Loco runs the wrong way!

[renard80]

My grandson has two DCC locos for his new Railmaster / eLink setup.

Loco 1 responds correctly to "Forward / Reverse".

But Loco 2 goes forwards when it should reverse, and vice versa.

Having looked unsuccessfully for help, please does anyone have the answer?

[St1ngr4y]

Hi,

One step at a time...

Are they both steam locos ?

Ray

[renard80]

Thanks for reply, Ray.

Newbie here, so forgive my ignorance  -  they are both models of steam locos, if that's what you mean. But they don't have any 'steam' facility.

[96RAF]

The reason St...4y was asking is that if they were diesels then you need to know which end is the front as both ends are a tad similar, except for the fans, which is classed as the front.

Next step is have you given them both new addresses, if so then you can 'reverse' the default direction in the errant loco's setup from within RM by way of a tick box on the general tab.

Rob

[renard80]

Thanks, Rob.

Yes, they have been given different addresses (Loco 1 and Loco 2).

I will get the boy to do as you suggest next time he is here and report back. Presumably the 'general tab' is obvious to find?

(Nice friendly people on here!)

[96RAF]

@ren

Not easy to find..sorry but I've led you up the garden path here.

You can 'reverse control direction' in the General tab of the Spanner button area, but this would affect all locos and there is no tick box way of fettling the problem in the (single) Loco button area, so it can only be done by adjusting CV29 for that loco on a Programming track, this procedure you will have to read about in the manual.

Once again apologies

Rob

[96RAF]

@ren

To save you time read pages 44 & 46 of the manual loaded onto your desktop when RM was installed.

Rob

[renard80]

Thanks for taking the trouble, Rob.

I will report back in due course.

[Fishmanoz]

I think you will find the only way to change the default direction of an individual loco is via adjustment to bit 1 of CV29, for which you will have to read in the manual about reading and writing CVs. 

And here is a link to a CV29 calculator which will help you to know what value has to be put in there http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29%20calculator.htm 

[96RAF]

Fortunately RM takes away the need for a calculator as it brings up a tick box table of CV29 variables.

[St1ngr4y]

I can't see a tick box table for CV29. All I see is a list of the meanings of each bit when you click on the help question mark in the cell labelled 'Decoder config'. Which version of RM are you using?

Ray

[96RAF]

That is annoying...The tick box system is only in the v1.55 manual.

I have RM v1.55 at demo and licenced and I see the same as you on both - a ? mark and an explanation list.

Another example of software configuration control getting out of step with the books.

I prefered the old way using the tick boxes shown in the manual.

[gilbo2]

All the hours I've used RM and hadn't spotted that. Will have a look next time it's fired up. Thanks for the tip.

I know, read the manual ;-)

[gilbo2]

Just seen the latest posts, maybe I've not missed it!

[Rinner]

I've just upgraded to Railmaster from my select system and had the same problem with two of my locis running the opposite way to that shown on Railmaster. For some reason the cvs couldnt be accessed, (still working on why), but then I remembered that the select, (and presumably the Elite) allows you to change the direction of travel by reprogramming using the arrow buttons. I powered up the track via the select and changed the direction for both locos on the programming track and sure enough when I switched back to the railmaster and elink they are now going in the correct direction.

Assuming the original poster has a select or elite that would be the simplest way of doing the job!

[Yelrow]

Hi, rinner, and welcome to the forum.What a good first post, praise for the select is good, espescially, as i have done the opposite of you, due to unreliability of elink connection, here in france, and am running locos with select and points with rm. Keep on posting, john

[renard80]

Hello again, dear friends. OP back again, in frustration at still being unable to correct this.

Thanks for all the helpful input.

For information, the latest manual available to me is that on the Hornby website - VERSION 1.44.

Here is how far we have got:

With the eLink connected via PROG and the loco on the track, I opened the Locos window.

On the Locos window, I selected the relevant loco from the list. Then I clicked the i icon to open Locomotive CV Settings.

CV29 shows Decoder Config, Value 001.  ‘Status/String’ cell is blank.

Clicking the ? in CV29 brings up a box which begins:

 “Bit 0 sets loco direction: 0 [0] = normal, 1 [1] reversed.”

Here is where we are stumped!

Presumably I have to set something called Bit 0 to [0] or [1] -  but how do I do that?

Further help will be gratefully received by this technically-challenged, absolute newbie!

(Thanks for your suggestion, Rinner, but we do not have Select or Elite, just eLink Railmaster.)

[Fishmanoz]

Hi renard, you don't set the bits themselves, you calculate the decimal value that results from setting the bit values you need, then enter that as the CV value. But go back to page 1 and check out the CV calculator I gave you the link to as that will do it for you. 

But for this one, you don't really need the calculator as the problem is trivial. As the CV value is 1, that is telling you that the only bit set is bit 1 set to reverse direction. No other bits can be set or the value would be higher (at least 3). To get rid of the reverse direction, you have to unset bit 1. This means reducing the value of CV29 by 1 giving you a value of 0. So just write 0 to it. 

And the latest version of the manual should have been downloaded to your desktop when RM updated. Alternatively, it will be in the RM folder in the Program file (X86) folder on C: drive. Forget about the one on the site. 

[renard80]

Fishmanoz, I folllowed your recommendation and solved the problem! The loco now does as it should.

Very many thanks again to you and others on here for giving your advice so freely. It is truly appreciated.

[Fishmanoz]

Glad that worked for you renard. You even managed to get past my deliberate mistake too. We are of course talking about bit 0 here, not bit 1 which has a value of 2 when set and relates to speed steps.