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I just purchased a Lionel GP30 with RS5.  It was added to my DCS remote just fine and runs great other than the diesel rpm sounds don't change with the speed of the engine.  They will go up and down manually.

I tried resetting the auto sounds and that did not work.  I also tried re adding the engine and that also did not work. 

Anything I didn't try?  Thanks!
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Thanks GGG,

 

Wasn't sure if this was an MTH or Lionel issue, but it seems apparent now that it is an issue with running TMCC under DCS control.

 

The engine in question is Lionel 6-31735 (set breakup).  Do I need someone that has a TMCC controller to perform a TMCC reset.  I thought that every time you start a TMCC engine under DCS control that it resets it automatically?

Originally Posted by JD8897:

I do, but I don't really want to alter my wiring.  It should work through the fixed channel with my DCS remote.  I have a few Atlas engines with RS and they work perfect.

I just tested a Legacy GP-7 using the DCS to run it in TMCC mode.  No RPM ramping in either mode, Relative or TMCC.  Obviously, a shortcoming of running a Legacy locomotive in this environment. FWIW, it ramps up fine running it from an old TMCC CAB1/BASE1.

 

Just one more reason to have a real Lionel remote.

 

Last edited by gunrunnerjohn
Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:

Bill, I see the same thing running a perfectly operating Legacy GP7 through the DCS remote.  I then ran the same engine with the Legacy remote, and took it to my test bench and ran it with my CAB1/BASE1.  Only the DCS linked TMCC control failed to ramp up the RPM.

 

IMO, it's not a broken engine.

 

Strange that it would do it with RS 5.0 and Legacy. Is your GP7 5.0 or 5.5. Thanks for the heads up G

I run all my stuff with DCS and I've wondered about this. All of my Atlas engines will ramp up one notch when started in 32 speed-step mode, but that's it. Any further increase in the RPM sound has to be toggled manually.

 

Now if I set the control to run in the sped-step mode (128 I think), the RPMs will notch up and down with increases and decreases in speed. I think they do this even if leave the engine in 32-step mode and don't reprogram it. I don't know much about these throttles, but I've surmised that this behavior has something to do with the types of speed steps. I think 32-step mode involves "absolute" speed steps and 128 has relative speed steps. 

 

That may also be why the DCS set speed command will work on TMCC engines in 32-step mode, but not 128. That's kind of too bad because the 128 step mode gives finer speed control and seems to work the RPMs properly. Because I run most everything in lash ups, however, I use the 32 step mode so that I can use set speed to ensure all of the engines synced at the same speed step.

 

RM

Some of the Atlas I worked on used the VCO Mother boards for speed sensing for sound.  Takes an input off the motor board and via the mother board sends it to the RS boards.  Wonder if this is part of the issue when DCS is sending the commands.  Got to make you wonder what is different going to the command base and from the command base to the engine that prevents the ramp up.  G

The issue may be that the locomotive is expecting a relative speed command to trigger the RPM change.

 

In TMCC mode, the Legacy remote prefaces an absolute command with a single relative speed command. The DCS remote in 32-step mode just issues the absolute speed command.  That is likely why the RPM changes when you use 128-step mode with the DCS remote; it's all relative speed commands.

I had one Atlas engine that would go to the 2nd RPM level but had to be advanced manually with my CAB-1L and CAB-2 remotes to get to the 3rd and 4th. It did this in TMCC mode (32-speed steps) and I think, CAB-1 mode (128-speed steps). It's been awhile since I've operated any of my EOB-equipped engines in 128-speed step mode.

 

At first it didn't advance automatically to the 2nd level at all. I contacted Atlas about this and Bill Serratelli told me to assign the Master Chuff reset code a value of "1+0+0." The owner's manual states that the Master Chuff for a diesel should be "1+1+1." After selecting "1+0+0" I got the RPMs to advance to the 2nd level automatically and gained the squealing brakes feature in TMCC mode.

Originally Posted by Professor Chaos:

The issue may be that the locomotive is expecting a relative speed command to trigger the RPM change.

 

In TMCC mode, the Legacy remote prefaces an absolute command with a single relative speed command. The DCS remote in 32-step mode just issues the absolute speed command.  That is likely why the RPM changes when you use 128-step mode with the DCS remote; it's all relative speed commands.

That's my guess as well.

 

Rudy, do you have any idea why RS5 or RS5.5 prime mover RPM would not advance when controlling it through the DCS remote using either a TMCC or Legacy base?  I have tried a couple now, and they all just keep the idle setting as they run around.

Of course, using the Lionel remote they work fine, so it's obviously something in the command stream, but I couldn't figure out how you'd tell it to do that.

 

First, I'm not familiar with what commands are sent from the TIU, but as was mentioned earlier in this thread, if in some modes the TIU is only sending absolute speed commands, that would leave railsounds without the cue to ramp the rpm up or down. In the pre-legacy days, ramping was triggered two ways: either manually (3 and 6 keys) or by relative speed + or - commands. In Legacy, an additional RPM Run Level command was introduced, which is what the CAB2 uses to operate a legacy diesel. But put a legacy diesel on a CAB1 or CAB-1L and it will fall back to ramping on relative speed commands.

 

As I say, I can't speak to what commands are coming out of the TIU, but absolute speed-only commands would explain the observed behavior.

 

Rudy

 

Originally Posted by Railsounds:

First, I'm not familiar with what commands are sent from the TIU, but as was mentioned earlier in this thread, if in some modes the TIU is only sending absolute speed commands, that would leave railsounds without the cue to ramp the rpm up or down. In the pre-legacy days, ramping was triggered two ways: either manually (3 and 6 keys) or by relative speed + or - commands. In Legacy, an additional RPM Run Level command was introduced, which is what the CAB2 uses to operate a legacy diesel. But put a legacy diesel on a CAB1 or CAB-1L and it will fall back to ramping on relative speed commands.

 

As I say, I can't speak to what commands are coming out of the TIU, but absolute speed-only commands would explain the observed behavior.

 

Rudy

 

Rudy,  Just for some more history on how RS does this ramp up.  Did the RS2.5 and early 4.0 diesel use the chuff input for conventional only, or was that also used in Command mode.  (Diesels with cams and switch).

 

Is VCO still used or was that just a short period in RS4.0?  Or is that used when I conventional mode.  Thanks for the info.   G

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