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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
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<title>
JMRI: Consisting Tool
</title>
<meta name="author" content="Paul Bender">
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<h1>JMRI: Consisting Tool</h1>
<h2>What is a Consist?</h2>
<p>
There are three types of consists used on DCC systems:
</p>
<ol>
<li>A <i>basic</i> or <i>primary address consist</i>.
<p>In this
type of consist, each Locomotive is assigned the same address on
the programming track, or on the main with OpsMode Programming
(if supported by the command station and decoder). You can
use either a long (CV17 and CV18) or short (CV1) address for
a primary address consist.
</li>
<li>
<p>A <i>Command Station Assisted Consist</i> (CSAC).
<p>A command
station assisted consist is built using a function of your
command station.<br>
Command Station Assisted Consists go by the trade names
listed in the table below. The table also lists the known
limitations imposed by each manufacturer.
</p>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Manufacturer</th>
<th>Trade Name</th>
<th>Usage Notes</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Digitrax</td>
<td>Universal Consist</td>
<td>Limited to number of slots supported by the system.</td>
<td>Allows any address to be used.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lenz</td>
<td>Double Header</td>
<td>Limited to 2 Locomotives</td>
<td>Allows any address but
00 to be used.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>NCE</td>
<td>Old Style Consist</td>
<td>Limited to 8 Locomotives</td>
<td>Allows any address but
00 to be used.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EasyDCC</td>
<td>Standard Consist</td>
<td>Limited to 8 Locomotives</td>
<td>Allows any address but
00 to be used.</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
The common trait shared by all versions of CSAC is
that a separate speed and direction command is sent
to the track for each Locomotive that is in the consist.
</p>
</li>
<li>
A <i>Decoder Assisted Consist</i> (DAC), also
referred to frequently as an <i>Advanced Consist</i>.
<br>
The NMRA has set aside CV19 as a dedicated location for
consist addresses.
<br>
If CV19 contains a value other than 0, the Locomotive will
respond to speed and direction instructions on the
address in CV19. Otherwise, it will respond to speed and
direction commands sent only on the usual short
or long decoder address.
<br>
Since the consist address is a single CV, it is limited
to the range of 1 to 127. If you add 128 to the consist
address, the Locomotive will run backwards (relative to
it's normal direction of travel) in the consist.
<br>
For most decoders, this type of consist can be by
programming operations in the same ways that a basic
Consist can be. We say most here because some decoders
block writing to any address CV using operations mode
programming.
<br>
The NMRA has also set aside a special command to set up a
Decoder Assisted Consist on the mainline. This command
should be supported by all decoders that support Decoder
Assisted Consisting.
<br>
The advantage to DAC, when compared to CSAC is that only
one speed and direction command is sent to the entire
consist.
<br>
By default, Locomotives in a DAC ignore function commands
sent to the consist address. You can configure some decoders
so they will respond to function commands issued to the
consist address as well (through CVs 21 and 22). If
supported by the decoder, The appropriate values can also
be configured through DecoderPro using the Consisting Tab
in the comprehensive programmer.
<br>
One final note: Advanced Consists operate in 28 speed steps
(always). You may need to make sure your throttle is
sending 28 speed steps to the address to avoid flickering
headlights.
</li>
</ol>
<h3>Consisting Support in JMRI</h3>
<p>
JMRI provides support for consists using the Consist Tool,
which is accessible through the Tools or Actions menu of any JMRI
application.
(There is also a
<a href="../../../package/jmri/jmrix/nce/consist/NceConsistEditFrame.shtml">NCE-specific Consisting Tool</a>
that works somewhat differently from the tool described here)
</p>
<p>
The Consisting tool provides a visual tool for manipulating the
Decoder Assisted Consists and, on some command stations,
Command Station Assisted Consists.
<br>
Backing up the Consist Tool is a consist manager. The consist
manager is responsible for maintaining information about
existing consists and for communicating the necessary
information between the consist tool and the Command Station.
</p>
<h4>Available JMRI Consist Managers</h4>
<ul>
<li>
The <i>Generic Consist Managers</i> are used on any system
which does not have it's own consist manager, but supports
either operations mode programming or a sending raw DCC
packets.
