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I picked up a Bachmann SD40-2 with DCC onboard. How do I get the thing to go? This is the 2nd engine I have with DCC. I purchased Prodigay Advance 2 about a month ago so I am really new to the DCC world. My other engine works fine on the DCC but this one does nothing. Do I have to program the engine? If so how? It asked things like start voltage, max voltage and so on. I dont know what they are for this loco, there was not much info with it.
The directions say the loco is factory programed to address button 3? Ok whats that?
ANy help would be great since my son is all upset that his new loco just sits there.
Thanks
The factory default address for all DCC locomotives is 3. I don't have the Prodigy Advance but I'm sure this is in your instructions. All you usually have to do is have the engine on the track, press something like function and 3, and the engine should come to life. Your other engine probably still has the factory default address as well so don't have them on the track together or they will both try to run with unpredictable results.
Although it can appear to be somewhat daunting, the best thing you can do is sit down with the instruction manual at your layout with an engine on the track and start at page 1 and got through the options. The first things you'll see is how to run the engine on the default address and the second is usually how to change that address. Those are really the only two things you have to know to use DCC. Everything else you can pick up be reading the documentation and experimenting with chaging control varaible (CV) settings.
Thanks. I figured this out after I posted my first post. The loco runs great and dad is a superhero!
The directions with the MRC manual are good at best. Ill keep playing with it but any tips on my system would be great.
UPDATE
After reading the manual again, it looks like I may need a program track. It states not all decoders can program on the main. Since there is no manual for the factory decoder I will give this a try. I even found in the fine print, how to change the loco address.
More reading. I can see how this new world of DCC can scare away some folks in pure frustration.
