# cv29



## Cushtime2 (Jan 29, 2014)

Hi all,

I need to know if I killed my decoder or just need to correct the programming to bring it back to life. I installed an eco-400 into my USAT GP38-2 and everything worked fine using default loco address of 3. Then I got crazy and thought I could change it to a long address by changing cv29 along with 17 & 18. Of course now I can't address the loco now.

My controllers manual says if I improperly program cv29 it may cause the decoder to malfunction. Does this mean it wont work until I fix the programming or do I now have a brick inside my loco?

I had attempted to reset all cv's by entering and 8 on cv8. I also changed cv30, 15 & 16 to 0 to unlock the cv's.

As you can probably tell I know enough to be very dangerous but not enough to get the job done.

Thank You,
John


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Can you read and write and change ANY CV?

Are you in service mode?

What is your DCC system?

Greg


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

After resetting CV8 to 8, did you cycle the power? I had an "oh, yeah" moment with that when resetting my Eco-400. I reset it and reset it again, thinking nothing happened. I called it quits out of frustration and turned everything off. When I came back to it and powered everything back up, sure enough it came back factory fresh. 

Also, make sure you're in service mode (Program track) when resetting CV8. What are you using to program the decoder? 

I don't use long addresses (few of my locos even have double-digit road numbers), so I can't really help much in terms of programming them. There are calculators online you can use to figure out the appropriate values for CV17 and CV18. If you're using Decoder Pro, I think you just enter the 4-digit road number and it does the calculation and programming for you. It's been a long time since I played with Decoder Pro, since I don't have a working interface between it and my decoders. 

There's a Soundtraxx Users' Group on Yahoo Groups you may want to join. There are some pretty experienced folks on that list who can probably get you sorted out. You can also give Soundtraxx a call. They've been very helpful to me from time to time.

Later,

K


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Very few modern systems and decoders have issues programming long addresses.

Let's wait for his response to see the answers to the fundamental questions I asked, I doubt seriously he's having this issue and using decoder pro ha ha!

Greg


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Greg, we were writing our responses at the same time, thus I did not see your questions. 

Later,

K


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Hah, you must type slow ha ha! You had a good 5 minutes.



(by the way how come we don't even have the normal smiley in the editor) 

Greg


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

I have worked with binary, octal, decimal and hex for 50 years and find calculating long addresses to be easy for me.

So, post your speed step and engine address and I will post the CV17, 18 and 29 values.


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## Cushtime2 (Jan 29, 2014)

Thanks for your help guys. It turns out that it was operator error. I've been using a 5 foot stretch of track in my living room to test my decoder/speaker and light installations. For some reason I forgot to change the wire to the track for programming. So to make a long story short I am happy to say that the decoder is back to factory defaults.

Now time for me to start doing some real damage


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Cool! Of course, now we need video of it in action. 

Later,

K


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

cushtime, just curious, what DCC system are you running? I like to keep sort of an ongoing poll of what people are using.

Regards, Greg


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## Cushtime2 (Jan 29, 2014)

Thanks Dan but I managed to find the decimal equivalent for the long address online. I kept the speed steps at factory default on cv29 (for now).

Greg, I am using MRC Prodigy Elite for a system.

K, I am working on getting a video on here.

Thanks
Cush


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