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I have an MTH F3 ABBA and the two A units are independent PS3 engines.  When I build a Lash up, sometimes they work as advertised and sometimes they act strangely.

Engines will start.  Sounds work.  Won't move.

Engines will start, Rear engine will be extremely loud and smoke will pour out.  Can not lower volume or turn off smoke on rear engine.

Engines will start, engines will pull opposite.

Engines will start.  One pulls and one sits still (but is on and making sound).

Engines will start, move thumb wheel forward.  Engines sound like they are moving forward but are not moving.  a gentle push and they move at the SMPH in the remote.

Both engines work flawlessly as independant engines if I want to run one or the other.

I have completed a Feature Reset and a Factory Reset.  I have deleted the lash up and the engines and reinstalled them at least 3 times.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Ron

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Well after 2 days of trying to get DCS 6.1 loaded (A thread for a different time) I was finally able to test my ABBA Lash Up with DCS 6.1.  Same intermittent problems of some engines starting, some not, both starting but acting independently.   Once they started all by themselves without any user input.

I can't have the train roll 6 inches down the track without one of the two engines misbehaving in some sort of way.  Yet as stand alone A units, they both work flawlessly.  Only as a Lash Up will they not work.

MTH - 20-20556-2 and 20-20557-2.  They have been converted to hi-rail wheel sets when I purchased them for over a ago and have had zero problems with them until just last week.

I did delete the Lash up and rebuilt it after I loaded 6.1

DCS 6.1 (TIU and 2 Remotes Updated)

Z4000 transformer

Any ideas?  

 

Thanks!

Ron

Some engines have boards that are more picky about track signal strength. Sometimes it's because the wires on PS3 engines need to be re-routed inside.

I had 2 engines that acted up anytime they were near each other a few years back. It drove me nuts for some time looking for reasons. One could be sitting in a powered siding and react when the other drove past. So I kept looking at only those 2 engines.

 It ended up to be a track power issue. It showed up when a certain power draw was reached, the signal seemed to degrade. It was actually the power that was failing. I had to rewire that block and run jumpers around a switch that was failing to conduct higher current loads when large consists were running. I don't remember all the exact details. I do remember the amount of energy it took to find something that should have been more apparent to me. I just kept blaming either of those 2 engines until it finally started happening to others in one certain area of my layout as the issue got worse.

Later I got my engine yard onto it's own TIU channel (usually toggled off) and added more power overall to the whole layout. I remember Barry B helping me with suggestions.

I read all the topics posted here to keep fresh on troubleshooting. DCS gets a bad wrap many times when something else is happening. It shows up quicker with DCS because of the advanced 2 way communication, and the way it's handled.

It's pretty easy to do....

We know engine IDs stick with the engine  so EX    we have a  F-3 at ID 34,  If we delete the engine from the remote the engine still has ID 34.....  Take it off the track.

Why did we delete it? to open up the ID  in the dcs remote  for another engine we're going to use in the consist  by using the edit engine command from whatever to ID 34.

We now have 2 engine with ID 34 that will  behave  as one unit.  No need for the watch dog and if the units get out of sequence  just shut down and start up again.

I haven tried it  but if you programmed the trailing unit (take the other off the track or it'll get programmed as well) you could turn the sound down on whistle, bell etc maybe even the  Pass announcements.

Give it a try, if you don't like it you can always go back.....

 

Gregg posted:

It's pretty easy to do....

We know engine IDs stick with the engine  so EX    we have a  F-3 at ID 34,  If we delete the engine from the remote the engine still has ID 34.....  Take it off the track.

Why did we delete it? to open up the ID  in the dcs remote  for another engine we're going to use in the consist  by using the edit engine command from whatever to ID 34.

We now have 2 engine with ID 34 that will  behave  as one unit.  No need for the watch dog and if the units get out of sequence  just shut down and start up again.

I haven tried it  but if you programmed the trailing unit (take the other off the track or it'll get programmed as well) you could turn the sound down on whistle, bell etc maybe even the  Pass announcements.

Give it a try, if you don't like it you can always go back.....

 

How would you recommend solving the trailing A unit being set up in reverse to the engines face opposite each other?

Gregg posted:

 I haven't figured that one out .  We don't want to get into wiring the motors.... I'm not sure whether dcs engines can be programmed to start in reverse.... (command mode). I don't have a layout at my house right at the moment hey guys anything under the control menu??

 

Unfortunately proto-2 engines can not be programmed  to start  in reverse and cycle forward..... With all the features of DCS I thought this would be a given, nope.... Even QSI from 20 years had this feature   (feature     5)

 Not all railroads ran their F units back to back.

 

clem k posted:

I also use the ALL command, by far easier and more reliable. It only controls the engines on the active list on that remote. I still use my other remotes to operate other trains at the same time.

Good tip, I never thought of doing that, I didn't realize other remotes could operate at the same time with different engines.    perfect....   We still have the direction issue (back to back engines ) though but an easy workaround.

Again does the ALL command work in all tiu zones in super mode???

My  MUed PS3 NH F7s do not always start up properly.  My solution was to shut down the units in a place with a solid signal strength and since I now park them in the same place (with a decent signal location), I have not had any issues with one of the two engines starting up in conventional.  This solution has worked for the past 4 months.

Gregg posted:
clem k posted:

I also use the ALL command, by far easier and more reliable. It only controls the engines on the active list on that remote. I still use my other remotes to operate other trains at the same time.

Good tip, I never thought of doing that, I didn't realize other remotes could operate at the same time with different engines.    perfect....   We still have the direction issue (back to back engines ) though but an easy workaround.

Again does the ALL command work in all tiu zones in super mode???

Hey guys. I tired the All command over at Jack's large super mode layout. The 2 engine in question were in TIU's 1 zone so  when asked I selected TIU 1..... The engine ran just fine in all  4 tiu zones using the all.. Thanks to Clem just another option available.

Come on  MTH...  Let us select the start up direction for our engines . If QSI can do it 25 years ago why can't you  (legal matter??)

Last edited by Gregg

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