Digitrax command station programming for f8 off on track powerup

bkloss Jul 25, 2021

  1. bkloss

    bkloss TrainBoard Supporter

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    I'm looking for a way to program a command into the Digitrax DCS240 bases station so that when applying track power a command is sent to turn off f8 on all locos (no sound on ESU).

    Typically, when I'm done running trains, they get stopped and then I manually power down each Loco in the MU. (I have a 602D throttle and after 3 months I'm still not as comfortable as I am with the 402D throttles; must be just me?)

    I try not to forget to turn off my sound locos as I don't want to have multiple sound units powering up at the same time when turning on the track power. It would be great if there was a way to reset all ESU decoders to f8=off when turning on track power.

    I have a few steamers and other locos that use a different sound decoder but I generally don't leave those on the layout as they are only run on special occasions.

    Any ideas or is this just wishful thinking?

    Thanks,

    Brian
     
  2. Dogwood

    Dogwood TrainBoard Member

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    Do you use ESU decoders? This must be specified in the function assignment of the ESU decoder.
     
  3. CSX Robert

    CSX Robert TrainBoard Member

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    I'm sorry, but I don' t believe that can be done(unless you want to write a custom command station program for the DCS240). If you happen to be usnig JMRI, I'm sure you could write a script to do it, though I havn't looked into scripts much and don't know what it would take.
     
  4. RBrodzinsky

    RBrodzinsky November 18, 2022 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    Do you want the ESU decoders to always reset to off (all functions) for any power interruption (i.e. a short which gets fixed) or only when the command station physically goes from track power off to track power on?
     
  5. Greg Elmassian

    Greg Elmassian TrainBoard Member

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    Is the reason for this so the layout turns on quietly, or are you trying to limit the inrush current of multiple decoders given power at the same time?
     
  6. bkloss

    bkloss TrainBoard Supporter

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    Greg - Both; so the layout powers up quietly but most importantly, I don't need all decoders firing up at he same time.

    If all ESU decoders could be given a command to silent run prior to power up with the command station; that would be great.
     
  7. RBrodzinsky

    RBrodzinsky November 18, 2022 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    The command station, on its own, cannot do that. As mentioned above, would take a JMRI script, but that is also problematic; you can’t send commands until the power is on, so they would start making sounds before the shutoff command would get there.

    ESU decoders can be set to not restore function and speed states when power is restored. But this would also mean after a short.
     
  8. Glenn Butcher

    Glenn Butcher TrainBoard Member

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    You might sift through the CVs for your decoder to see if there's one that will let you specify a power-up condition. Looking through my Soundtraxx Tsunami book CV 113 looks promising:

    CV 113
    Quiet Mode Timeout Period
    Description
    When the Quiet Mode Timeout Period is set to a non-zero value, sounds
    become active only when the decoder is addressed.
    When the locomotive
    has been stopped and all functions have been turned off, the sound effects
    will turn off automatically after the timeout period has elapsed as set by CV
    113.
     
    Sumner likes this.

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