Operations guide, Automatic dispatcher settings – SoundTraxx SurroundTraxx User Manual
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SurroundTraxx User’s Guide
Operations Guide Page 3:1
The Operations Guide section of the manual will assist you in using features
that deal with the general operation of SurroundTraxx. This section will
explain the Dispatcher menu of SurroundTraxx, operation of SurroundTraxx
from your cab and Operations mode programming via your DCC cab,
should you decide to make adjustments “on-the-fly”. Before using the
Operations Guide section of this manual it is important to first configure your
SurroundTraxx unit and make sure that the conditions that were itemized on
the checklist found on page 2:1 are met - otherwise, SurroundTraxx may not
operate as expected.
Automatic Dispatcher Settings
Now that you've set up some locomotives in the Roundhouse, you need to
dispatch them in order to start making sound. Then you're ready to really
have some fun!
A single SurroundTraxx system can generate sounds for up to six
locomotives at a time. Before a locomotive can make any sound, its settings
must first be loaded into one of six available Auto Dispatch Slots, or AD Slots.
The process of loading these AD Slots is called dispatching.
SurroundTraxx can dispatch a locomotive when all of the following are true:
• The locomotive address exists in the SurroundTraxx database
• The locomotive has entered one of the defined sound zones
• An empty AD Slot is available
By default, SurroundTraxx will automatically assign locomotives to the next
available AD Slot in the order the locomotives are detected.
Once a locomotive has been dispatched, SurroundTraxx will begin generating
sounds for that engine based on the settings loaded from the Roundhouse.
Once all six AD Slots have been assigned, no further dispatching can take
place until a locomotive is retired or removed from an AD Slot. A locomotive
can be retired when one of two conditions occur.
1. Drive the locomotive into a block that is outside of any defined sound
zones.
-or-
2. Bring the locomotive to a stop and turn all functions off.
These conditions must persist for the time period set by the Auto-Dispatch
Timer (typically 10 seconds) before the locomotive is removed from its AD
Slot. Once the locomotive is retired, the corresponding sounds will be turned
off and the AD Slot is available for use by the next unassigned locomotive to
enter a sound zone.
The AD TMR (Auto Dispatch Timer) located in the SYSTEM menu allows
you to set a system-wide timer that delays retirement of locomotives from
AD Slots for up to 255 seconds (real time). This prevents the system from
prematurely retiring locomotives, such as when the block detector loses
Operations Guide