Revo DCC - this can't be how it works, can it?

DGE-Railroad

DGE-Railroad

The Orchard Line
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If anyone here is using the Revo DCC handset with more than one loco/receiver, can you advise whether this is correct. Because I'm more and more convinced it is....

I have Loco1 bound to the receiver in it with Rx Station ID 1
I have Loco2 bound to receiver in that with RX Station ID 2.

If I call up Loco1 on the handset and then want to move to Loco2, I can press T>> to tab to it.
Sure enough the loco cab and profile details will change to that of Loco2 but the RX Station ID doesnt!
This seems to defeat the whole point of switching between locos?

I'm order to switch control between locos, I must tab to the loco and then go to another menu and switch the RX station ID.

Mad or what? That can't be right, can it?
 
Can't help on that one. I am using my Revo DCC receiver as a trackside DCC Central Station. So transmitter is only bound to one receiver with 12 DCC addresses (currently).
---Hutch
 
Hutch said:
Can't help on that one. I am using my Revo DCC receiver as a trackside DCC Central Station. So transmitter is only bound to one receiver with 12 DCC addresses (currently).
---Hutch
Click to expand...

Cheers Hutch, yep that seems to be the way it's designed to work without extra fiddling
 
You set up CABS, a cab can control 1-6 (if I remember right) locos... the multiple locos is how consisting is done.

You should set CAB1 to loco id1
Then set CAB2 to loco id2

Then you switch between CAB1 and CAB2

Kind of goofy, but this is how they set up multiple locos (consisting), and also you should never have to re-bind (set loco id) more than the first time.

I think "tab over" should switch between CABs not loco ids. I would guess you have two cabs hooked to the same loco.

Greg
 
Greg Elmassian said:
You set up CABS, a cab can control 1-6 (if I remember right) locos... the multiple locos is how consisting is done.

You should set CAB1 to loco id1
Then set CAB2 to loco id2

Then you switch between CAB1 and CAB2

Kind of goofy, but this is how they set up multiple locos (consisting), and also you should never have to re-bind (set loco id) more than the first time.

I think "tab over" should switch between CABs not loco ids. I would guess you have two cabs hooked to the same loco.

Greg
Click to expand...


Thanks Greg.

Gotcha. Yes that's what I'm doing. Here are my Cab and Profile changing as I tab between them. Note though that the key communication parameter - the RX Station ID doesn't alter.
FB_IMG_1590305141410.jpg
FB_IMG_1590305149500.jpg

(Just to note - the bindings themselves are retained fine, as you'd expect)

I've spoken to Revolution and amazingly that seems to be the way it works. It's designed around a track-connected RX as Hutch has it; put the Rx in the loco and you will need to go in and change the RX id every time you want to change locos.

I might plead with Revo whether a menu option could be included to switch between mobile (throttle-to-loco) and static (throttle-to-track) receiver setups

That way if you operate like Hutch, you use the default of static Rx and it'd work as is.

If you operate like me and select mobile RX, every time you switch cabs, it'd change station ID too. That'd mean consist options don't work with this option, but they never could anyway.

Edit: JK mailed to say he's going to look at implementing both modes in a forthcoming firmware update. How's that for great customer service?!
 
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That is a mess. I'm curious about the profiles though, thought you could have several cabs in one profile, but you seem to switch between profiles. Can you explain a bit more. (I have to admit I have one of these systems and just have not gotten around to playing with it yet).

Greg
 
Greg Elmassian said:
That is a mess. I'm curious about the profiles though, thought you could have several cabs in one profile, but you seem to switch between profiles. Can you explain a bit more. (I have to admit I have one of these systems and just have not gotten around to playing with it yet).

Greg
Click to expand...

As I understand it Greg (which may not be altogether correct...)

Each profile is a unique, named object assigned to the DCC decoder and an RX Station ID
You assign one or more loco profiles (as opposed to accessory ones) to a cab, which allows for consists
You then switch between cabs using the <<T and T>> tab buttons, which will also switch the underlying profile

The issue I had is the handset previously expected the RX ID to be global. With the new update, the RX Station ID should be stored to the profile, allwing it to change dynamically.
It remains to be seen how quickly the switch can occur but my experience so far in establishing a new link is about a second

JK mailed me this morning to say he's just released v1.14 of the firmware which will now offer both TX-To-Track or Tx-To-Loco modes of operation :inlove:

I just need to get my hands on a USB updater somehow...
 
Ahh, the dilemma surfaces, a single unit feeding the track with multiple locos/decoders on that track

vs

multiple units feeding dedicated decoders, one crest receiver per DCC decoder.


When they made this intermediate step of addressing, it caused problems in their regular systems, where the ID was the Crest receiver, now compounded for DCC since the additional factor of the DCC decoder address.

Whew.... thanks for relating this, it now "jells".

Greg
 
Basically... It is no longer a basic control system.

It "growed, like topsy!"

Which is three-words, for a rather complex set of features-bolted-on-features. :(
 
I was in the beta development program, in fact I still have the images of the initial revolution, which was 900 MHz and a different style of handheld with a roller wheel.

When they started, they insisted they only had enough memory for 50 locos, which was dumb, memory is not that expensive. so instead of being able to be like DCC, where a 4 digit address is enough to distinguish locos, they only had 1 to 50 or 0 to 49... so not even 2 digits of 0 to 9...

when they did consisting, then a mess ensued, thus the intermediate concept of mapping the useless ID number to a cab... now with the DCC version, it has become compounded.

Greg
 
Also, that display is awful. Most modern display are so many dpi, but that display is more like inches to the dot :)
 
You can get 2.4", 320 x 240 TFT colour displays for a few pounds. I'm surprised you can buy anything as bad as that display anymore.

And I was hoping we could agree on something for a change :)

Apologies to the OP for thread drift.
 
Jeeze.... have you used a color display outdoors? There is a reason a monochrome LCD was used, works in bright sunlight. I have a $1200 Samsung phone and can barely see it outdoors. That surely is brighter than your "few pounds" color display.

I do have a very expensive throttle ($600) by Zimo, it is OLED and with a touchscreen and way over that resolution.. so what? It's harder to see than my Revolution and my NCE.

The "I can buy that for a dollar" arguments bypass other reasons for the design. The Revolution was designed to be very inexpensive, and if you had followed Polks / Aristo-Craft / Crest over the years, you would see that it was subject to the same fine scrutiny for cost in every nook and cranny of the design. Very typical of Chinese manufacturing mentality.

Greg
 
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