NMRA RH October 2018

To add a new loco click on the ‘New
Loco’ button, you’ll then be asked
to select your decoder from the list,
or to get DecoderPro to ‘read’ the
decoder automatically.
In this example DecoderPro has
successfully read the loco’s decoder
and returned the decoder’s manufacturer,
type of decoder and loco’s
address as currently programmed in
the decoder. In this case the address
is 716. We can change the Roster ID
to something meaningful (I usually
change it to the loco’s description
and running number). It is possible
to change the loco’s address on this
screen so let’s do it! Enter a new
number in “Active Address” then click
on ‘Write’.
save it to the decoder. With Lenz (the
system I have on my layout) it takes
at least 12 key presses on the handheld
controller to achieve the same
result. The same method in Decoder
Pro is used to make complex changes.
And we will look at that next.
Click on ‘Open Comprehensive Programmer’,
one of the tabs available
(shown above) is the Function Map.
This gives details of what function
is attributed to which output wire or
operation. What is a time consuming
process with Lenz, becomes
a doddle with JMRI. Everything is
displayed on screen. The first step
we need to do is ‘Read Full Sheet’ to
see what is already programmed in
the decoder. Having done this, the
default positions on the sheet change
from a yellow background to clear
background and the ticks may move
around. I have multiple output wires/
operations configured to function 1,
2 and 6 (This loco has working ditch
lights that flash for grade crossing
simulation and there are dimming
capabilities for all lights).
In the example below I want to
change the operation of functions 3
and 4, so that F3 operates the Ditch
lights and F4 operates the Dimming.
For Function 3 click in the box
to select Dim and deselect Ditch, and
repeat this process for Function 4.
DecoderPro changes the background
of the changes made to yellow, so
you can see
which operations
have change to
be made.
Now click ‘Write
changes on sheet’
and wait until
everything stops
flashing on the
screen. The loco
may move too
on the programming
track whilst
this is happening
(It does at least
show things are
happening!). If
any of the columns
stay Red then the programming
has been unsuccessful. However,
in our example everything worked
fine and the background returned to
clear.
As you can see the changes have
been made with 5 clicks of the
mouse and none of the stress of a
proprietary DCC system! Placing the
loco on the layout and selecting F3
now switches the Ditch lights on and
F4 Dims the headlights.
When you write changes to the decoder
all the boxes that can be written
briefly turn red then flash yellow
as the changes are accepted. If I put
the loco on my layout now I would
be able to run it as #455. As you can
see we only needed 4 mouse clicks
to change the running number and
Ian Watton
. . . In the next part of this series
we’ll look at adding another loco to
DecoderPro’s roster and programming
a sound loco.
October 2018 - ROUNDHOUSE 27