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MTH Protosound 2 (CV8=27)

MTH DCC Overview
The MTH locomotives are designed primarily for MTH DCS but support DCC compatibility. Although the MTH locomotives operate well in DCC, only a few CVs are available for configuration. In place of CVs, MTH uses function keys to control DCC functions and parameters. This approach limits DCC capabilities. These limitations are addressed in the text that follows.
MTH Supported Standard CVs
CV 1 Short Address
CV 3 Acceleration Rate
CV 4 Deceleration Rate
CV 17-18 Extended Address (upper bits must be set to 1)
CV29 Bits 5 = ext. address; bit 1 = Direction bit (only features supported in CV 29)
MTH Extended CVs
49 Short Address (controllers that prohibit address POM)
50 & 51 MTH only CV - Extended Address (controllers that prohibit address POM)
55 Reset Send value = 55 to CV 55 to reset the decoder.

MTH DCC Compatibility Issues
The following significant DCC features are not supported in MTH locomotives.
• Advance Consisting – Consisting must be done using the DCC system’s consist capability which does not support enabling or disabling function keys on a per locomotive basis. Also the consist is not portable.
• CV min, mid, and max for sitting a three point speed curve and matching locomotive speeds for consisting. It is not possible to speed match your MTH locomotive to a DCC locomotive. You may be able to match your DCC locomotive to your MTH locomotive.
• Speed Tables – No custom speed tables.
• Individual sound volumes – master sound can be set to three levels with F7
• Function key remapping
• Modification of lighting operation
MTH DCC Function Keys
MTH DCC supports the following function keys. However, function keys above 12 are generally
inaccessible when using DCC systems. Most DCC throttles and command systems only support twelve
function keys.
Function Key Function
F0 Headlight on/off
F1 Bell on/off
F2 Whistle/Horn on/off
F3 Start-up/Shut-down
F4 PFA initiate and advance
F5 Cab Light on/off
F6 Engine Sounds on/off
F7 Volume low, med, high, off
F8 Smoke on/off
F9 Forward Signal Sound
F10 Reverse Signal Sound
F11 Coupler Slack Sound
F12 One-Shot Doppler on/off
F13 Extended Start Up
F14 Extended Shut Down
F15 Labor Chuff
F16 Drift Chuff
F17 Smoke Volume low, med, high
F18 Single short whistle toot
F19 Coupler Close
F20 Feature Reset
F21 Idle Sequence 1
F22 Idle Sequence 2
F23 Idle Sequence 3
F24 Idle Sequence 4
F25 Brakes auto/off
F26 Cab Chatter auto/off
F27 Clickety-Clack (track sound) auto/off
F28 Train Wreck

DCC Compatibility Conclusions
The suitability of MTH DCC compatibility is up to the individual. Only you know how your trains are operated. This document is meant to provide you with enough information to make an informed purchasing decision. T

http://www.mthtrains.com/content/dcs-document-search

 

To reset MTH to the address to factory default of 3 

Set the engine on the main, remove ALL other locomotives!

press select loco, enter 55, (regardless of the address)

press enter

on the NCE cab

press prog/esc once.

program on main.

press enter

 

set CV 55 with a value of 55.

exit out, tilt loco

and call up loco 3, 

perform start up  by press F3 to start loco.

 

If you want to re enable long addressing

at this point, go back into programming for loco 3,

at CV29 enter a value of 38.

Now you can program a long address

F7 to cycle thru 9 volume levels

F8 for smoke

MTH DCS and DCC Compatibility By Steve Gill, Ulrich Models Revised 10-26-2008

Although the MTH locomotives operate well in DCC, only a few CVs are available for configuration. MTH DCC locomotives, as released to-date, only support ten CVs while other DCC Locomotives support many more CVs.

MTH Supported Standard CVs
CV 1 Short Address
CV 3 Acceleration Rate
CV 4 Deceleration Rate
CV 17-18 Extended Address (upper bits must be set to 1)
CV29 Bits 5 = ext. address; bit 1 = Direction bit (only features supported in CV 29)
MTH Extended CVs
49 Short Address (controllers that prohibit address POM)
50 & 51 MTH only CV - Extended Address (controllers that prohibit address POM)
55 Reset Send value = 55 to CV 55 to reset the decoder.

It is the CV support where the main difference lies between MTH DCC locomotives and the normal HO,DCC locomotive. It is not the purpose of this document to be a tutorial on DCC but to concentrate on DCC compatibility issues between MTH DCC and normal DCC HO. We will release a DCC Primer in the future as time permits.

