Another No Engine To Add

How is the TIU itself being powered?  Either by applying 14-20 volts to AUX port or to FIXED 1 is necessary.  Does the LED inside the TIU blink the same number of times as the ID# of the TIU you have in the remote?

20 volts to Fixed 1. Red light in TIU is on solid. How or when would it blink?

Its more than likely an engine issue. Some PS3 engines came with one of two issues:

• The screws that connect he wires from the chassis to the pickup rollers and wheels are over-blackend. Either enlace the screws or sand off the blackening
• The wires in the engine run too close to some components. The fix is to move the wires away.

I'm working from memory. Hopefully, one of the heavy-duty DCS techs will comment as well.

It blinks shortly after power is applied to fixed 1.

Barry, is screw blackening a problem on diesels also?

Robert,

is screw blackening a problem on diesels also?

On some.

Robert, yes, 1 blink after TIU power up.

Barry, one screw on each truck looked blackened, tried removing some of that, no luck yet.

Open the engine up and you will see the power to the board plug located on the side of the board.  Unplug it and plug it back in.  Nix the program track and just add the engine on the layout.  A common situation.  If other engines are not an issue it is like Barry stated an engine issue. 

Put the engine on your track and try a conventional reset and then try to add it to DCS.

Marty, what do you mean by conventional reset, and how do I do that?  Unplugged and plugged back in the board.

Shouldn't the engine remain dark & silent when power is applied?

Ross, to do a conventional reset, you must have the TIUs out of the circuit,  Apply power to the track.  Press whistle once and bell 5 times, at 1/2 second intervals.  Loco should respond with 2 toots.  Timing is essential.  You may have to do it a few times.

Gregg, sometimes a loco gets locked into a direction, forward, reverse, or neutral.  As soon as power is applied to the track, it acts accordingly.  I had a fairly new PS3 that of a sudden started taking off in reverse as soon as power was applied to the track, before I could hit startup.  I called MTH and was advised to do a conventional reset.  That cured it.

Ok thanks RJR, I don't have any PS-3s so I'm out of the loop.

RJR, thanks for the conventional reset process. I was able to do that on my test track and did get the 2 toots, eventually! Back to the layout, still No Engine To Add.

Try this one... Menu/ System/ Engine set up/ recover engine... Must be tiu #1 with no other engine on the track.  This does not automatically add the engine  but should tell you if  the engine was recovered or not.... If recovered just add it to the remote.

I'm still thinking "why is the engine starting with sound? perhaps you have a low dcs signal on fixed 1. Maybe check out the dcs signal with the other engine?

All that information is in the book that came with your engine.  It should do the trick.  Remember no TIU should be powered when you do this.

Ross,

You stated...,

Engine on track, power up TIU and after a few moments lights come on then sound starts. Try to add engine, No Engine To Add appears.  Shutdown, remove engine, put another PS3 engine on track and it works fine, no issue

I'm confused.

Does this engine come up with sound and lights, while other engines stay dark and silent, when track power is applied?

If so, conventional reset and recover engine just aren't going to help. In this case, the engine has an internal problem and should be returned to whomever sold it to you.

Barry,

   I agree, he has indicated that his other P3 engine works fine on his track, more than likely he has an engine problem of some kind.

PCRR/Dave

Does this engine has a switch to select whether DCC or DCS? If set to DCC it won't receive the dcs signal? 

Gregg,

Good point!

All of the FP45's are either Premier with original Protosounds or Rail King with PS3. Only early RK diesels w/PS3 had a DCS/DCC switch, however, so I suppose that it's possible.

Barry, yes engine comes up with lights and sound when power is applied to the track, just as is does when it is on my conventional test track. No DCS/DCC switch on this engine. I am thinking that this will need to be returned.

Thanks to all of you for your help!

Hey Ross whatever happened to this problem that you experienced?  I ordered 2 Dash 8's with PS3.  20-20418 works fine.  20-20374 does not.  20374 has the same symptoms that you have explained.  I went through all the same troubleshooting that you did and could not get it resolved by myself.