This discussion is at the request of some members of the club I am a member of, the Hostlers Model Railroad Club of Ogden Utah. Several members have issues with competing brakes in addition to the Drive Hold function. This includes the Independent brake and the Automatic (Train) brake. The issues boil down to their engine not moving after applying throttle even though the engine sound revs as it should.
There's more than just the brakes that can cause this problem and that is discussed here but this discussion is limited to preventing the brakes and Drive Hold from interferring with each other.
First and foremost if Drive Hold (F9) or either the Independent or Automatic brake is applied the engine is not going to move. If you do not have the Automatic brake installed and functioning, how to do that is described here. So for purposes of this discussion we have Drive Hold on F9 (default), the Independent brake on F10 (default) and the Automatic brake on F12 (varies by wherever the user installs it, the author does not use the dimmer function so F12). The base configuration is shown in figure 1. This is on the function mapping sheet of the decoder pane.
Figure 1 Inital brake configuration
In essence this becomes a logic problem. By that I mean if any of these three functions are on we do not want to allow either of the other two to be turned on. So look at Drive Hold. If we want to turn it on then F10 and F12 cannot be on so first we click on the F9 drop down, scroll to F10, the Independent brake and select Off. This is shown in figure 2.
Figure 2 Disallow F10
Notice how the entry for F9 added not F10. Do the same for F12, the Train brake. and you'll have what is shown in figure 3.
Figure 3 Disallow F12
Now the Conditions column says turn on Drive Hold if F9 is pressed and both F10 and F12 are NOT pressed. This means you can't turn on Drive Hold is either brake is on.
The next step is to go F10, the Independent brake, and turn off both F9, Drive Hold, and F12, the Train Brake. Lastly, go to F12 and turn off F9 and F10. Once you're done you will have prevented either brake or Drive Hold from being engaged if any of the others are already engaged.
The author has even seen some individuals prevent F10 and F12 from starting the prime mover but that can be disconcerting when your prime mover won't start so this is not recommended.
<Note>
ESU has acknowledged that there is a bug in the firmware of v5 decoders that will occasionally set the Independent brake, F10, with no indication of it being engaged. So if your engine will not move and you are sure that Drive Hold and the Train brake are off, press F10 once or twice and see if it moves. This has happened to friends of the author recently. ESU is actively working on a fix for this.
Have fun!
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