Whistle=run away

Gregg,

Turning the smoke "on" sometimes resulted in losing the headlight and class lights.

 happened to different engines as well.

 Must be a software glitch

Actually, that sounds like a MUX board issue that was somewhat prevalent in earlier PS2 steamers. I'd give MTH a call to be sure.

I can't shed any light on the "whistle runaway".

Dont know much about DCS, but just a thought.

Was at our local club last night. Those guys run the

little trains(HO),(my wifie calls them crap trains).

Anyway, they were running an HO MTH DCC system loco

and on that loco and system when you come to a stop

and play through the station sounds, after the sequence is finished

the loco will take off automatically at the same speed you came into

the station at.

That's not a bug, that's a feature

Seriously though, that is how the station stop sequence works. If you trigger it while the loco is running in reverse, not only will it resume in reverse, it'll give the reverse horn/whistle signal (three short) before proceeding.

---PCJ 

You have to slow down to your "exit" speed before you press the PFA key if you want a realistic exit from the station.  Also, at a slow speed, you should be able to make a more realistic stop at the station anyway.

Gregg, Is the same engine doing this?  I would change out the smoke fan motor.  Or disconnect it and then test it.  Don't run this way since the heating element will remain on, and you don't want to burn the wick.

A smoke fan motor going bad can cause this.  Not sure of the full mechanism, but I just repaired a Premier engine with a MUX set up that had a constant bell while moving, sometimes whistle when in reverse.  I found that if I cycled the smoke unit on and off via the POT, I could stop and start the bell. Direction change did the same thing (makes sense since on steam when in motion the fan motor is cycling on and off for chuff).

Since the fan is driven by the same 5V power supply which powers the microchips, processor power supply, and the tach reader this can be the cause of your symptom. 

I have noticed a number of different issues that bad fan motors cause.  Many times I find they have been flooded with smoke fluid by too much fluid being put in.  It overflows into the impeller chamber then leaks into the motor through the holes in the can.   G

Wow that is some good troubleshooting!

Thanks for posting those findings.

Dave

GGG unfortunately  losing the headlight happens with different engines.  Now I'm not so sure the smoke unit was causing the problem.That's the frustrating part. Here's the set up.... PWZWs for power (fused)

4 tiu in super at different locations. TMCC base attached to an outside rail.

   A feature reset fixes the problem but it seems to happen too often... we'll see what happens now that the layout is operational and we get in more running time.

Thanks for the reply guys.

The head light issue is interesting.  Having it happen on more then one engine would lead me to think it is the setup or DCS issues.

As far as speeding up with whistle which only effects one engine, I would still turn off smoke and see if the engine still responds to a whistle by speeding up.  The fan I removed ohmed out at 12 which is what they normally are, and functioned perfectly at making smoke.  Once I unplugged it the engine whistle and bell worked properly.  Once I installed the new fan, it continued to work properly with smoke on.

I am assuming you are talking about using DCS and not the whistle lever on the PW ZW correct?

I guess, one thing I would try is swapping to a more modern transformer and see it that helps with any of the issues.  Just systematically, try to eliminate the various parts of the set up.  What version of DCS to you have loaded?  G

I wonder if those motors are generating brush noise to cause the problems?  Did you ever try a 1uf NP cap across the motors?

Thanks for your interest and replies.

We're running strictly command version 4.2 although the odd remote still has 4.1

We don't have any other power supplies  other than the  8 PWZWs. Changing  those out is probably not a option at this time. Adding cap across the motors is a option but.... Shouldn't have to and that would be a big job with 20 or so engines.

We're going to go back to 3.11 with the tiu and 3 or 4 remotes and see how it goes for a week or so. Don't forget this is a super mode problem and not normal mode. Hopefully MTH with have a new software  version out shortly.  One of my sources says they're working on it   ..Guess who.. initials are B.B.

Later... gregg

Gregg,

Guess who.. initials are B.B.

Who??

That problem of lights going out when hitting the smoke on button has been a bug in the system for years in my opinion. I'm running 4.1 and it's been there for a long time. It happens on multiple engines. It also makes me reluctant to turn smoke units on and off when recording.

That problem of lights going out when hitting the smoke on button has been a bug in the system for years in my opinion

To the best of my knowledge, that is not a DCS bug. Issues like that are most often associated with engines with MUX boards that were wired incorrectly during production.

Unfortunately one  of the engines has a upgrade kit... no MUX board but.. some do and they're the one that most frequently do it.  Yes 4.1 as well, hmmm time for a change  perhaps?

Gregg,

Unfortunately one  of the engines has a upgrade kit

That, alone, makes it suspect.

Help this old timer out please--What is a MUX board? I suspect this problem might be engine specific but I also remember it starting when I upgraded to 4.1. I'll try to verify this engine specific thing. Can a bad MUX board be fixed?

Can a bad MUX board be fixed?

A MUX board is slang for a multiplexor board which is used to control lighting (or other stuff) when there are more circuits than the PS2 board is normally capable of supporting.

The documented problem in some steamers is that the MUX board was wired incorrectly. Although it could be replaced if defective, the fix in the case under discussion is only a matter of changing the connection of a few wires.

Thanks Barry. I'll explore this option of possibly rewiring with a service person. I believe it may be isolated to certain steamers.