I am setting up a switchpilot accesory decoder with my Ecos 2 i already have 6 ls 150 units and a switch 8 installed.

In the instructions it says i can use railcom with it if i change cv 29 and 28

now with the switchpilot wired to the programming track i read cv 29 as 128 which is correct to documentation.

Now it says i have to set cv 29 bit3 and write a value of 6 into cv28

The confusion bit for cv 29 do i just put 3 in the write window and press the write button and on cv28 do i write 6 and press the write button ?
There are 8 boxes below the write window to do with bits should i be using that somehow.

Brian

Pass

Les

it only takes numbers Les so lettters dont work:lol::lol::lol::lol:


Brian

Brian at the back of esu switchpilot is a better description of the cv's so in short i would say write 8 into cv29 Railcom permitted and in CV28 i would write 2 or 4 i think see page 29 and see what you think.

Pete

I am on the wrong puter now Pete i will have to look at the Switchpilot instructions tommorow

I must admit this writing bits is a bit confusing cant get me head round how you know what bit you are writing to

Brian

I need to program a switchpilot as well so i can use it to control layout lighting, i connected it to the ecos and pressed the button and held it nothing so i gave up i just couldn't be arsed. Did you connect to the power contacts as well as track Brian for programming?

i used a bulb Pete that allows you to do it on the programming track. it reads it fine that way plus i cahnge the normal cv`s as i changed the power outputs as it tells you to do so for peco motors

I read that if you enabled railcom on the switchpilot you could do any programming of it on the main so i thinks thats a good idea then it says about changing cv 29 cv 28 and im thinking how the hell do you know what bit you are changing as you only have the write window there and them 8 tick boxes underneath  this bit programming is a bit confusing

Brian

Hi Brian

If you don't want to use the bit method write 136 into CV29

To arrive at that - in the manual page 29
CV29 - only bit 3 and bit 7 are used
Bit 7 is fixed and read only and has a value of 128
Bit 3 is 0 (Railcom off) or 8 to activate Railcom
So 128 + 8 = 136

Put 136 in the Value box and Write it

For the bit method
on the right of the 8 boxes it says: Bit [7..0]
Bit 7 is on the extreme left, Bit 0 is the extreme right
Bit 3 is the 5th box from the left

It might help to understand the bits/boxes if you put 128 in the Value box DO NOT WRITE it
use the + key to increase the value to 136
you will see the binary adding up in the boxes


CV28 just needs 6 in the Value box

Apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs

Chris

Chris

Your certainly not teaching someone to suck eggs

Basic cv`s numbers etc i grasp and do

But when it started mentioning bits etc i was in area i dont know what im doing here

I dont pretend i know things when i dont i would rather ask thats how we all learn.

At some point i may ask you to do a bit of a tutorial on doing the bits in cv`s so dumbos like me can grasp and understand it instead of avoiding doing it like im sure many do rather than say i havent got a clue.

Im  sure many dcc users if they are honest dont know how to do it,

many thanks

Brian

Glad to help Brian

Certainly be able to do a tutorial of some sort.
I need to get a bit more familiar with uploading so I can add graphics possibly.

Chris

Only just caught up with this so too late to be of any help on the specific question you had, Brian, but it is interesting that you reveal a jargon/knowledge issue in regard to our use of computer terminology in a model railway world.

Having spent much of my life designing electronics and computerised machines I easily fall into the trap of forgetting that not everyone is familiar with the terms "bit", "byte", etc - I could go on.

The idea of a tutorial to at least discuss the relevant computing terms used in cv programming is a great one and if I can be of any help, I will gladly join in. I did spend some of my early career teaching technical staff about bits and bytes. Maybe some of that work could still be relevant in this context?

Hi Geoff

Perhaps a tutorial is something we can work together if it felt it would be of benefit to others.

Chris

I have installed the switchpilot now i have actually wired 2 PL10 motors to it

Many rightly suggest using the pl10W motors as they draw less current but i have not got any of those so its the standard pl10 at the moment i haved used and old laptop supply to power it i have found it fires the motors fine but i do need to allow a rough 2 second delay before refiring otherwise a misfire occurs,

So it seems succesfull so far


Brian

With my PECO PL10W's
I set the ECoS Duration on the Accessory Edit Panel to 33ms (the minimum)
The SwP CV3 - 6 are set to 2, you may need 3 for 00 but I haven't tested on other than N Gauge.

