TIU Cannot Locate Engine

Try another locomotive and report back.

Another possibility is the TIU was damaged at some point and is not putting out a DCS signal. But first try another locomotive and see if it works under DCS.

Yep, searching through inventory now. Will do.

 If you hit the Read button. Does the remote find the TIU ? If it doesn't. Try tethering the remote to the TIU ?  Moving these around while storing them you may need to re seat the boards.

 Even with a weak battery. The engine still should add to the remote. With a weak battery you may get the Engine not on Track message when you go to restart it. Even though it is on your Engine list.

Dave_C posted:

 If you hit the Read button. Does the remote find the TIU ? If it doesn't. Try tethering the remote to the TIU ?  Moving these around while storing them you may need to re seat the boards.

 Even with a weak battery. The engine still should add to the remote. With a weak battery you may get the Engine not on Track message when you go to restart it. Even though it is on your Engine list.

also, after you pressed the "read" button, does the remote now show a different engine on the rails?

If it does, press start-up and see if the engine comes to life.

Because you bought these used, they may already have engines loaded into them, (or you may have loaded them).

 Rereading your post. Your engine powered up twice when placing a lighted car on what I'm assuming was a layout or length of sectional track. Seems like the lighted car was acting like a toggle switch when placed on the rails. Any chance the engine was sitting on a poorly electrically connected piece of track and the passenger cars rollers were bridging the 2 track sections together.

 At least you have other engines and another TIU to try. 

Hi All- Thanks for the responses. To start- Dave- Yep the remote does find the TIU when I hit the read button. I've hit the read button multiple times just to be sure I was reading it correct. Engineer Joe- Also after I hit the read button it does not show any other engine(s) on the track.

Dave- I have Fastrak which has given me a lot of trouble, I thought the same as you and placed a lighted car on the track just to make sure I had no "dead or weak" spots. The light shined bright all the way throughout the oval as I moved it around by hand. Just to be sure I placed one of my MPC era diesels on the track and it ran around the track full speed with no slowdowns anywhere. So I guess now its down to opening up the shell and checking the wiring. The E44 was purchased new a couple of years ago, I just didn't have the time or space to set up a carpet layout at the time, plus I didn't have DCS at that time either, I was just collecting the trains that I liked in hope that someday I would get to run them. I'll open up the shell and report back with findings, if any. Thanks again for the assistance.

First.  When you turn power on how many times does the Red LED Blink?  Should be 1 for TIU 1.  The TIU only gets power from Fixed 1 input, or Aux power input.  SO if you go to Fixed 2 with nothing powering TIU other than Fix2 you will not have any TIU function.

Second, the engine can have an out of range ID set.  The solution for this is to do a recover engine from the menu.  Also does this engine have a DCC and DCS switch?  If so make sure in DCS position.

There also where some wiring issue with early PS-3 diesel that killed DCS signal.  Easy fix rerouting wires.  Search will show you.

But I would locate another PS-2 or 3 engine and retry.  If using a PS-2 and it has been in storage, your going to need to charge or replace battery first.  G

H GGG- Thanks for the info- Yep I power the TIU separately from an aux power plug. I also tried doing a recover engine from the menu, but it says " no engine found". This does have a DCS & DCC switch, I verified that is most definitely was in the DCS position. I have read about the routing of the wires over the "caps" not to sure what that means though until I open the engine, which I will be doing today. Much thanks for the advice!

So when you press the read button, you see "no active DCS engines", correct?

…. and at least one TIU with or without an AIU, right?

Some thoughts on this having gone through something similar recently.  Try eliminating as many variables as possible and go through proper sequence of steps to make sure the engine is receiving the watchdog signal.  For instance, I’d make sure that I am hooking up only one TIU and then make sure you are connecting ONLY fixed 1 in and fixed 1 out.  Disconnect all other input/output leads to the TIU except for the external TIU power connection.  I’d then remove one piece of sectional track from the layout and that’s the one to which I’d apply power - you may need two depending on the engine’s wheel base.  I have alternate suggestion at this point if you felt comfortable doing this, but instead of using track, use alligator clips with the red going to the engine’s pickup roller and the black going to the train wheel or something connected to the engine’s wheel (that eliminates the track as a variable).  With the engine on the track or attached directly to the TIU via alligator clips, power up the TIU.  When that is done, power on the transformer to at least 18 volts.   Give it a minute or two, at then do your add engine search.  If you get nothing, try the other TIU.  If you still get nothing, try the same sequence with another PS2/3 engine and see what happens.  In all tests, make sure to power off and then power on the transformer to at least 18 volts.  I am thinking this MAY give some idea as to whether the problem lies with a TIU or with the engine itself?  And I use the word ‘may’ as I’ve learned that electronics have introduced so many more variables into the hobby.  Good luck.

Oh, forgot to mention, when changing one TIU for another, you will need to verify that you actually see the new TIU on your remote.

Guys, Thank you for the great advice- it is much appreciated! I opened the shell this morning and poked around inside, at first I did not see anything out of the ordinary, checked and reset all the connections then  got out my magnifying glass and and looked a little harder, still nothing. As I was about to close it up I looked at the wires going to the DCS/DCC switch, they looked fine until I took a closer look at them. They were never connected ,no solder, no stripping, just put in the hole for the attach point for the switch. Not only one wire but both! I turned the locomotive upside down and verified this in fact was the switch they were going to and it was, but there were only two wires not three. The power in (center) and the fwd pole. The aft pole which is the DCC pole I could not find a wire leading to that at all. I guess when you shut off DSC, DCC takes over automatically? I don't know. Never the less I connected both wires to the switch, placed the shell back on and the engine came to life in DCS. The remote now see's it and for the most part it operated the way it should. I say for the most part because I can only hope I did not miss anything else while I was in there. This "mistake" if you will was camouflaged pretty good. The engine was new, never used, first owner me, oh well. I caught it. While I was in there I noticed no mechanism for raising and lowering the pantographs. While I was searching for a cause to this problem, I found a post that addressed this. Thank God or I would have been on another wild goose chase. I read the manual at least 6-7 times for the original problem and read how the pantographs work, I was really excited to see this , but when I opened the shell I said no way do they have micro motors in here anywhere, what am I missing? Oh well.

I want to thank all of you for the suggestions and help with this. I went through each and everyone's suggestions and I take each and every one's suggestion very seriously. If I am going to ask for assistance then I am going to try every suggestion you guys and girls put out, after all how can I know THAT'S not the problem when I don't know what the problem is. I also have Barry's Book on the way so that should help a lot. Once again thanks for all the assistance!