1st MTH engine purchase - added DCS Commander

Congrats!  Very nice looking engine and its great to see the old Sante Fe running again!  You will love DCS.

Nice looking engine!

Rod

Sharp looking.  Nice purchase 

Sante Fe, very good choice. Good luck with your purchase.

Enjoy.

Just love that yellow and blue paint scheme.

I was running for a while using the Powermax 40w Lionel transformer and found it continues to run great.

Since the DCS 50-1001 is nowhere to be found, I started looking into the 50-1028 DCS commander ... the one that's the base station.

http://www.mthtrains.com/content/50-1028

Not much luck in finding one up here either. I think this might be a better solution due to cost and the fact I don't really need a remote since I only have a 4 x 8ft layout. Plus I could never see myself running more than two trains at once ...

Peterson Supply has one...

Gilly

If interested, I have a DCS Remote Commander available for $35 plus $9 shipping. Email me at 77panago@gmail.com. See my ad on OGR's For Sale Forum HERE. The Lionel transformers are not approved for use with MTH engines. 

After some soul searching I decided to go with the DCS Commander.

I found a local hobby shop that had the one that includes the 100w power brick.

http://www.mthtrains.com/content/50-1029

I gave it a go and after adding the engine which turned out to be number 2, I pushed the start up button and it fired up.

The sounds are much better with this unit over operating conventional from the 10 mins I played around with it. Pressing the PFA button seems to always give the same freight sounds ... I assumed there was more than one, maybe I just need to play around with it more.

I really like how the direction button works. When train is moving forward it slows to a stop after pressing it and the direction changes to reverse in the display. If you want to resume going forward, you just need to press the dir button again and it will change to forward without moving the engine. When you want to move, just increase the throttle wheel up. 

A PS2 BNSF SD70ace Stack Train brought me back into this hobby, and adding the DCS system just gave me the full on fever!

OK now that the work day is over I played around with the PFA button on the DCS Commander. This is the one to turn on the freight sounds ... I noticed that if you press it when in neutral it starts like I said before however, if you press the dir button after the first announcement, it goes to the next one. There is about 4 or 5 of these. If you move the throttle wheel during these it does not respond. Once the announcements are done it gives the all clear and the bell sounds, you hear the coupler slack and the engine starts in the direction it was going before you pressed the PFA button even if the arrow is not facing the right way since you press the dir button to hear the next announcements. That was a mouthful ...

I did press it while the train was running and it came to a stop and started like explained above ... not 100% sure on what actually happened but you get the idea.

Tried the train wreck button STW, nice touch and when it's done making the sounds it turns the engine off.

Not sure how the doppler works but I try that later on along with other functions.

So far I very happy with the MTH engine. I have been looking at it in the store for a while and was worried that I would have a collision since I only have about 3/16" clearance when the trains pass each other on my double track (Fastrack 036). However after almost purchasing a Railking switcher because of this, the store employee pointed out I was measuring incorrectly. I figured from the center of the truck to the end of the body. He pointed out to me that actually this 6 wheel truck has the pivot point further to the front from where I was measuring. Although he did not guarantee it would fit, he said there would be a very good chance and he was right. It actually clears by about 1/4", that's more than the 027 engines I have

I haven't tried the smoke yet. When I was running in conventional, I turned the pot counter clockwise as per the manual to turn it off. I tried to remove the grill as per the manual and try as I may, I can't get it off ... I called the store and he advised me to just add the fluid thru the grill and wipe it off when done. I asked about the smoke when I purchased the DCS Commander from another store today and was told that I could leave the pot turned to off and the smoke button on the DCS Commander would override it. Not sure I want smoke but I may wait until the weather warms up so I can open the windows to test it.

I started having problems starting up the engine after supper. Long story short, after testing the engine on another track and confirming it was working, I cleaned the track and used this method to clean the wheels ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3GzV0i_wW8

Cleaning the track wasn't enough, I was getting erratic or no operation until I cleaned the wheels. I tried it a few times and all seems OK.

That is not unusual, Dirty track will cause dirty wheels and Vice Versa.

Always clean both.

Your PFA system is working as designed. Many sounds sets are made to start while moving, some are not.

If you check your manual, it will detail the process of the PFA in conventional. It follows the same sequence in command.

I Highly recommend you get Barrys DCS Companion book.

Well worth the money in headaches solved as your layout grows.

Thanks Russell I may consider version 3 that includes support for the iPhone 

This rag on the track technique to clean the wheels might be OK for the old stuff but what about these engines with all the electrics? It's hard to keep it in place as it runs on the rag ... man there must be a better way. Is there a jig or something to do this so the tires don't skid on the track?

Actually Amazon.ca does not have the book in Canada ... Barry never seems to recommend the DCS Commander so I assumed it was not covered in the book ... maybe I can pick it up when I go to Cleveland in June.

I was up until midnight trying to figure out why the engine was not running or starting for that matter. This is a new engine I have here and I already needed to clean the wheels ... 

The engine always runs with the CW80 or PowerMax transformers ... always. At this point I am unsure when I push the start button if it will actually start on DCS. Makes me wonder if there was a DCS 50-1001 available and I purchased it, would I need to quit my job so I could stay home and figure it out. I can just imagine adding wifi into the mix ... 

When you go to start the engine, do you see the #2 on the LCD? If you do see the #2 is it flashing or does it flash while the engine is running? That means weak signal via the track wiring. I have had this happen with my unit.

Scott, I noticed it flashing a few times but not often ...

I am on my 5th set of wires no joy on wires alone. Added a light and it worked. 

I have seen this before, when I tried this before 50% of the time it doesn't start after I turn off the unit. We such see after supper.

Looks like you have Fastrack. How many wire connections are there to the track? Also, the wires from the Commander out to the track in should be BIG. 14 gauge stranded if you can or no smaller than 16.

Yes Fastrack with one wire connect via a terminal track from a set. Most of time it doesn't start is when it's sitting right on top of it. The 5th set of wires is AWG 1015 looks like that 's 18ga. I have a screw connection between the Lionel terminal track wire and the AWG 1015 wire. 

Scott, you really opened my eyes ... I got into this without doing the usual research like I do before purchasing computer components. Although it has started and ran without an issue after I added the light, I wonder if my using the wires (which I'm still using) from the Lionel terminal track should be replaced ...

To review my setup, my track powered by the DCS Commander it is an inside loop with two manual switches with sidings on the inside of the loop. I am using the terminal track that came in a Lionel set with wires and this is connected to screw terminal under the layout. On the other side of the connector I have used 18ga wire which I attached some automotive connectors to which are screwed on the terminal. These two separate 18ga wires (of the same lenght) go to the output on the commander. My light is also connected directly to the output on the commander.

Could the smallish Lionel wires that came with the terminal track be something that I should replace?

Considering this is a small loop, should I make another connection to the track?

If I do this will it cause some other issue or should I leave things as they are since it seems to be working, with one PS3 engine at least.

Does the ohm resistance of the light bulb factor in here?