Engine Not On Track (ENOT)

battery

No, DEAD battery.

I agree with David (edit...and Barry) above, it's the battery.

The above 3 cmts are most probably correct.  If the battery is good, there can be a problem/defect on the board.  I had it happen on a new loco about 8-10 years ago.

Barry and David were spot-on.  I replaced the BCR with freshly charged AA Ni-M-H batteries and it worked flawlessly.  I checked the BCR (charged with DC supply, disconnect, then measure voltage) and it works fine.  The BCR was installed by an exhibitor friend who had tools while I was at York.  He connected the BCR to a dangling connector (black and red wires) with the proper sex.  Since that appears to be wrong, I am wondering if I should solder a connector onto the battery package clips - thoughts would be appreciated (including where I can get a connector other than pillaging the "dangling connector" in the tender, which begs the question "what is that connector used for"?).  Thanks, Var

Check the BCR after you charge it with a small bulb.  It should power it for a few seconds at least.  I have run across supercaps that had capacitance well below their ratings, obviously defective.

Of course, what you describe may not be the BCR at all, but rather the charging circuit.  You put a fully charged battery into the locomotive, so even if the charging circuit wasn't working, you'd still have the battery functioning.  I suspect the BCR "may" be OK, and the charging circuit on the board could have a fault.

Well, I decided to use brute force. Since the "dangling connector was of no value, I clipped it off (put heat shrink tubing on the left behind cut ends), and then soldered the connector to the battery pack. Re-installed the BCR, and, so far, it works just fine. Will keep your suggestions in my pocket in the event it croaks again ��

I should have mentioned that before I performed surgery on the connector, I checked its continuity to the batter pack - nada. Have no way to know what it was used for, but it appears to be quite productive now ��

 The dealer loader has the ability to tell what address is stored in the board. That feature should be available to more users. It can help find problems like this. If you add the engine and it says added to address x (say #23), after cycling the power you could see that the address is not correct. I have seen it revert back to address #1 for example and not enough battery to continue the address change.

 Now with the app, I believe it will show the address in each new engine while it searches the track during refresh (of the engine list)? That could clue you in to a problem if I am correct. Trouble with that is I don't have all my engines in my app. So I don't know what happens when it sees an old engine in the address of the new engine?

 I hope I explained this right? Darn pain killers.... where's Barry?

Joe,

So I don't know what happens when it sees an old engine in the address of the new engine?

DCS knows an engine by it's DCS ID# and also by some other additional criteria. I keep meaning to ask MTH what is that criteria, and it keeps slipping my mind.

The process of adding an engine is similar in the remote and the app, and works something like this:

• DCS looks at all engines that are getting power.
• It then compares each one that it finds to all of the engines that it already has assigned in the remote/app. It uses the engine's DCS ID# and that other criteria for the purpose of matching.
• Now comes a difference between the remote and the app:
  
  • Remote - it adds the first engine that it finds that doesn't match what's in the remote based on the above two criteria. It makes it the active engine. If it finds only an engine tha does match both criteria, it displays the message "Engine in remote."
  • DCS App - it lists all engines that it finds that don't match what's in the remote based on the above two criteria. It presents them as a list from which to add engines. It ignores engine that it finds that match what's in the app.

Note that any engine that DCS sees that was previously added to the remote or the app with a changed DCS ID#,  but the new DCS ID# didn't "stick" due to a low battery, is assumed to be a new engine. 

Thanks Barry!!!

 I had an engine run the other day with the app. It listed it as my Atlas leased diesel. Trouble was it was a G scale steam engine on the rails. It ran and I ran with it!

 Sometimes I don't fight it when it works.