Adding digikeijs lighting to RM

[Padders]

Hi

This may be a dumb question but, I recently received a gift of a digikeijs DR800 Gold coach lighting kit. I have no idea how to set this up in RM e-link. It has it's own decoder and the manufacturer supplies cv lists but not how to set-up in e-link.

Any ideas please?

[RB51]

There is a lot of information in their manual here and on page 12 there are several CV presets for different lighting effects. Is that what you are looking for? R-

[Chrissaf]

You really have jumped in the 'deep end' this time. Below will give you some clues, but you need to sit down with the manual and read through all the options. Some of the CVs in this product require an understanding of how to set specific BITS in a BYTE by writing decimal numbers. The manual does not explain this process very well and assumes a certain level of knowledge from the user. For a novice without any computer background, this can be a difficult subject to master. But to put that into perspective, this should not be necessary if you are happy with all the factory default settings. In which case you only need to set the DCC address at CV1.

 

Configuration Process using RM / eLink

 

The lighting board needs to be physically connected to the 'PROG A&B' output of the eLink during this process. I would suggest doing all your configuration and testing of the board on the 'workbench' before fitting it to a loco or carriage. Connection position 1 OR 10 documented in the product manual is the connection to the DCC feed (track) and also the temporary connection for the programming track connection. Wire will need to be soldered to these solder pads for ease of connection.

 

The only part of RM that you are interested in at this stage is the CV writing screen.

 

Open RM, then open the 'Locomotive Settings' screen. DO NOT touch any of the loco specific buttons and pull down boxes etc. Leave all data fields blank on this screen.

 

Instead, go straight to the 'CV Read / Write' screen, by clicking the  /media/tinymce_upload/378d789514efcb7061cd1013ce1924bf.jpg  icon.

 

/media/tinymce_upload/aa251e5589cb26ff97ccd175ab4d27ef.jpg

 

Do not click the Green Tick to read any CVs.

 

You are now in a screen where you can write directly to the integrated lighting board function decoder.

 

Decide what DCC address you want to give this decoder and enter it in the 'Value Box' for CV1 ... I suggest that initially for testing purposes you give the decoder a unique address. You can then read the manual regarding using the 'consist' feature to link this lighting board DCC Address to a loco that is using a different DCC address.

 

Note that the only numbers that are valid for DCC Addresses in CV1 are DCC Addresses between 001 and 127. Addresses above 127 can be used, but not by writing the value in CV1. For the purpose of this 'How To' I recommend 'K.I.S.S' [Keep It Simple Stupid] and use an address less than 128.

 

Perform the OPTIONAL CV configuration value data entry .,.. see manual PAGES 11 to 13 for details. Or leave these all as their defaults for the time being until such time as you can see what the factory options actually do

 

The most onerous CV to configure [optionally] is CV47 where you have to enable certain BITS in the BYTE. This graphic below should help make the manual a little easier to interpret. The majority of the other optional CVs seem to be a straight forward write a number in the stated range to the stated CV and is fairly self explanatory in the manual text.

 

/media/tinymce_upload/d24be8699a11c63521f6e99ea751842d.jpg

Note: Only one 'Preset' of the four should be enabled at any one time [the factory default for CV47 is zero i.e no presets enabled]. Basically the 'Presets' automatically configure the following CVs [109 & 111 plus 117 to 120] shown in the table at the bottom of Page 12 with the values shown in the table. Note that there is no 'Preset' for the 'Disco Light' option in the Page 12 table.

 

Click the PEN icon [bottom left of the CV writing screen] to write the CV1 DCC Address and any optional CV settings that you want to change to the decoder.

 

Now you can test these configurations.

 

Transfer the lighting board connections [1 or 10] from 'PROG A&B' output to the eLink 'TRACK A&B' output.

 

Assuming that you have chosen to use a unique DCC address, then you need to create a dummy locomotive throttle.

 

Open a new instance of the 'Locomotive Settings' screen. I have highlighted the parts of this screen you are interested in.

 

/media/tinymce_upload/972214bb0b8ed5952c76eb92c144ee2f.jpg

 

• In the 'Locomotive DCC ID' field, enter the address you assigned to CV1 earlier.
• In the 'Name' field enter an appropriate name to call this decoder ... for example "DR800 Lights".
• In the vertical functions list enter the function names as taken from the manual on PAGE 14 [see next section of text below for some guidance]
• Click the Green Tick to save this dummy loco to the roster and have the throttle display in RM.

 

For example from reading PAGE 14 [Note that the on/off text is important to add else the effects won't lock on].

 

Note also that there is a function button label length character limit, so the examples below may need to be even more abbreviated than they are shown below. Any abbreviated function button label still needs to keep the on/off showing at the end.

 

F0 = Dir Lights on/off

F1 = AUX1 on/off

F2 = AUX2 on/off

F3 does not appear to be used

F4 = LED Grp 1-4 on/off

F5 = LED Grp 1 on/off

F6 = LED Grp 2 on/off

F7 = LED Grp 3 on/off

F8 = LED Grp 4 on/off

 

F9 to F28 = Not used

 

AUX 1 [F1] and AUX 2 [F2] look to be options to illuminate additional optional external LEDs not mounted integrally on the lighting board itself.

 

Once you can observe what the F4 to F8 functions actually do, then you could come back here and edit the function button labels to something more descriptive.

 

This is the best I can do for you at this time, bearing in mind I am working from the manual and do not have an actual product in front of me to experiment with.

[Padders]

Wow!

Thanks Chris, really comprehensive and very much appreciated.

I will start assembly tomorrow and let you know how I get on. I do have some programming experience so dec code conversion shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks again.

[Padders]

Hi Chris

 

Worked a treat, thanks. should I get any more I will use the same DCC address (99) for all coaches to have a one click lights on for all coaches. BTW the Flourescent flicker is quite effective.

Now for the pickups :(

[Padders]

There is a lot of information in their manual here and on page 12 there are several CV presets for different lighting effects. Is that what you are looking for? R-

Thanks for the feedback Roger, Chris sorted it for me.

[Padders]

Chris

FYI

When you set the DCC ID (CV1) and write, it fails verify, presumably because it's a write only decoder. Similarly it fails all CV's when reading. I also had to put a default speed setting in the loco set up otherwise it wouldn't save the settings.

The LED bar itself is wired in groups of 3 LED's, so LED group 1 would illuminate LED's 1,4,8 etc. Led group 2 illuminates 2,5,9 etc.

When you snip the LED bar to size you have to link the return feed. The image (P4) in the manual is incorrect. I cut to size to fit N gauge Class 101 DMU centre carriage (4 LED's) and had to link all the pads. Works great now but only needs the one function key for all LEDs on/off (Grp 1-4).

Regards

Martin

[Chrissaf]

Thanks for the feedback. Now that you have explained the groups, the manual now makes perfect sense. I seem to recall that the manual indicated some of the CVs were read only. But I also seem to recollect that the manual also said some could be read. The unable to read all issue may be due to the need to use the RM CV read writing screen in an unusual way. RM uses the value of CV 7 and 8 to refer to a decoder database. I would imagine that this decoder is not in that database. I suspect that if you only try reading one specific CV at a time, then values might be returned. At the top right of the CV screen is a data entry field where you can specify which CVs to read.

 

Pickups, I should imagine that will be a challenge on an N guage.

 

Regarding the need to set a speed before the throttle can be saved. I shall make a mental note of that should another RM function only decoder 'How To' question come up again.

 

But overall, seems a complete success.

 

 

[Padders]

Chris was pure gold, look at the detail in this historic response....