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New engine (20-20929-1) arrived Friday. When trying to set it up this morning I keep getting the no engine to add message. No problem finding the other two engines on the layout. I usually don't have a problem adding engines when there are other engines on the layout but I removed them anyway to see if that was the problem. Still no engine found. Cleaned track, same result. Consulted Barry's book (2nd edition), it explains what the error means but I can't find any trouble shooting tips. Thinking it might be possible the DCS-DCC switch could be wired backwards I tried with it set to DCC. No luck. Thinking it could be a problem with the remote I deleted and re-added an older engine. Remote found it right away. I then tried with the second remote I keep as a spare. Same result, no engine. I don't think this is a problem with my DCS system. 

My next thought is to bypass the TIU and see if the engine will start up in conventional. Before I crawl under the layout to do that I thought I would ask here. Is there anything obvious I am missing? What other simple things should I check? I am not a technician so I am not comfortable opening up the engine to mess with it's guts, especially since this engine is still under warranty.

TIU and remotes are running 5.00.

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Matt Makens posted:

If, for some reason, your new engine was added to somebody’s remote before it became yours it may already have an address in it that matches one already on the layout. If that’s the case, youll need to add the loco to a remote with no engines it

If this was the case here, he could press the "read" button and the engine should then be in the active list. If it's the only engine on powered rails it would be easy to identify what the remote is mistaking it for. Then pressing start up the engine should come to life. It will still run using a different name.

That's if I'm understanding correctly what you posted?

Last edited by Engineer-Joe

I'm sorry this issue really bugs me. I grew up with the old Lionel. Power on/Power off. DCS is at times too complicated. MTH Operators Manual 147 pages. Barry's Book 215 pages. It's great that you can do all sorts of things but I'll bet at lot of guys just want the engines to run every time. All the other electronics in my home run flawlessly. When the power goes out in my home my backup generator kicks on every time. I don't get a message "Generator Not Found." LOL I just want to run the trains, not spend time trouble shooting and yes I'm a dumb *** about electronics and electricity. ****End of Rant/Whine/Complaint****

Matt,

your new engine was added to somebody’s remote before it became yours it may already have an address in it that matches one already on the layout. If that’s the case, youll need to add the loco to a remote with no engines it

While you're most certainly entitled to your opinion, the fact is that if that's the case, there's something else that's wrong.

Last edited by Barry Broskowitz

My experience with weak signals that get blank names is odd things happen.  Sometimes the engine runs, sometimes it doesn't.  However, if the DCS signals are good on the tracks, I've never seen an add fail because the engine number was already in the remote.  I recall one time having it say the engine was in the remote when it was a truly different engine that just had the same number, but I couldn't duplicate that behavior after that.

After posting here Sunday I did some more experimenting with DCS. No reaction from the engine at all. I have been busy with work the last couple of days. I am off tomorrow so I am going to see if it will start up in conventional. If not I will have to assume it is DOA, in which case I'll be calling MTH to get a return number. 

While I am a little disappointed, its not the end of the world. I know MTH will make it right and I have plenty of engines to run in the meantime. If we want all of these high tech toys to play with a few lemons are the price we have to pay. Of the 50 plus MTH engines I have bought over the last decade this is only the third I have had to send back. I know there are others with a lot worse batting average than me. I have learned a few lessons in life and "Don't sweat the small stuff" is right up there. 

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