Can’t Add Engine to DCS system

when you first power-up that loco should stay dark and silent IF the DCS WD signal is present.  Can you confirm that DCS is turned on?  Have you tried the other TIU ports?  When trying the other ports, be sure to power Fixed #1 or provide Aux power to the TIU.

hi do you have dcs turned on in the remote ! other wise it will start up in conventional as soon as you power up!

Alan

@Porschev posted:

when you first power-up that loco should stay dark and silent IF the DCS WD signal is present.  Can you confirm that DCS is turned on?  Have you tried the other TIU ports?  When trying the other ports, be sure to power Fixed #1 or provide Aux power to the TIU.

I tried other ports, but no luck. My other trains run fine with the DCS. How do I confirm that DCS is turned on?

@Alan Mancus posted:

hi do you have dcs turned on in the remote ! other wise it will start up in conventional as soon as you power up!

Alan

I believe the dcs is turned on in the remote because my it controls my other engines. How do I confirm?

If you can properly control another DCS locomotive on the same tracks with DCS, obviously the DCS is enabled.

just to be certain, can you please do an identical test with another DCS equipped loco on the same piece of test track?

I watched your demo video, did not see any issues. Take a look at this short video from my YT channel showing how to do the program. Something may help.

🇺🇸 Gary 🇺🇦

I assume that this engine is not in the inactive state.

It's already started up in conventional.

#1 a TIU channel sends out the watchdog signal ONLY when it is first powered (sees that channel input go from 0V to some increased voltage) . The engine is listening for that watchdog signal only in the few second when first powered by the track and it should not start up. Since you video starts after the fact and the engine is already making sounds, we know it started in conventional and thus we missed the watchdog signal.

#2 Your bench test here, you have the power brick into Fixed 1 which also powers the logic of the TIU, but catch 22 here. If you apply power that way, 1 of 2 scenarios happened. You either had the engine on the track and then applied power to Fixed 1, and the tiu has to boot and also then send the watchdog signal out fixed 1 before the engine decides it's in conventional. The alternate answer (again, since your video starts in the middle of the event already started makign sounds) is you placed or connected that test track after the TIU was already powered. So no watchdog is sent and the engine again starts up in conventional mode.

My guess is, either your power up sequence here is flawed or it's also entirely possible that your TIU Fixed1 channel output DCS signal is weak or damaged.

I would change my wiring setup slightly. First I would power the aux power input of the TIU to power the logic. If you don't have a power adapter to do that, you can still use the fixed channel 1 input, but then to not connect your track to fixed1 output. Instead, parallel a second power input into fixed 2 that you can either turn off and on, or just connect using say a banana plug and connect your track to fixed2 output.

The idea being the TIU logic is powered so the tiu does not have to boot up (via fixed1 or aux power in). It's already running and the logic of the TIU is powered. Then we are also using fixed channel2 because there is some suspect you may have damaged channel 1 using it frequently since it's needed for TIU power and is the first channel people use more frequently.

By us doing the 2 key things:

• using a different channel
• Ensuring we go from power off to powering the channel to ensure a watchdog signal is sent to the engine at power on sequence.

Sorry, I spent a long time writing my post this morning and so a lot of duplicate answers and even more details came out between when I started the answer and when it actually posted.

@Gerald Jackson posted:

I assume that this engine is not in the inactive state.

No it isn’t

Is there a DCS/DCC switch on this engine?  No product number provided, so just a guess.

@trainroomgary  I will watch the video and try what you suggested when I get home tonight @Vernon Barry I will try what you suggested when I get home tonight

@MrMoe50 posted:

Is there a DCS/DCC switch on this engine?  No product number provided, so just a guess.

I posted the model number 30-20949-1

There’s no switch

Again, just trying to cover the basics.

Is this a new engine to you and thus far you've just never tested or run it under DCS?

You said you have other engines, so testing your test track and TIU channel with a different engine is one way of ensuring that that channel, the wiring, and your sequence of powering that channel and the engine are correct.

If it is isolated to this "new" engine only, then it could be a wiring harness problem. Its rare and correct, most Railking engines do not have a DCC/DCS switch. That said, the harness does have a wire that is just a loop where that switch could go. I've seen 2 errors in the past on new engines. One was bent pins in the PS3 board connector and just happened to be the 2 pins related to the DCC/DCS switch, or that connector can also not fully seat into the board and not make or make intermittent connections. I have seen in the last 18 months, 2 brand new engines from other dealers cross my repair desk with this fault of not working with DCS. They were easy repairs, but a repair on a brand spanking new engine out of the box.

This being a brand new engine, I would definitely be in contact with the dealer before opening the shell. Again, as a policy, this should be under their new MTH warranty and whatever that dealer's policy is. Speed is of great importance because many dealers have a very short DOA or problem on arrival window time period.

@Vernon Barry yes it is brand new out of the box. When I bought it, the dealer told me it is covered by the 1 year MTH warranty. Thank you for all of the information. I’ll post an update when I get home tonight.

Make sure there are no other engines on the track and try again. If that doesn't work use the read button and see if it finds a locomotive without any other engines on the track. There maybe a chance that the engine was assigned the same number that another engine on the track is using.

Scott Smith

Thank you to everyone for all your suggestions. I tried what @Vernon Barry said about powering up my TIU. First I powered up the TIU with a brick in the aux port. Next I added a brick to power fixed 1. The engine didn’t start  up, and I was able to add it with the DCS remote. Once I added it, it ran with the remote. I still have to look into it some more because it’s jerking when it runs. If I can’t figure it out, I’ll make another post. Thanks again.