Digitrax SDN144K0a - Strange Behavior [SOLVED!]

[carlso]

metro,

I am, by no means, an expert and several of those guys, who I appreciate, have chimed in with several ideas. I am glad that you figured out a way around the problem but that does not fix it. I have a couple of questions, just as food for thought:

1. has "99" been consisted with any other locos and not had the consist deleted after using it?

2. Does the DCS51 have multiple address slots that need to be purged? I know on our club layout with large D-trax system we start having problems because operators do not clear addresses after running. After we purge the slots the system returns to normal.

be well,
Carl

[conrad]

Yes, as a "chimer inner" that's what I was suggesting:  clear (purge) all the slots.  As Carl says, we've also had this problem on our NTrak layout several times.  The command station retains locos that have not been dispatched.  I've even had it on my small home layout when I use engine driver then days later try to use my DT400R.  I frequently use DecoderPro to clear the slots to avoid multiple accesses of the same loco.

Conrad

[John]

Loco 99 is used on the older DT1 throttles to capture a loco that has been dispatched ..   I wonder if there is a bug in the software .. you might send a complete description of the problem to digitrax .. and if possible a JMRI capture of the loconet messages while this is happening ..

[MetroRedLine]

MYSTERY SOLVED!

Finally solved this doozy!!!

I posted the same question on the Digitrax DCC Help, Suggestions, Tips and Tricks Facebook group and someone there led me to Jump Ports. They allow a Digitrax command station to use a connected DC throttle to control an assigned loco. I've never used this feature, and have never hooked up a DC throttle to my Digitrax Zephyr Xtra, but the "JUMP" button is dangerously close to the frequently-used "LOCO" button on the DCS51, and in all likelihood I probably accidentally assigned address 99 to a Jump Port. Upon inspection, Jump Port #1 DID have address 99 assigned to it, so I dispatched that and every loco that's assigned to the Jump Ports - VOILA! Phantom Throttle issue is gone!

[conrad]

congrats, the magic of computers.

conrad

[peteski]

Interesting . . .
Congratulation on successful troubleshooting.

[carlso]

Congrats on being a "hacksaw" on the issue and also for posting your finding. Useful to know.

be well,
Carl