I don't use the DCS Explorer exclusively but I do own one and played around with it. I will use it on the Christmas layout this year.
The fuse issue is odd, How many engines do you run at one time? How many with smoke on? Do you use track powered turnouts?
I have blown a fuse when running two engines with smoke on, both had 4 (non LED) lit passenger cars in tow and the instant one entered a track powered non-derailing turnout, the fuse popped. You could always replace the 5 amp fuse with a 5 amp ATC circuit breaker with a manual reset.
With your second issue, I have found that the DCS Explorer doesn't power the track after it is powered on. It only applies track power automatically when you issue a command for the engine to respond to. When my engines show as inactive as your did, I perform a "READ' which force the Explorer to apply power to the track and Read the engines that are available.
The Speed dial issue, yeah I've had that happen before. Here is a fun one, tap the middle of the speedometer (the spot where the needle pivots) and it will do some interesting things. One of my tablets has a very sensitive screen, and has inadvertently issue unwanted speed commands which ensues into a panic. I'd recommend using the max speed to limit how fast the engine can go. I do this for every engine in my roster as I don't care for how close the PLUS button is to the 120 SMPH setting. I hope that MTH considers revising the main train control screen in the app in the future for better control and button layout.
