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I seemed to be able to run my trains on 4.3 once I understood the little quirks and how to get around them until recently.  I have 2 engines that I recently bought.  They are newly released MTH PS3 diesel engines, one a Premier and another a Rail King.  For the Premier, I only get smoke out when I set it to High, nothing on Med or Low.  Also when I first start it up, I may to play with the smoke settings until it works on High (Seems like it forgets the settings from last time.  I have even made sure to save the settings using the remote key).  Other than that, it appears to work fine.  As for the Rail King, I have several issues.  Once I power the layout, it will come on and billow smoke out.  No other engines do this.  Once I start it up, I can turn off the smoke and it runs fine.  Sometimes I have to reset the engine to get it do what it is supposed to do like it doesn't remember the settings.  For this engine, I also have a non-DCS issue.  The engine sounds like it is hitting something as it runs on track.  It may be the truck hitting the undercarriage of the frame, maybe near the speaker.  No other engine does this.

 

All other engines, PS2 and PS3 works fine.  Just my 2 newest ones.  Is this a 4.3 quirk and does anyone know how I can correct this?

Last edited by Casey10s
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I run into many of the newer engines that do not have enough wicking in them from the factory.  The guys are correct and it is not a DCS issue, it is what I outlined.  I get to see many of these engines.  When someone has your complaint I open the smoke unit up and install the newer MTH smoke wicking.  Life is good then.

 

 

Starting up without a startup command is a whole different kettle of fish, it has nothing to do with smoke volume.  Typically, that's because that channel was already powered and the engine received no watchdog signal.  It'll happen if you have a switched siding and you just power up the siding.

 

The TIU only sends the watchdog signal with it's power is turned on.

It's possible that one or both of your engines has the new feature where there is little smoke at startup but increases as the engine throttles up.  My Premier N&W SD45 from last year does that.  Initially, you can see very little smoke and I was also concerned because I could only see smoke at startup when turned on high.  As I played around with the engine, I noticed that as the engine starts moving and the engine revs higher, the smoke output gets thicker.  MTH just started listing this as a feature in the most recent catalog at "Operating Proto-Smoke Unit with 8 Intensity Levels."

I think I solved my problem with the smoke.  It has been mentioned for the new PS3 engines that there are 8 steps to the smoke and to rev up the engine to go the different steps.  I tried it and I am getting more smoke out, not as much as my PS2 in the MU but close enough that it not as noticeable.

 

Now if I can figure out why my one engine comes on by itself.  It appears that it does it anywhere in the system so I don't think it is a voltage problem.  Maybe the new PS3s are more susceptible to noise in the system and mistakes it for an actual signal or it thinks it should be in conventional mode.

 

I may try changing out the wick at some time in the future.  Can you get the wicks at a full service MTH shop or do you have to order them directly?

Last edited by Casey10s

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