Programming Digitrax for Constant Non-Directional Lighting effects

[peteski]

Digitrax manuals are the absolute worse out there!  And I'm computer literate, used to reading technical manuals. 

Try
CV 50 (Yellow wire) I added 6 (rotary beacon) plus 32 (non- directional) = 38
then also
CV33=1
CV34=1
CV37=2
This is supposed to remap the yellow wire (F0R) to F3.  So the supposedly non-directional rotary beacon set on yellow wire by CV50=38 will now be controlled (on and off) by F3 key on the throttle.

CV61 seems to be throwing a wrench into the works here. For the above config, it should be set to 0.  If CV61=1 then yellow wire (your strobe) is controlled by F4 on the throttle, but the white output (headlight) becomes non-directional. 

[wm3798]

I'll give it a whirl tonight.  Thanks, Pete.

Thanks also for the validation of my opinion of Digitrax's team of comedy writers...

Lee

[elnscale]

Using Pete's suggestions for the rear, I have got it to do what Lee wants:

CV61=0
CV49=104 (8+96)
CV50=38 (6+32)
CV33=1
CV34=1
CV37=2
Press F3 ON

The front light going forward is bright and going backwards is dimmed.
The rear light is permanently strobing, both forwards and backwards (F3 ON enables the feature and OFF turns the light off completely).

[wm3798]

[peteski]

Cool!   I'm actually really surprised that I was able to figure this out simply by reading the Digitrax manual.  I had no idea if it would work.  I just took a stab in the dark...

Thanks Elnscale for using my suggestion and verifying it.

Speaking of Digitrax decoders,  while I think they have very good motor control, their lighting FX are still in dark ages when it comes to using LEDs. While other manufacturers (like TCS) embraced the fact that LEDs are the new light bulbs of the 21st Century, Digitrax FX are still designed to be used with incandescent bulbs!  When FX3 was first introduced, I hoped that Digitrax got with the times, but no, using LEDs for lighting effects (like ditch lights or rotating beacons) still gives rather poor visual effect.  That's too bad, considering that Digitrax is one of the oldest and best established DCC manufacturers.

[wm3798]

Ah, but remember, Pete.  The B&O was the first and oldest railroad... which meant they spent the second 50 years rebuilding their line to keep up with the newer lines that learned from the B&O's mistakes...

Thanks again for all the help.

Lee

[peteski]

Ah, but remember, Pete.  The B&O was the first and oldest railroad... which meant they spent the second 50 years rebuilding their line to keep up with the newer lines that learned from the B&O's mistakes...

Thanks again for all the help.

Lee

Sure Lee, that might have been ok back then. But we now live in a fast-paced world where you need to keep up with the changes. especially if you are a companly producing electronic microprocessor-based devices, where other companies make similar (but better) products.  Brand-loyalty only goes so far...

It really has been a knucklehead move by Digitrax not to make their newest decoder revision more LED-friendly.

And you're welcome - it was an interesting exercise in trying to make this thing work. There probably are other workable solutions too.

[wm3798]

This should be pinned up top in the "Problem Solved" section.  It will be interesting to see how many Digitrax programming issues end up topside...  This would be the second.

Lee

[davefoxx]

[off topic]  If I can rant a little bit.  Overall, I'm satisfied with Digitrax decoders.  Perhaps they're difficult to program for needs like Lee's in this thread, but that's something I haven't needed to do yet.  Where I get perturbed, is with the LEDs.  I'm not sure if my complaint is related to Peteski's allegations that the Digitrax decoders are not LED-friendly, but I do not like the tiny LEDs that they use on the decoders now.

In the following picture, the headlight is on.  That's right, I said they're on, although you can barely tell.


This is a Digitrax DN163A0 board.  All of the old DN163A0 boards with the larger LEDs that I have work great, and the headlights are very visible, like this:
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See the difference?  [/off topic]

[wm3798]

[peteski]

Dave,
my complaint was strictly about the way Digitrax lighting effects (which change brightness of the lights while the effect is on) function with LEDs.

As far as your problem goes, I don't have those decoders to do side-by-side comparison.

I suspect that the old one used standard leaded T-1 (3mm) LEDs. Those were installed to face out towards the ends of the loco), and due to their additional length (since they were protruding from the ends of the decoder, they would be positioned much closer to the "light conduits" in the loco.

The new version simply has surface-mount LEDs soldered on the top of the decoder board. They probably face up. Or even if they face out fo the edge of the decoder, they are still further away from the "light conduits". So, much less light enters those conduits, while most of the light is scattered inside the loco's shell.

At least that is my take on this, not having them in-hand to evaluate them.

[jagged ben]

I checked my locos. I have the front light bright when going forward (the normal direction of travel defines what is forward) and dim when going back. This is a setting of 104 (96+8) in CV49. I have the same function in reverse on the back end. This is a setting of 120 (112+8).

Are you able to achieve this with independent control of the lights?  I believe I have been able to achieve what you describe, but only if both lights are on (or off) at the same time.  And that is not what I want.    I want the forward light to be full-in-forward,dim-in-reverse, I want the reverse light to be the opposite, and I want to choose whether either, neither, or both are on at any given time.  I can achieve that with the forward light, but not the rear light.  When I try to set the rear light to a separate function (F1), and have it be a rule 17 light, it turns off when in forward (that is, when it should dim).   

I have settled for having my rear lights be only on/off normal functions with no dimming.  Which means settling for full brightness of the rear light when running a DPU helper forward at the end of train.

I use decoder pro so I have no idea what the CV values are.

[Ian MacMillan]

Ah, but remember, Pete.  The B&O was the first and oldest railroad... which meant they spent the second 50 years rebuilding their line to keep up with the newer lines that learned from the B&O's mistakes...

Thanks again for all the help.

Lee

They were the first common carrier railroad! Get out right! There were several other quarry railroads in Massachusetts before the B&O!   

[elnscale]

Are you able to achieve this with independent control of the lights?  I believe I have been able to achieve what you describe, but only if both lights are on (or off) at the same time.  And that is not what I want.    I want the forward light to be full-in-forward,dim-in-reverse, I want the reverse light to be the opposite, and I want to choose whether either, neither, or both are on at any given time.  I can achieve that with the forward light, but not the rear light.  When I try to set the rear light to a separate function (F1), and have it be a rule 17 light, it turns off when in forward (that is, when it should dim).   

JaggedBen,

I've not tried to make them independent. I will try when I get home middle of next week. I'm thinking some variation of Peteski's function remapping could be a solution.

BTW, Peteski, I understand what you did and how/why it works. What I don't understand is why a simple reading of the manual which, IMO, yields a simple solution of 104 front/CV49 and 38 rear/CV50 doesn't work. It's apparently a consequence of them both being on F0, but what in the manual explains why that should not work and that function remapping is needed?

After all, Lee's solution said nothing about being able to turn the feature on/off and if that was not a requirement, then the mapping to F3 is a (minor) kludge, albeit one that works. In other words, how can you achieve this without the need to turn it on with F3? FWIW, I think the turning on/off with a function key is an added bonus and enhances the solution.

[peteski]

Trying to use Digitrax manuals is an exercise in futility and frustration.    For example, decoder features which should be grouped together are scattered all over the manual, the glossary sucks, and certain things aren't covered at all (in what is the only, and supposedly complete mobile decoder manual).  It took me a while, but what I figured out was strictly by reading the manual 9I didn.t experiment on a real decoder). It wasn't fun, easy, or logical.

I simply guessed that the yellow output had to be remapped to another function to get it out of the special headlight mode (when both white and yellow are considered F0).  But this was never explained in the manual.  Or I never found that mentioned in the manual.

Did I happen to mention that Digitrax manuals SUCK?