Locomotive address being changed without knowledge!1

[philandsue]

Latest problem- purchased second hand DCC hornby set with loco and select contoller 1.2 vwersion - awaiting hornby to open up again for firmware update. worked ok. Then purchased another second hand loco. as first loco was set to 03 i set new loco - 0-6-0 Maude to 01. All worked well, sound too! did have some issues but resolved them. during latest running Maude no operates os 03 loco and original loco will not operate at all! using address 03 or 01. not tried reprogramming to another umber. For first loco I also set up acceleration at 60 - a bit slow - don't seem to be able to change it.

 

 

[Chrissaf]

You say you're using a Select controller.

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First thing to be totally aware of is because the Select does not have a separate 'programming' output. You have to ensure that 100% you have removed ALL other locos and DCC devices from the track BEFORE you try to change the DCC address of new loco purchase.

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Better still. Have a short length of track put to one side as a 'programming' track piece and then disconnect your Select completely from the main layout track and temporarily connect the Select to your short 'programming' track piece just whilst you undertake a loco (decoder) programming task on it.

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Another thing to be aware of is that short brief transient 'short circuits' [these may be so brief that they do not trip the Select short circuit protection] can corrupt the configuration of decoders and cause them to lose their DCC Addresses and become unresponsive to DCC commands.

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Sometimes just readdressing the decoder will recover. However, some 'short circuit' induced corruptions can be so severe that the decoder doesn't respond to readdressing and needs to be 'factory reset' by writing a value of 8 to CV8.

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Now you can't do this CV8 factory reset with a Select that does not have version 1.6 or version 2.0 firmware.

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I note in your posted question that you intend to upgrade your Select, but I still include this upgrade boilerplate text below for additional information.

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The current installed firmware is displayed as the very first number to briefly appear on the Select screen as it is being powered up. Expect to see a number between 10 and 20. At the time of writing, the latest version is 1.6 [16] or 2.0 [20] - both the same. These latest versions completely transform the user experience of the Select controller and add the ability to write (not read) all CVs up to CV255. As well as access to the full F0 - F28 range of functions.

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The upgrade charge is typically £15 plus VAT [£18] plus your sending postage costs. You need to get a 'returns number' from Hornby Customer Services - see 'Contact Us' link at the very bottom of the page.

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If you do arrange to get your Select firmware upgraded, then you will need both the Select version 1.5 full manual and the version 1.6 addendum manual. As the operation of your Select (how to use it) will be completely different in certain areas of operation compared to your current firmware version.

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You can download these two manual PDFs from here:

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/downloads/view/index/cat/12/

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If nothing appears to happen, check your nominated browser download folder for the files as they can download silently in the background.

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Assuming that you do recover your situation and get a working layout again and you conclude that your issue was indeed caused by a transient short circuit. Then this 'short circuit' decoder corruption issue can be very much reduced nay eliminated in the future if you fit a 'snubber' to your DCC track power distribution. A 'snubber' is basically a 0.1µF Ceramic Capacitor in series with a 100 Ohm 2W resistor placed across the DCC feed to your track.

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To read up more on 'Snubbers' and their theory then read the article linked below written by a member of the NMRA DCC Standards Association.

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https://sites.google.com/site/markgurries/home/dcc-general-best-practices/wiring-planing/snubbers-rc-filter

[philandsue]

So, it appears I can try to re-programme both locos - if that doesn't work am I correct in thinking that loco has to go back to Hornby, when they are back working again to be re-coded.

 

Thanks for your help.

[96RAF]

Before you try readdressing the locos it is worth resetting the Select itself per the manual. If you don’t have the applicable manual for your version you can download it here...

http://www.halton96th.org.uk/dcc-downloads.html

Scroll down to see the download link. Scroll further and you will the improvements made at each update of the Select firmware.

 

Once the Select is reset then have go at re-addressing each decoder.

[philandsue]

Now both locos are working but with transposed addresses. i have another problem but will raise separate query for that.