Consisting Revisited 25 March 2014

Recommendation Move from Universal to Advanced Consisting

Recommendation I recommend that we limit consists to Basic and Advanced and move away from Universal Consisting Except where locomotives are not compatible with Advanced Consisting This would reduce the traffic on the RailSync—the signal that is impressed upon the track—and reduce memory and computational demands on the Command Station Would lead to a more robust system Throttle commands could be sent out more rapidly rather than queued Older (unchanged) commands could (potentially) be repeated to the track to use the added RailSync bandwidth VP of Operations should develop a plan for assigning consist addresses to members and guests

Compare Consisting Universal What we’re used to Automatic control over lead locomotive All other locomotives in consist must be individually addressed Nothing is written to the decoder Flexible in moving from layout to layout Advanced Preset control over all locomotives Other locomotives in consist may be individually addressed Lower Rail Sync bandwidth use and lower computational and memory demands on Command Station Probably best for modern Ops where we have many consists Not all decoders work under Advanced Consisting Just use Universal Consisting as you used to—Advanced Consisting only responds to a two-digit address Writes to decoder Must reset CV-19 to 0 for use on other layouts We need a method for assigning addresses to non-club members at a run and for more than one consist per member

Advanced Consisting We may have up to 127 advanced consists Each member would get one consist number (his member number) Additional numbers would be pre-assigned by [someone in command] Nobody is to run a locomotive whose address is #03 Each locomotive must have at least one CV set CV-19 will be set to the consist address (normal direction) To 128+consist address (locomotives that normally run in reverse direction) CV-21, 22, 23, 24 may be set as well to give greater control

Consist Process All programming is to be performed on the Programming Track (but not the one in Staging) or by programming on the main of another layout, such as your home layout! Do not acquire individual locomotives on the layout If you do so, tell me—this can be easily fixed in DecoderPro Make sure you have a consist number Your club membership number OR an additional (one time) number assigned by VP of Operations Program CV-19, 21, 22 (and if needed 23 & 24) Place all locomotives on the main line in their designated positions Acquire a (fictitious) locomotive whose number is your consist number Operate

We Must De-Consist to Avoid Issues! A locomotive cannot be removed from the consist and run on its own unless CV-19 is reset to zero This should be performed on the Programming Track

The Negative If we only change CV-19 then there is no control over the function buttons We can add function control by setting: CV-21 to 255 CV-22 to 63 Then leave these forever We will only have control over 12 functions and the headlights DecoderPro has a human interface to set these CVs I have found that my BLI locomotive is already set Each previously used locomotive must be checked (only once) for operation in the 128-FX mode

Background We Presently Do Basic and Universal Consisting

Consisting Affects Our Command Rate Four types of consisting: Basic. Each locomotive has the same address Lack of flexibility Low use of RailSync bandwidth Universal. This is what most of us do now MU via DT 400 keyboard Flexible Uses up the most RailSync bandwidth Advanced. This is new to me Flexible, but should be considered permanent Nested. Combines any or all of the above I will not address this here

Basic Consisting Each locomotive has the same address Some people use this for their A-B or A-B-B-A units Simple, conserves RailSync bandwidth, but all units turn on their lights or blow their horns at the same time Multiple sound units may afford a good quadraphonic effect

Universal Consisting This is what most of us do now MU via DT 400-series keyboard Add new locomotives to consist by pressing the [MU] and [+] keys Each locomotive may be accessed individually for lights and other functions Convenient and a known quantity Uses up RailSync bandwidth, a three locomotive consist gets three commands sent when (for example) changing speed

Advanced Consisting, i Each locomotive must have at least one CV set CV-19 is set to the Assigned Address Each locomotive of the consist that travels in the same direction has the same CV-19 A locomotive that operates in reverse (such as the trailing FA unit) would have CV-19 set to a value of 128 + Assigned Address Previously, CV-19 had been set to zero CV-19 is set automatically by the Command Station This would allow consisting performed in a way almost identical to what we do now We must do some initial work Change the Command Station settings Each previously used locomotive must be checked (only once) for operation in the 128-FX mode Consisting is performed by the MU and + keys It is important that locomotives be properly de-consisted to restore their individual operation

Advanced Consisting, ii Features Consist information is maintained in the locomotives, not in the command station Only one slot is used per consist Command traffic is reduced. Only one command is sent to the consist rather than one for each locomotive Consist is maintained from layout to layout A locomotive cannot be removed from the consist and run on its own unless CV-19 is reset to zero This may be performed automatically by the Command Station using the “MU” and “ –” keys in which case the loco reverts to its previous (four-digit) number CV-21 through CV-24 (see next section) need not be changed Other locomotives remain consisted

More Than You Wanted to Know About CVs

Instead, Use the Excel CV Calculator!! Some Examples—Lead “A” Unit Inputs: Results:   CV Value My User #: 17 19 21 255 Direction: 22 61 Functions I Want:

“B” Unit Inputs: Results: CV Value My User #: 17 19 21 248 Direction:   CV Value My User #: 17 19 21 248 Direction: 22 60 Functions I Want:

Trailing “A” Unit Inputs: Results: CV Value My User #: 17 19 145 21   CV Value My User #: 17 19 145 21 248 Direction: 22 62 Functions I Want: