Next 18 chips will not program

[81F]

I haver two of these sourced from different suppliers, but I cannot program them with my elite, wither to change direction, loco id or accelleration.

Any ideas anyone?

[RDS]

What supplier are they from. No problem mentioning it because Hornby do not supply one at the present time.

Maybe it is a question to put to the Live TT:120 utube Q&A tomorrow as described on the other thread.

[96RAF]

If you can tell us make and model of these decoders and also the locos they are installed in that will help Hornby in any investigation.

[81F]

One chip is definitely Rails of Sheffield's own make while the other is most probably the same. The locos are both Kerr Stuart Victory Class 0-6-0T made by Pi. Thankfully the two are from different periods so while it would be nice to change the number from 3 this is not essential, but I'd like to set the ROD version to its running number if possible. However, they annoying factor is that they run backwards compared to other locos.

One loco was brand new while the other was second hand, although "as new". I think they will accept individual CV programming as I performed a reset on the second hand one as it did not run straight out of the box.

If you can tell me what CV I would need to set to what value to reverse the direction, that might be worth trying and if there is a way of programming individual CVs to change the ID.

[96RAF]

Use this CV29 calculator to determine the decimal number you have to write to get the features you want.

http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29%20calculator.htm

Also try writing a short address direct to CV1 or if you want a long address use the other calculator further down that page to find the decimal numbers to write to CVs 17 and 18. If writing a long address then also tick the box in CV29 to bring it into play.

[P-Henny]

If you can tell me what CV I would need to set to what value to reverse the direction, that might be worth trying and if there is a way of programming individual CVs to change the ID.

 

 

The reverse direction 'bit 0' is located in CV29. You say you want a 'running number' address. A running number is likely to be a number higher than 127 which makes it a long address. Long addresses are stored in CV17 & CV18 plus the long address bit is set in CV29. I believe there is also a value to set in CV1 as well as CV17 & 18 but not sure on that. CV1 is where short addresses are stored as a directly written value. CV1 short addresses are addresses between 001 & 127.

If you navigate to the "Useful Links" sticky thread in the 'General Discussion' forum. You will find links to the online CV29 and CV17/18 calculators which will calculate what values these CVs need to be. With regard to CV29, you ideally need to know what the current value is to input into the online calculator, this is not essential if you know and understand how CV29 works. But it does really help to know the existing CV29 value if a novice.

But be aware, that trying to set a long address manually in CVs 17 & 18 & 29 is not always successful (this statement based upon reading forum posts of others). Most controllers that support long addresses (for example the Elite but not the Select) automatically handle writing to the multiple CVs needed for a long address and is the preferred method for writing 'long addresses' due to the automatic writing of multiple CVs.

EDIT: Once again, 96RAF has been typing faster than me.

[ColinB]

Even though I often criticise the Elite I have never had many issues programming with it. I know it programs Zimo and LaisDCC Next 18 decoders because those are the ones I use. In fact programming is one of the really good bits of the Elite. I have had issues with DCC Concepts ones occasionally which I think are the ones Rails sells as its own brand, I also had issues with some Gaugemaster ones. These though were the 8 pin variety. The important thing to check is does the loco have "stay alive" fitted this definitely causes issues. The other thing to check is if the Next18 decoders are firmly in their sockets.

[96RAF]

Ref P-H statement that there can be a short address in CV1 even if using a long address. This is correct. If you reset a decoder it puts value 3 in CV1 and oddly long address 100 (values 192 / 100) in CVs 17/18.

The reasons for this can be found on line, but the point is you can have both a short and long address assigned to a decoder and you can use either by way of toggling CV29.

You cannot however have the decoder conveniently responding to both addresses at the same time, so you couldn’t for instance run a long address from the Elite whilst also having a Select walkabout run the same loco at the same time on a short address. It is either / or only.

As stated entering long addresses manually has to be done in a certain order, that also explained online. Much better for the controller to handle it for you.

Another thing you can try with awkward decoders is to use Reg (register) programming mode. Short address goes in register 1. You can look up the full set of eight registers if interested.

[81F]

Many thanks for all yoiur suggestions but the two locos do not want to know!

Thankfully they are two different liveries, one from 1917-1918 and the other 1950s so they are never likely to be run at the same time. and having them operate back to front is annoying.

I will see if I can get a friend to programme them on his layout as he has a different controller.

[81F]

Just set CV29 to seven and it has changed the direction on one of the locos, but the other just doesn't want to Know!

Does anyone know what value to write to CV1 to get a loco id = to 8?

[Rog RJ]

Write 8 to cv1. However, if the decoder is still set to use a long address it won't see cv1 so you may need to alter cv29 to use the short address.

[96RAF]

If you write a value direct to CV1 as Rog says you also need to tweak CV29 to bring that short address into play.

If you simply write a short address using the Elite write-address menu then it will amend CV29 for you.