

According to the manual you should be using address 9999 in POM mode.

Also it says that CV47 is not readable.

So why do you think that the change made via CV47 is not taking?

Frederick

Thank you Frederick, it was that aspect I was looking for opinions on and you've answered it nicely , i'm trying to simplify things as much as I can as a Stroke means that multi tasking is increasingly difficult for me and I still have masses of TC configurations to do so an integrated solution should help .

Hi,

If you need any assistance with Train Programmer feel free to contact me via email.

Frederick

Hi , Have TC V9 Gold a Lenz system and Railcom via DCC4PC and I also have a sprog2 and JMRI on a PC but was wondering if anyone who uses TC also uses Train Programmer and whether they think the investment is worth it , i'm hoping i've put this in the right place as I was not sure whether to post it under computer control ?.

I use Train Programmer for programming locos. It works well and is integrated into Train Controller.

Frederick

Excellent info. Pity there's no "Dummies guide to" for this kind of thing...I know James Hudson @ dcc trainautomation has a wealth of info, but he's quite busy and difficult to get on the phone.

I've been scared to just "connect without knowing what was doing" for fear of wrecking DR5000, 4088LN 4088 and goodness knows what else!

 

John

Feel free to contact me via email. I own all but the most recent Digikeijs devices.

Frederick

https://www.digitrains.co.uk/ecommerce/search/50097-l-net-adaptor-for-ECoS.aspx

 

That's it there, not cheap though so ill follow your advice and look at the basic 4088 module

Thank you for that link. 

Frederick

Frederick thank you very much for clearing that up that explains a lot, now ill have to invest in an adaptor to get the ECoS to accept loconet. 

Glad to help.

Is there such an adapter for the ECoS?

Do you have other LocoNet devices you wish to connect? If not just get the plain 4088 device in the desired configuration (CS or GND).

Frederick

The ln i have here has an s88 connection as well as loconet

Correct. But notice that the S88 connection is marked "IN".

All of the 4088 devices that support a non-S88 primary connection, like the LN which uses LocoNet, reply on the S88 protocol for connecting the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc devices.

If you check the manual for the basic 4088 device which has no suffix you will see that it has an S88 connection marked "OUT" as well as the connection marked "IN".

If your command station needs an incoming S88 connection you need the basic 4088 device.

Frederick

CS is the 2-rail

GND is the 3 rail

OPTO if I'm understanding it, has LEDs on to show occupancy

 

I have a couple of the DR4088LN-CS versions to install and have used BDL168s in the past, so if I get round to it in the next few days will post back here.

The CS version is used for occupancy detection via current sensing (thus the CS) with the power to one rail flowing "into" the C connections and "out" to the rails via the 1-16 connections.

The GND version is used for contact closures between the C connections and the 1-16 connections.

The OPTO version is similar to the GND version but it is optically isolated.

Frederick

Good luck ive got an 4088ln and i cant for the life of me get it to work on s88 with the ECoS, ill be interested to know how you get on.

Does the ECoS have the required LocoNet port? The 4088LN is designed to use a LocoNet connection.

The 4088CS or 4088GND or 4088OPTO is for the S88 bus.

Frederick

Hi,

What is going to happen when the modified address returned matches the normal address of another loco?

Frederick

Frederick

 

I know them very well and am actually a beta tester for some of their products

 

They are very much and exception, possibly with a ROCO not far behind but the established player are very slow to market and when something does appear it is underwhelming in the extreme - look at Lenz’ latest offering, hardly earth shattering and several year late.

Hi,

Interesting!

I've been impressed with their products - I purchased one or two of most of their "DCC" products just to check them out.

Do you know how Digikeijs got started?

Frederick

I am not sure that they are unique in this respect, most suppliers in this space seem to create one system and then all you get is variations on that offering without any real innovation or change. Most of the platforms seems to have been around for many years without any change which either means they were incredibly overspec'd when first delivered or innovation isn't something that they do - some I don't think that the former applies

I don't know if you have checked out the Digikeijs DR5000 but there is a company that seems to working hard and has some good ideas.

Frederick

Hi BrendanS

I've contacted NCE a couple of times about this issue but nothing has changed - possibly because few are affected by it.

My layout is fully automated and the software I use needs this additional information from the command station to avoid some annoying behavior that occurs as a result of not having the information.

Digitrax, Roco, Digikeijs and other command stations don't have this issue so it would it not seem to be a huge technical hurdle to leap.

But I do like the NCE handhelds!

Frederick

Correct, but I understood the issue to be using the NCE handheld on Z21.  If you have the NCE system, you can connect it to the Z21 through the sniffer ports to be able to use the NCE handheld.

 

Brendan

The issue is with the NCE command station. It doesn't send certain DCC packets that my system needs to see.

Frederick