Engine Not Responding

If G's solution doesn't work for you and you're operating DCS 4.10 or 4.20, you can attempt to recover the engines if they're DCS ID# has gotten out of the normal range.

 

Proceed as follows: (from page 39 of The DCS O Gauge Companion 2nd Edition)

Under DCS 4.10 or higher, to recover a PS2 engine that has a DCS ID# that's outside of the normal range, proceed as follows

• Set the engine on a piece of track controlled by TIU #1. The Recover Engine feature only works with TIU #1. You must not have any other engines powered up on any track connected to TIU #1 while attempting to recover an engine

• Apply power to TIU #1

• Power on the DCS Remote 

• Press the Menu button and use the thumbwheel to scroll to SYSTEM. Press the thumbwheel to select it

• Use the thumbwheel to scroll to RECOVER ENGINE. Press the thumbwheel to select it

• The remote will display "Attempting Recovery of Lost Engine, Please wait!!!"

• If the remote is able to recover the engine it will display "Engine Recovered" and return to the Engine Setup menu. The newly recovered engine will be automatically Factory Reset by the remote. Refer to section DCS Menus, Advanced Menu later in this book for an explanation of the Factory Reset command

• Turn TIU #1 off and then back on

• The engine may now be added to the DCS remote using the ADD ENGINE command as 

described in section DCS Menus, System Menu earlier in this book

My DCS system is older than that. I did get one engine to be added but had very sporadic control to no control. Kind of baffling considering two other engines perform as intended. Part of my thinks I may have some sort of issue getting DCS signal to the engine being track problems or Possible TIU, but that would not explain why other engines run fine. In a bit I am going to setup separate track and see if I can program the lost engines to try and eliminate track on layout problems. GGG fyi the engines in question are the SD60 that was updated to Proto 2 and that famous SD40-2. Bring back memories. They were both working great. That's why I think it might be track problems.

Yep  try  a separate programming track....Most  proto-2 s will respond to a very low track signal if already added to the remote.  However you need a good signal to add a engine.

Are the wheels and pick ups clean on these 2 engines.  Dirty wheels and or track can cause this also.  G

Oh yes.  The #1 TIU issue.  I've made a lot of posts about how weird this bug is ... and how I resolved it for us.

Also had this problem when the engine battery isn't at FULL charge.

Or trying to find it on any other TIU/Channel than TIU #1, Fixed #1.

Of course your situation is unique to your layout and how it's wired, controlled, etc.

On our layout, moving all the "dark" tracks to TIU 1 Fixed 1 resolved most all those issues ... for us ...

Engines now rarely get "lost" to DCS ....

Through working on the TIU wire connectors. Suspect one might have had a loose internal wire. Also deleting all the engines and reinstalling them. I am back up and running. Though a strange occurrence, 3 of the number boards will not light up on one engine. coincidence or what but 3 of the 4 are dark. I can turn the one that works on and off ok just 3 are not working. I'll admit I know nothing about this system but I can't see where the lights and the problem I was having are connected.

If you can turn one on and off the others may be loose shell to chassis, since number boards usually are connected through contact springs to the chassis contact pad, or a bad bulb or 2.  G

Try rolling up your voltage faster as the Watchdog signal doesn't stay on very long on earlier Versions of DCS under 4.00. Newer Versions put out the signal longer so it's not as much of a problem with engines coming up in conventional mode. If they do you can press the start up button and they will go into DCS mode without having to shut them down. Or you can press the shut down to make them go silent and then start them up back up. Try it, Good luck

 

Is there any chance that you have reversed the wires between the TIU output and the tracks, or turned off the DCS signal via the remote? Either one would cause this exact problem.

Well the wires are not reversed. What I did do was reset the TIU. After I reset it, the engines magically reappeared on the handheld. Then I had to do a features reset on the engines. So we are back online. Now why did these locos go off the radar when I shut them down? Now that they are back up I am half scared to fire them back up again.

Now why did these locos go off the radar when I shut them down?

As I stated previously, my best guess is that you had inadvertently turned off the DCS signal. When you reset the TIU, that would turn the DCS signal back on.

Where do I look for where you turn the DCS on or off?

Where do I look for where you turn the DCS on or off?

Menu/System/DCS Setup, press soft key "AON" to turn the DCS signal on for all channels and press soft key "AOF" to turn it off for all channels.

 

 

Ok, so far so good, thank you for your help. I am sure I'll have more questions down the road.