Switch/turnout configuration tips

Initial screens

To me, this is very confusing. First, there are 2 different displays concerning turnouts:

This is the first one I was presented with when hitting the W^ key (W is German for what?)

alternate switch

The display above shows the typical European convention, where you have a main and a sub address, to allow 4 functions per decoder/switch/turnout.

 

The other screen is more what I think is helpful:

(notice the switch panel default name is "Basis" not "Basic" or "Base" or "Default", you can create a new one with a better name)

switch display

The top left words are ACC or SWI

You can set which screen is default in the cab configuration screen, under SWI mode, Sequ. No. will give 1,2,3,etc,   Address will give you 1.0, 1.1, etc

If you are in the wrong display mode, press and hold the for a second or so

 

Configuring the addresses (SWI mode)

Below is the setup/configuration screen you get when you press Shift W^  ( W^)

Note: the top left description is now SWI DEF

The next line down is the name of the panel

programming switches

 

Decoding the configuration screen:

Pressing the W^ will save the changes, and exit configuration mode.

Each address is in a yellow box (with the top line red). The first thing to remember is the vU button... it is a toggle between scrolling through all the lines on each "address box", or staying on the same row and scrolling horizontally. Try it and it will make sense... if you have to scroll a long way, it will take forever unless you change into horizontal scroll.

You see 5 lines per "address box", each section correlates to the icons you see for each turnout/switch.

  • The first line GR is Green Red, you can change to RG. This sets the red or green led on the keyboard, which will reflect the state of the switches you see on the screen. I normally program green for straight through, red for diverging, and on a wye green for the normal route.
  • The second line is the "Symbol" as indicated, you can pick from several symbol styles.
  • The third line is the rotation of the symbol, 90 degrees at a time.
  • The last line needs some more explanation:

For normal decoders, where there is one address per switch, in the NMRA parlance open or thrown. To use this kind of addressing, you need to set the DCC setting to "Pair".

Then the accessory address is represented by the 2 numbers at the bottom.

    • 1,0 is NMRA address 1,
    • 1,1 is 2,
    • 1,2 is 3,
    • 1,3 is 4,
    • and then 2,0 goes to 5. It appears that internally these 2 numbers are used to show the NMRA decoder address. Very painful. I assume DCC "pair" implies the 2 numbers used, the "main" and the "sub" addresses

Custom panel:

I make my own panel, notice on the main screen to control the switches, the II key now has PaR which stands for Panel Recall. You can have different switch panels, and I always make my own, so it is not overwritten. You can delete the "Basis" panel.

I have not figured out how to save it to the MX10, nor how to retrieve it on another throttle, but I will.

 

Weather Underground PWS KCACARLS78