MTH DCC locomotives, as released to-date, only support ten CVs while other DCC Locomotives support many more CVs. Sound and DCC locomotives have even more CVs than DCC non- sound decoders. Some CVs are standard and are defined by a NMRA specification while other CVs are manufacturer specific. Also, there are variations between DCC manufacturers in the values used to configure some
of the Standard CVs; please consult your DCC decoder documentation for detailed information.

Some of the standard DCC, CVs are documented in detail here because they are important in understanding basic DCC compatibility issues. Other CVs are discussed as a group. Others are not discussed at all.

Some of the Standard CVS

Address CVs – Used to set the long or short address of the locomotive. The configuration of these CVs is standard on all DCC decoders.

CV 1 Engine Address – The CV where the short engine address is set. The address is usuallyset to 3 for new locomotives. The maximum address is 127. To set a lcomotive address above 127, the long address CVs must be used.


CV 29 Configuration CV – Contains several configuration settings. This CV is usually set at the bit level and is one of the most difficult CVs to understand. Bit 5 controls the selection of the long address or short address. Many DCC systems take care of setting this bit automatically when a long address is selected. If bit 5 is set, the long address is used. If it is not set, the short address is used. This CV contains also contains other configuration data such as the direction bit, and speed curve selection. CV 17-18 Long Address – Contains the long address of locomotive, the high half is in CV 17 and low part in CV 18. It takes two CVs to make a long address.


Momentum CVs
CV 3 Acceleration – Sets the momentum for acceleration. Increasing the value of this CV makes the locomotive accelerate slower. The higher the value, the longer it takes to get to the selected speed.
CV4 Deceleration – Sets the momentum for deceleration. Increasing the value of this CV makes the locomotive decelerate slower. The higher the value, the longer it takes to getto a lower speed or stop.


Speed CVs – Speed CVs are used as a simple method of creating a three point speed curve. These values can be used to speed match locomotives for consisting or to a set prototypical  speed. DCC decoders also contain user modifiable speed tables that give more intricate control but are more complicated to set.
CV 2 VStart – Contains an offset value that lowers the throttle setting for getting a locomotive moving from neutral (stopped). Modify this CV to get the locomotive moving on speed step one.
CV 5 Vmid - Contains the value that sets the mid range speed of the locomotive.
CV 6 Vmax – Contains the value that sets the top speed of the locomotive. Usually this value is used to decrease the top speed since default is always max speed.


Advance Consisting CVs
These CVs are used to setup hardware consisting. Hardware consisting allows consists of locomotives to be defined in the locomotive’s DCC decoder; an advance consist is preserved outside of the DCC system. In other words, the consist address is a part of the locomotive. The consist will exist no matter when or where the locomotives are run. You can take a set of advance consisted locomotives to the club layout and run them without additional configuration.
Using advance consisting, the operation of function keys can be configured on a per locomotive basis allowing prototypical consist operation. For example, the headlight, horn and bell can be disabled on all locomotives except the lead locomotive.

CV 19 Consist Address - This CV sets the digital address of the consist. Consist addresses can be 1- 127. If the same address is stored in CV 19 in three locomotives, all three locomotives will respond to commands sent to the consist address. If the locomotive needs to run in reverse, then bit 8 must also be set along with the address. The easiest way to set bit 8 is to add 128 to the locomotive address. For example 129 would be address 1 in reverse.
CV 21 Consist Functions F1–F8 – Bits in this CV enable or disable function keys F1 – F8. CV22 Consist Functions F0, F9-F12 – Bits in this CV enable or disable function keys F0 (headlight) and F9 through F12.

Lighting Effects CVs
All advance DCC decoders support CVs to configure lighting effects. These CVs and capabilities vary between DCC manufacturers. Generally, they are used to configure headlight, reverse light, mars light
and other lighting behavior, intensity and effects.

Sound CVs
These CVs vary by manufacturer in location and capability. Generally, they support setting sound volumes and effects. All DCC sound decoders allow the setting of horn/whistle max volume and chuff/engine sound max volume. Some decoders have many, many individual volume configuration
CVs, others have only a few, but all sound decoders have some.

 

To reset MTH to the address to factory default of 3 

Set the engine on the main, remove ALL other locomotives!

press select loco, enter 55, (regardless of the address)

press enter

on the NCE cab

press prog/esc once.

program on main.

press enter

 

set CV 55 with a value of 55.

exit out, tilt loco

and call up loco 3, 

perform start up  by press F3 to start loco.

 

If you want to re enable long addressing

at this point, go back into programming for loco 3,

at CV29 enter a value of 38.

Now you can program a long address

F7 to cycle thru 9 volume levels

F8 for smoke

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