I stumbled on something over the past couple of days, if this is common knowledge, please let me know. I now own 4 TIU's numbered 1 to 4. I have a REV L on my main layout #1. The other 3 are for my Xmas layout & back-up, since I hate to be unable to run my trains when I want. The back-ups are REV H, REV I3 & REV I3A with a silver dot. All have been updated to Ver 6.1 thanks to Alan Mancus selling me a used laptop at a reasonable price. I also have 3 working remotes & one with a bad LCD screen (anyone got a spare?).
Now for the discovery. This past weekend I purchased my 4th TIU a REV I3A with the silver dot which was address 1. It worked perfectly, I added engines no issue, & even made a few lashups to test if it was OK, all on my test track. Since the TIU on my layout already is #1, the REV H & REV I3 are #'s 2 & 3, I re-addressed the REV I3A (silver dot) to # 4. All of a sudden while trying to add more engines with I3A with my remote I'm getting "Out Of RF Range" messages & then it eventually adds the new engine into the remote. It takes 45 seconds to a minute to add the engine. Now I'm ****ed, what gives? When the address is #1, no issues & adding a new engine takes 5 seconds. So I change the address back to #1 & once again works perfect. Now I'm really ****ed!
I decide to take my other TIU's #'s 2 & 3 that always give me "Out Of RF Range" messages & change the address to #1. Low & behold, 5 seconds to add an engine & no MESSAGE!
It was a lot more involved than that, resetting the TIU's, deleting addresses, etc. to be able to figure this out, but that's it in a nut shell.
I always thought that the issues I experienced with my layouts over the years was due to some other problem, wiring, dirty track or what ever. I've been told, that the messages & other anomalies, are due to many possible things, user error, components failing over time, etc.
By the way, I switched the layout TIU REV L address from # 1 to 4 & then I got the dreaded "Out Of RF Range" message. So I switched it back to #1 and everything is beautiful!
Go figure.
So my question is, did I miss something in Barry's multiple handbooks that everyone knows?
I'm thinking there is no point in having multiple addresses if you only use one at a time. Is that what I missed?
Joe