If the ECoS pulse is too long, after the SwP has fired the motor it reads the instruction again then fires the motor again.

Mine fire as fast as I can keep touching the screen with no heating up of the coils. I also use PECO Power-Lube (PL-64) rather than a "normal" thin oil to lubricate before installing.

Chris

Chris

The pl10w`s are far better to use certainly with a switchpilot and really better with any dcc accesory decoder something that is not advertised enough by the industry or in the modelling community.

I have got loads of pl10`s so i try to use them not ideal but they work.

My next experiment with this switchpilot is i have a crossover track which acts as a reversing loop it has a pair of points i have a Masterswitch plus laying around so i may try and fire the pair together through that on output 4.

I dont think i can use the reversing feature on the masterswitch as i dont think its solid state contacts so it would short the Ecos. But i will just buy another one of those Psx units that i used on the 009 layout section that works fine.

Brian

[user=52]henryparrot[/user] wrote:

 

The pl10w`s are far better to use certainly with a switchpilot and really better with any dcc accesory decoder something that is not advertised enough by the industry or in the modelling community.

I agree, also the PL10W's are built to a better standard than the original PL10's were in the last century and perform very well in my opinion.
But I always have had good service from PECO point motors.

I have got loads of pl10`s so i try to use them not ideal but they work.

I have a PL10 I use as test unit with SwP and that works again on N with the same settings as the PL10W.
My power source for the SwP is a 15v 5Amp AC transformer which offload gives 18v (the AC input limit for the SwP).

My next experiment with this switchpilot is i have a crossover track which acts as a reversing loop it has a pair of points i have a Masterswitch plus laying around so i may try and fire the pair together through that on output 4.

I dont think i can use the reversing feature on the masterswitch as i dont think its solid state contacts so it would short the Ecos. But i will just buy another one of those Psx units that i used on the 009 layout section that works fine.

I haven't tried a MasterSwitch but if it has a reversing feature I would have thought the contacts are Break before Make so there shouldn't be a short situation. Try it, the ECoS will just trip out so no harm done providing you have tested that track with short test first.

Chris

Well the masterswitch plus experiment was a waste of time i wired it up as per instruction book it does nothing the only thing i get from it is when i connect power to the inputs i hear the little relay positioning itself as for firing the points it doesnt happen.

This is a product i bought a long tme ago along with 4 v2 masterswitches which i have never got to work properly i know some people have had good results but i have noticed there are quite a few that have not i think part of the problem is the claims of using virtually any power supply within reason are wrong as over a period of time it was found an old laptop supply was the best thing to use with these things.

So i think now the masterswitches i have will now go in the waste of time box after wasting to much time in the past and this afternoon trying to use them.

So change of tack what i will do now with the output from the switchpilot.

Brian

I've heard similar things about Masterswitches - no need to recommend people try them in future.

I have an idea that might work for you.
Could you let me have sight of a track sketch.
May be able to rig up a test as I am waiting for some stuff to come.

Chris

Hi Chris here is a quick sketch of the situation i can use my dc panel if i want to but the masterswitch idea would have been easier if it worked
I can of course use another output to do the switching if i wanted to which is an option of course.

There is a new actual trackplan drawing just uploaded the other day in my layout thread but here is a rough sketch of the situation




Hope that is clear enough

Brian

Brian, have you tried just wiring the two sets of point motors in parallel? I have done this for a number of crossovers on my layout and they all work fine. They take power from a CDU supplying the ZTC accessory decoders so that might be different for you, but because I am using a CDU there is no question of burn out for either the motors or the decoder outputs.

When setting routes from RR&Co, I have included a 500mS delay between points and this seems to be plenty to get the CDU to recharge. The only time I have found any problem is when I get a bit impatient and start up more than one route change at a time in different areas of the layout. The CDU still often manages, but sometimes the odd point doesn't throw due to there being no power available. Still, with my interlocked signals everywhere, I can quickly see that I need to hit the offending point, or route, again.

In one case of a crossover, I have used a single peco motor with wire in tube connecting it to the two points involved. That also works well.