# Pro Drive DCC switch progamming Observations and question



## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

I set out today to program my 10 Pro Drive DCC switch machines.

I know that most guys using these systems know them inside and out and will find this post a bit slow, but I am trying to help out those, who like me are new to DCC.

The first step was to make up a load device for the 2 lamp pins on the switch main board per Greg's tip (for those that don't know these switches wont program without a load on the light pins). I bought a 60ma 12v mini lamp from radio shack and connected it to a female 2 pin plug lead I had that plugged right into the 2 light pins, this made a nice load plug.

I tested the switches before programming them just to see if they worked, 9 did 1 didn't. The switches come preprogrammed with following settings cv1-1 (switch address can be set from 1-255), cv40-0 (switch position 0-4), and cv46-12 (switch throw speed, 12 slowest through 44 fastest).

I set up a direct connection to the program track output on my NCE system by running a 2ft wire with insulated terminal ends on it from the program track outputs allowing me to use alligator clip test leads to connect the switches to the program track leads, and then quickly connect it to the main the same way. This made it easy to program multiple switches once I got the hang of programing them.

Ok on to the programming I was a little lost at first because there were alot of steps left out on how to get to the cv's to program them, (this may be because the guide is meant for people that know how to use DCC cabs and program cv's)

Here is a step by step guide on how I programmed them on my NCE ProCab PB110A system (dont know if its the same for all DCC systems, but I think you'll get the idea)

First I plugged in the 60ma light to the switch light pins, then I hooked the switch to the program track output leads (using the alligator clip test leads from the 2 pins coming out of the switch box to the program track output lead) and then 

1) selected "use program track" option and hit enter

2) selected option #5=DIR and hit enter, it takes a few seconds, ---wait---- will appear, then "CANNOT READ CV" ignore this and hit enter again 

3) then DIR MODE appears on top of screen with "Decoder version : 10" below it (note sometimes this did not appear and the system tried to switch to paged mode if this happens hit esc check your load light connection again and repeat the previous step until you get the "decoder version = 10 message, on my system it couldn't get it to program in paged mode but worked every time in direct mode)

4) hit enter again until PROG CV/ ENTER CV NUM : APPEARS (NOTE YOU HAVE TO BYPASS ALL THE OTHER PROGRAMMING FEATURES BY HITTING ENTER BUTTON UNTIL YOU GET TO THE PROG CV PAGE, this was what messed me up for a long time till i figured it out because the are 4 parameters you can go into that have nothing to do with programming this switch)

5) SELECT #1 to program CV1, (which will be the switches address when you want to activate it from your CAB), "CV NUM 001 = 001" appears, (001 is the default address for all the switches I had)
select the number you want this switch to be and hit enter, you will go back to the "ENTER CV NUM:" page. to check that it programmed correctly enter 1 for CV1 and see if it has the value you set for it.

6) next enter 40 at the "ENTER CV NUM:" page, this will allow you to set the default switch position at either 0 or 4, this will determine where the switch moves when you go to turn it on of off from your cab, select the number you want this switch to be and hit enter, you will go back to the "ENTER CV NUM:" page.(note this also effects the light being on or off, more on this later) I set my switch so that "off" was the position were the loco would go straight through the switch, and "on" being were the loco would go on the turnoff of the switch.

7) next enter 46 at the "ENTER CV NUM:" page, this CV sets the travel speed of the switch, 12 being the slowest and 44 being the fastest you can set it anywhere in between, select the number you want this switch to be and hit enter, you will go back to the "ENTER CV NUM:" page.(note; sometimes I would get the "CANNOT READ CV" message while trying to program this cv it was hit or miss , sometimes it came up sometimes it didnt. I did notice that if you go about programming it in the normal way it still applies the desired speed to the switch. I found this out by setting it to max on the switches I got the could not read cv message, and then to the min speed, and was able to see that it did indeed change the setting)


8) hit ecs to exit programming, then connect it to the main select the switch and check its operation. That's all there is to it.



Now for the light thing, I programmed 9 switches today and only on one did the light I had attached to the light pins on the PCB of the switch actually turn on and off, all the others the light did not work. Is there something that has to be setup in the switch to make the light work when its turned to the on position, or do I have 8 bad light sockets?? it would be great if they did work because then you could visually see the position of the switch using the light. If anyone has any information on this I would appreciate it.


Thanks, Ron


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yes, you have echoed what I have done and placed on my site.

I have observed the same thing with the light, and I use a resistor now, since it is more quantifiable than a light, since lights have different resistances at different voltages.

Axel says there are a couple other CVs involved in setting the light, but we are waiting for him to release this information.

Regards, Greg


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 03 Jan 2010 09:18 PM 
Yes, you have echoed what I have done and placed on my site.

I have observed the same thing with the light, and I use a resistor now, since it is more quantifiable than a light, since lights have different resistances at different voltages.

Axel says there are a couple other CVs involved in setting the light, but we are waiting for him to release this information.

Regards, Greg 



Hey Greg I was going by what I had read on your site and the thread on this site discussing these switches. 
I was still lost after reading them.

I just added a step by step guide on how to get to the actual CV parts and things that happened to me trying to figure out how to do these things. I thought it would help someone else who like me is doing it for the first time. I guess you could call it switch programming for dummies









I was hoping that there was some cv for the light to work, so I set up all the switches so once that gets figured out they will light up when the switch it activated to the turnout.
I sent Axel an email about it hopefully he gets back to me with the answer before I actually start laying the outside track.

The lamp worked everytime, it just did not light up. Which is wierd when you think about it. I did try to program the switches without using the light and they wouldn't, must be just enough resistance to make it work. What size/type resistor did you end up using instead of the light?

Thanks again for your tips, Ron


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

To keep the story short I experimented with several units and a range of values. I settled on 50 ohms. That worked on everything. 

It's quite common for older type and accessory decoders to require a load on the programming track. 

Regards, Greg


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

I was just talking to Axel and found out that if you program CV35 to the same address as CV1 the light will come on and stay on when you activate the switch, then turn off once you turn off the switch. 

I'm guessing that my switch #8 , the one were the light works with switch opperation, has the same address on CV1 and CV35 by chance, lol


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I don't have any of them at home at the moment (gave them back to Axel)... 

Can you verify this CV35? 

Thanks, Greg


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## Axel Tillmann (Jan 10, 2008)

I got the number right out of the "upgrade" document for the lantern kit. I can also confirm that when I programmed this on my Zimo (before I knew about CV35 myself.....) that it was always subaddress 4 regardless which CV1 address I set. I understand the seperate address' value if you ar using a lantern for all the drives, then you can turn all lanterns on with one address









Also an update from another front, the manufacturer has dippled the boards and servos in that special "stuff" they found in Germany and has operated them under water. Before adapting this to standard practice we will conduct further tests.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Did I hear Test Axel? Here I am. With all the switch macines I have the light had only worked on one. Even using the resistor set up that Greg mentioned did not work for giving the info to let me know if programing had been completed. However they did program and using both the light or using the resistors. Later RJD


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## Axel Tillmann (Jan 10, 2008)

Yes, currently we have a weather profing documentation that was published in an earlier thread. What we are eliminating is those steps as described in that document and have an updated procedure for an implementation directly from the factory.


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

I got home late tonight and checked the setting of CV35 on all my switches and they were indeed set to #8, which explained why the one light that worked when in the on position was on the switch I numbered #8 in CV1. 

I went through all the switches and set all the CV35's to correspond with CV1 number and now all the switch lights come on when the switch is turned on. 

Thanks for the info Axel  

Ron


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks for the info Ron, good deal! 

Regards, Greg


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