<br>
There are two generic consist managers, one uses
operations mode programming to change CV19, and the
other sends a special DCC packet to change CV19. Which
version is used is dependent on the support the
associated system provides, and is not user selectable.
<br>
The Generic Consist Managers only
able to manipulate Decoder Assisted Consists.
<br>
<i>The Generic Consist Manager bypasses any routines the
command station has to set the consist address.</i> The
importance of this is that IF your command station provides a
method for you to run a consist by selecting a Locomotive by
it's address, this won't function. You'll need to use the
short address identifier you selected for the consist ID to
control the consist speed and direction.
</li>
<li>
The <i>XPressNet Consist Manager</i> uses support provided
by XPressNet Based systems to manipulate consists. This
consist manager is able to construct a Lenz "Double Header"
in addition to Advanced Consists.
<br>
Since this consist manager uses the consist creation
instructions provided by the XPressNet protocol, the Lenz
<i>Smart Consisting</i> feature works with consists created
by the tool. On Lenz systems, <i>Smart Consisting</i>
refers to the ability to be able to run a consist from <i>any</i>
of the consisted Locomotive addresses or from the consist
address.
<br>
The XPressNet Consist Manager is capable of reading consist
information from the command station, both for Advanced Consists
and Lenz Double Headers.
</li>
<li>
The <i>EasyDCC Consist Manager</i> uses support provided
by CVP's EasyDCC system to manipulate consists. This
consist manager is able to construct EasyDCC "Standard Consists"
in addition to Advanced Consists.
<br>
CVP does not provide a method to construct Advanced Consists.
As a result, advanced consists are created by bypassing the
command station. Unlike the Generic Consist Manager, the
EasyDCC Consist Manager creates these by issuing a Consist
Control packet to the track. This allows inclusion of
Locomotives that do not permit writing CV19 using
operations mode programming. As with the Generic Consist
Manager, you must use the short address selected as the consist
address to control the consist.
<br>
For EasyDCC Standard Consists, there are a couple of restrictions
imposed by the EasyDCC Protocol. First, as with consists created
on the command station directly, consists are limited to 8
addresses. Second, unlike consists created on the command station
directly, CVP limits the standard consist address to addresses
between 1 and 255.
<br>
The EasyDCC Consist Manager will read Standard Consist information
for consists in the allowed range (1-255) from the command
station's memory. Since the command station is bypassed to create
Advanced Consists, these cannot be read from the command station.
</li>
<li>
The <i>Internal Consist Manager</i> is a special consist
manager associated with the Internal JMRI system. It
functions like the <i>Generic Consist Managers</i>, but
it is a available as a user selectable option so that
users can choose to bypass a system specific consist
manager.
</li>
</ul>
<h4>Selecting a Consist Manager</h4>
<p>
To select the consist manager in use, we first need to open the defaults tab in the preferences.
</p>
<img src="images/Preferences-ConsistManagerSelection-Annotated.png" alt="Annotated User Preferences window" />
<p>
Once the preferences are loaded, the choices for the consist manager will be selectable in the "Consists" column (inside the box labeled 1 in the figure above). Here we see two choices, one for a Loconet connection, labeled A and one for the Internal connection labeled B. If you have more system connections available, other options may be available as well.
</p>
<p>
If you choose option A, then you choose to use the consist manager
associated with the system. This will either be a system specific
consist manager or one of the generic consist managers, depending
on the support of the system.
</p>
<p>
If you choose option B, then the <i>Internal Consist Manager</i>
manager is used. In this case, if there is a selection made in the
Command Station column (in the box labeled 2 in the figure) then the
consist will be created on the system with the selected command station.
This selection will cause consists to be created using a special DCC
packet for creating consists.
</p>
<p>
If you choose option B and there is no selection for the command station,
consists will be created on the system with an Ops Mode Programmer
selected in Column 3. This selection will cause consists to be created
using Operations Mode Programming. Note that if the Internal system
is selected in this case, no consists will be created.
