Okay I just played with this a bit. First off route the incoming power from the brick to both the fixed and variable input just like Barry said. I tried to go just to the variable input and the remote kept saying out of rf range even though they were three feet apart.
I was running a williams geep, a lionel t-1, and a current starter set engine. The cheap starter engine was hard to control because even at 5 volts it took off like shot. The larger lionel t1 that needs more power to move was easier to control. Overall its a neat feature but the thumb wheel is a little clumsy.
Also I ran a ps3 engine as described without a problem. I did have an issue with trying to get an engine out of the inactive list. However now that I think about it, that engine has a bcr in it, so maybe I need to let it charge for a minute. I ran the power up to 18 volts, went to the engine list, and selected it from the inactive list. Then I tried to start it from the active list and it kept saying "engine not on track". I 'll try this one again later.
Right now I am still thinking I will use a dpdt selector switch on the final layout, just to make the start up simpler and to have a way to kill track power without cycling the tiu.
