DCS REMOTE commander-Solved

Another engine.  No specific way without DCS.  G

Okay. Thanks GGG.  

That is what I thought.  I don't have another DCS engine.  But, I will take the one I have to a friends place next week and see if the engine works on his DCS Full system

Larry,

When your friend adds the engine to his DCS Remote, watch the screen for two brief messages, "Engine Found!" followed by"Changing engine address to xx".

If you see these messages, it means that the engine may have had Factory Settings that made it ready for your DCS Remote Commander.

If you see no message other than "Engine Found", it means that the engine could not have run with your DCS Remote Commander.

Regardless, make certain that your friend does a successful Factory Reset of the engine before you try to operate it wit your DCS Remote Commander.

Thanks Barry. We will try this next week.  I'll let you know.   Perhaps the DCS REMOTE commander is NOT working???

Your DCS Remote Commander receiver--the component that is attached to the track via the red and black knobs on one side and to the power brick via a plug on the other side--has a green LED on top.  When you point the DCS Remote Commander at the receiver and push one of the buttons, the green light (normally "on" when the receiver is powered) will blink.  If it blinks, the DCS Remote Commander is probably working okay.

Chances are, though, the previous owner did not follow every "Factory Reset" step precisely when he re-set the engine.  That happens from time to time.

Allan -   Green light on Remote commander comes on when  power is applied   When I aim the remote at it and press SU- start up, the green light  blinks.

Now this is a NEW Engine that I purchased from a OGR Forum Sponsor.  He says his tech DID do a Factory RESET and his thoughts are there is a  problem IN the Engine.  If I can get it to work at Rod  Stewarts house, then it will be the REMOTE Commander. If he can not get it to work, the DEALER said to return it at THEIR Expense and he would fix it or replace it.  So, next week I will post results. The engine is a new older stock PS 2   RS 3 Railking - Northern Pacific - a really great looker.

I could certainly be wrong, Larry, but I still suspect that the person who did the factory reset overlooked one of the critical steps at the end of the process.  I know I have done this myself on more than one occasion.

The Remote Commander and Receiver seem to be operating as intended.  They are fairly simple devices, so I can't imagine something is amiss with either of this components.

However, the good news is that you appear to have things covered in any event (dealer exchange).  Hopefully, Rod will get her up and running for you.

Well Allan, if anybody can make it right, It's ROD.  He has helped me out before when I had a much bigger layout with 3  z-1000's to various loops. I could not get a consistant  9 or 10 with my DCS set up.  He advised me to ditch the Z 1000 controllers and put the full 100W thru the DCS to the track.  When I did I got  10's everywhere on my layout.

Hi Larry,

Sorry I don't know much about the problem you are having, but others more knowledgeable have given good advice. What is the MTH number of the RS-3 you got? I'd like to look at it. I will try to find it on the MTH website. Or post a picture.

In another recent thread about Interstate RR (NS Heritage) diesels, I was just enticed into purchasing a MTH Interstate RS-3 (entirely not my fault). Someone posted a link to a site about the Interstate RR (which I had mistakenly called Iowa Interstate) and when I got to following links, there it was! 

I commented on how nice it looked. They countered with a link to a nice, shiny new one from MTH in the 2014 Vol 1 catalog. I was over powered! Couldn't resist, ordered it from my LHS yesterday! I've been had! Here is a link to the one I ordered MTH Interstate RS-3

I believe Allan was somewhat allured as well!  Wonder if he has ordered his yet?

Good luck with your RS-3, I hope it's just in need of the reset and doesn't have to be sent in for repair.

Not yet…kind of depends on how the finances hold up at York (nothing special on the list at this point).  Of course, I likely would want the NS Heritage/Interstate "biggie" as well to make a pair.  Don't know about the availability of those gems.  

I'm too far from York, so I'm good there! And, so far I have been able to resist the "biggie". Unfortunately I was 'forced' to order the Railking boxcar and caboose from the 2014 v1 catalog to go with the RS-3 (didn't want it to feel all alone), so they got me there!   I will have to admit the "biggie" is really nice looking too!

rtr12     My RS 3 Railking Northern Pacific  30-20024-1   PS 2    MTH   2011 Vol. 1

List $ 299.95  was on sale at PATS Train for 199.95.

In addition he installed a Dallee BCR (or equivalent) so NO BATTERY

Larry,

Great looking engine, and a really great price too!  The NP livery would have probably been a better fit with my chosen road name (BNSF) too, but I wasn't aware it existed until your post. Unfortunately mine was a bit more expensive, but I'm still looking forward to it. Something about the orange color I guess?  Hope you are able to get everything working with yours soon.

++Well, I'm checking it out on Rod's layout with Full DCS on Tuesday AM.

Will let you know the outcome.  I personally think the engine is bad and Patrick said if so, return it to him at his cost and will fix or replace.

Sounds like great service from Patrick as well, you can't beat that offer. If something ever happens to my LHS or for something they can't get for me, I will try both Pat's and Charlie Nassau. They sound like great hobby stores. My LHS was the same price as Nassau on the RS-3 I ordered, they give me a bit better discount on pre-orders. Someone else had ordered theirs from Nassau and posted the price.  

Well, we checked it over at Rod Stewarts place this morning.  It ran perfectly fine in Command after he added it to his DCS system. When first placed on the tracks it remained dead.

That means PATRICKS TRAINS did set it up properly for me to run with my DCS REMOTE COMMANDER SET UP.

Rod them did a factory reset and the engine came up in conventional.

We then used a test track and hooked up my Z1000, Remote commander to a test track.  With the remote commander showing its green lite, the engine came on in CONVENTIONAL.  We also noted that the Green lite ion the remote commander did not BLINK every time we pressed a button on the handheld.

We both surmise from this that the REMOTE COMMANDER is NOT working properly. I've contacted Marios Trains and awaiting a call from his tech man\

Thanks to all who gave advice.

Barry,  we got the 2 messages you said we would get if the engine was factory reset.

Just heard from Marios Trains. They are going to replace, AT NO CHARGE the DCS REMOTE COMMANDER I bought as it will not work properly.

Now, that's service!!

Thanks Joe and Mario. (And Roger their tech guy)