Addressing a Mini Commander

I'm assuming you have the Mini Commander II in that unit.  I'd be surprised if you have a plain Mini Commander, they're not normally used for command controlled locomotives.

Perhaps a picture of the board you have would help us help you?

Mini Commander II

Mini Commander ACC

Here is the board

WOW, that's the MC-ACC alright.  They did make a drive motor software for that in the past, I used a couple, but it's been gone for years.

Read the manual, there is a "soft-set" capability that doesn't need a program switch.  Also, if you put a jumper across these two pins, it'll put it in program mode.  Note the white bar indicating those are the pins to use.

The jumper did the trick! I had tried the soft set per the instructions, but to no avail. The Cab1 now controls speed, direction, boost and brake, which is all there is, since there are no other bells and whistles (pun intended).

Thank you so much.

Great, glad you got it working.  I personally never used the Soft-Set myself, I prefer just flicking a switch and knowing I was in programming mode.

I would agree about using a switch, but I don't think I have any place to put one accessible from the exterior, although it's worth a try. If I have to remove the shell to access the switch, I may as well use a jumper. But it's a good thought, and worth investigating.

Again, thank you so much for your help.

I put a reed switch on the inside of the shell and use a little magnet to activate the PGM switch.  No holes...

Brilliant! There is very little room inside the shell, but I may be able to find a place to put it. It is certainly worth a try.

Again, thank you.

You can put the reed switch anywhere in the shell.

Here's one of my command upgraded speeders, the magnet is stuck to a screw under the seat (red arrow), and the reed switch is on the back wall of the electronics cavity (green arrow).  When I want to program the ID, I just set the little magnet on the spot where the reed switch is and I'm in program mode.