What Baud rate does your Digital command unit ( DC Unit)  operate on when connecting to the PC and RR&Co software?

The reason I ask is that with New Notmutley I have the opportunity to  run many schedules at the same time but in testing over the past month  have become more and more frustrated with the Software and hardware  losing connectivity and the message from RR&CO TC telling me there  has been a hardware failure with the COM port sometimes within 10  minutes of operation

This may only be a problem for me the NCE Digital Command unit uses the  old serial port plugs and the connection to the PC USB has to be via an  adapter.

The advice I received indicated that it was most likely the adapter -  which was about seven years old so I invested in a new one - which  turned out to be identical to the ESU adapter that comes with  LokProgrammer.  It helped but not much - the error messages and the loss  of communication and the ensuing drama on the layout - still kept  happening.

Then Frederick on the RR&CO forum asked me which Baud rate I was  using and that rang a bell from when I first started using TC.  I  checked the port properties in the computer  device manager and found  they were different from those set in the DC unit so I set them the  same.

That appeared to solve the problem - the schedules ran without bother - for about 2 hours then I got the same message

According to the RR&Co "help" notes that come with the error message  this not an uncommon problem and may be solved by using a 9600 baud  rate. ( that's the lowest  Baud rate available)

So I am now using the 9600 instead of the 19200 Baud rate and have also  set the control flow for the COMs port to " Hardware"   and see if that  improves things further.

Beam me up Scotty.
Seriously though, where on earth is this hobby going ?
You guys have my utmost admiration with all the smarts you are using on your layouts.
Us humble souls are having enough troubles coming to grips with soldering irons and have yet to even purchase multi meters.

Hi Dave
Are you using a desktop computer or a laptop?
If using a desktop computer you may like to look at adding a serial adapter card rather than use the USB to serial adapter.
Andrew

[user=388]AUSSIETRAINS[/user] wrote:

Beam me up Scotty.
Seriously though, where on earth is this hobby going ?
You guys have my utmost admiration with all the smarts you are using on your layouts.
Us humble souls are having enough troubles coming to grips with soldering irons and have yet to even purchase multi meters.

Hi John
Thanks for your post.  
It's the great thing with the hobby , there's scope for all

[user=1779]Chiefnerd[/user] wrote:

Hi Dave
Are you using a desktop computer or a laptop?
If using a desktop computer you may like to look at adding a serial adapter card rather than use the USB to serial adapter.
Andrew

My PC has a serial port on the motherboard but no external plug to connect anything to.  I purchased one of these to allow me to connect the Lenz serial adapter - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-PC-Computer-Mainboard-Com-Port-Ribbon-Cable-Connector-Bracket-RS232-DB9Pin-/271859475179?hash=item3f4c1662eb:g:j~wAAOSw9N1VkYaz
 
If you check your PC in Device Manager it should tell you whether you have a COM port - should show as COM1.  Then an internal inspection is needed.
 
I originally had the Lenz USB connector and it caused me a lot of trouble.  Lenz eventually sent me the serial one as a replacement and I had no trouble with it.  It was set to 19200 Baud.
 
I now use the latest Lenz adapter (23151) and connect to the PC via the LAN port.

Hi Dave

If you need a pci card and / or an adapter for a port already on the motherboard let me know.

We are in Sydney and I am sure that we could find one.

Andrew

[user=1779]Chiefnerd[/user] wrote:

Hi Dave

If you need a pci card and / or an adapter for a port already on the motherboard let me know.

We are in Sydney and I am sure that we could find one.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew,

I suspect it maybe the way to go although on the lower baud rate of 9600 the layout has run schedules without any drama - here I go tempting fate again.

I have not been inside the computer thats running the software so I have no idea whether it has a port on the motherboard .- what does it look like ? is it the same as a normal serial port?   Can you pm me with what you need to know to supply the appropriate card/adaptor.

Thanks again

Dave

Need to know brand and model of computer

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Its a Compaq Presario CQ3000 series  Model No  CQ344OAN

Thanks for your assistance

[user=1238]RFS[/user] wrote:

My PC has a serial port on the motherboard but no external plug to connect anything to.  I purchased one of these to allow me to connect the Lenz serial adapter - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-PC-Computer-Mainboard-Com-Port-Ribbon-Cable-Connector-Bracket-RS232-DB9Pin-/271859475179?hash=item3f4c1662eb:g:j~wAAOSw9N1VkYaz
 
If you check your PC in Device Manager it should tell you whether you have a COM port - should show as COM1.  Then an internal inspection is needed.
 
I originally had the Lenz USB connector and it caused me a lot of trouble.  Lenz eventually sent me the serial one as a replacement and I had no trouble with it.  It was set to 19200 Baud.
 
I now use the latest Lenz adapter (23151) and connect to the PC via the LAN port.

Thanks for the feedback Robert.

Once I source a serial port , with Andrews help, it will be interesting to see what Baud rate it will run at.  Hopefully it will run at the same rate as your Lenz system