</p>
<a name="tool" id="tool">
</a><h2>Using the Consist Tool</h2>
<p>
You find this tool
<ul>
<li>in DecoderPro: in the Actions menu</li>
<li>in PanelPro: in the Tools menu</li>
</ul>
<p>When you first open the Consist Tool, you will see a screen similar to the following:
</p>
<img src="images/ConsistTool.png" alt="Blank Consist Tool"
height="251" width="725"/>
<p>
The radio buttons in the top row are used to select between an Advanced (or
Decoder Assisted) Consist and a Command Station Assisted
Consist. If the Command Station Assisted Consists are not
supported by the tool for your system, these selections will be
grayed out.
</p>
<p>
The box next to the label <b>Consist:</b> lets you enter the
Consist ID. For <i>Decoder Assisted Consists</i>, this should be the
short address used to identify the consist. For Command
Station Assisted Consists, this value may automatically be
filled in with the lead Locomotive address when you try to add
it to the consist.
<br>
To specify how you wish to use an address from 1 to 127
(excluding 3) that can be either short or long, use the drop down list
next to the Consist text field to select your choice:
</p>
<img src="images/ConsistTool-AddressType.png" alt="Consist Tool - ID Added"
height="74" width="235"/>
<p>
Setting a typical ID for a Decoder Assisted Consist should now look
like the following:
</p>
<img src="images/ConsistTool-IDAdded.png" alt="Consist Tool - ID Added"
height="75" width="726"/>
<p>
The second line of the consisting tool is used to add Locomotives
to your Consist.
A Locomotive may be added either by entering it's number in the
box next to <b>New Locomotive</b>:
</p>
<img src="images/ConsistTool-LeadLoco.png" alt="Type in Lead Locomotive Address"
height="60" width="722"/>
<p>or by selecting it's number from the roster drop down box:
</p>
<img src="images/ConsistTool-PickLoco.png" alt="Select Lead Locomotive"
height="77" width="725"/>
<p>
Clicking the <b>Add</b> button will add the Locomotive to the
Consist, and it will appear in the list below the second line:
</p>
<img src="images/ConsistTool-LeadLocoAdded.png" alt="Lead Locomotive Added to Consist"
height="72" width="723"/>
<p>
Clicking the <b>Reset</b> button will clear the information on the New Loco entry line.
</p>
<p>
<img src="images/ConsistTool-Reverse1.png" alt="Direction Normal (or reversed) check box"
height="125" width="457" align="right">
The <b>Direction Normal</b> checkbox allows the user to specify if
the new Locomotive is traveling in Forward or Reverse when the
Consist is traveling Forward.
<br>
You may notice from the previous screen shots that this box is
grayed out until a lead Locomotive is selected. When adding
subsequent Locomotives, you can (un)check this box to indicate the
direction of each new Locomotive relative to the lead Locomotive.
<br>
After adding a second Locomotive to the consist, with the
direction reversed, you should see something like the following:
</p>
<img src="images/ConsistTool-SecondLocoAdded.png" alt="Second Locomotive Added"
height="251" width="726"/>
<p>
If you made a mistake, and add a second Locomotive to the
Consist with the wrong direction set, you can change it's direction
simply by clicking on the checkbox in the Direction Normal column.
<br>
The direction of the first (lead) Locomotive cannot be changed once
added.
</p>
<p>
To delete an individual Locomotive from the consist, you can
select the <b>Delete</b> button in the right most column of the
appropriate row of the table of addresses.
</p>
<p>
To delete an entire Consist you can use the <b>Delete</b>
button at the bottom of the screen.
</p>
<p>
The Throttle button at the bottom of the screen can be used to
bring up a JMRI throttle for this Consist address.
</p>
<p>
To add a new Consist, select the first, blank entry in the
drop-down box next to the current consist's ID:
</p>
<img src="images/ConsistTool-NewConsist.png" alt="Select New Consist"
height="82" width="364"/>
<p>
To recall an existing Consist for inspection, select the appropriate
entry from the drop-down box next to the current Consist's ID:
</p>
<img src="images/ConsistTool-SelectConsist.png" alt="Select a Consist"
height="83" width="353"/>
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