A friend's DCS 4.30 issues

also when I push smoke button on remote even though smoke unit is on and smoking remote shows it as on!

so if smoke is on when I push smoke button should remote not say it is being turned off?

 

the headlight will do same thing this is very perplexing.

At engine Startup, the first press of either the Smoke or Headlight button will often state "ON" even if smoke is already on. After that, it echoes the actual function status.

I have it sitting on TIU #1 fixed 2 area and tethered remote to TIU#1 and tried a engine feature reset and it came back as a TIU error!

The message "TIU ERROR"is only issued when the TIU is tethered and is the equivalent of "OUT OF RF RANGE". It has 5 possible causes with the first 3 being the same as "OUT OF RF RANGE":

• The first is that the DCS Remote issued a command to a TIU and did not get a response

• A second possible reason why this error message is displayed is that the TIU responded to a command issued by a DCS Remote with a message that the command could not be completed

• The third reason in which this error message may be displayed is when adding engines if the DCS Remote contains more than one TIU; the engine being added is on a track belonging to a TIU that is not the lowest numbered TIU; and if any lower numbered TIUs are not powered on

• The fourth reason why the error message is issued is that there is a bent or shorted pin inside the jack on the remote or the TIU where the cable is connected
• The fifth reason why the error message is issued is that the TIU to which your remote is tethered is not entered in your remote.

sometimes I can do a feature reset and sometimes I have to tether remote to the TIU otherwise I get out of rf range message but even that is sporadic never a constant thing.

Most likely the transceiver board in either a TIU, a remote or both has floated out of its socket and is making intermittent contact. This will result in error messages, missed commands and other bad stuff.

This often happens when components are removed from the layout for purposes of updating software and are subject to rougher than usual handling.

Refer to pages 155-157 in The DCS O Gauge Companion 2nd Edition for a complete discussion of this topic.

This and a whole lot more is all in MTH’s “The DCS O Gauge Companion 2nd Edition", available for purchase as an eBook or a printed book at MTH's web store!

Barry thanks for the error information you provided in last post.

I took a short cut and daisy chained the common wires of all 4 outputs am going to wire each one independent.

also area where most issues have shown up is an area between 2 ross switches as a trial I jumpered a common connection to mainline seems to have helped am going to do this later.

I seem to have issues getting the power key on remote to allow the software to update only way is to bear down with my finger nail then it will load.

is it normal for remote to update slowly takes at least 4 1/2 minutes.

this remote is brand new from mth release 8 days ago so should be good.

am back to 4.10 if a ps-2 battery in a diesel is weak will remote not add it? as it usually says no engine found ?

am tired long day i have to get away from it.

thanks for all your help and suggestions barry.

is it normal for remote to update slowly takes at least 4 1/2 minutes.

Yes, that's just about right. TIUs go in about a minute.

am back to 4.10 if a ps-2 battery in a diesel is weak will remote not add it?

A weak battery won't stop an add, however, it can cause the engine to not keep its DCS ID# properly after track power is cycled.

While we're on the subject of 4.30 foibles, is it my imagination or does a remote take longer to move to the specific engine menu when you press on the name of that engine in the loco list screen?  Takes a good 5 seconds.

Robert,

is it my imagination or does a remote take longer to move to the specific engine menu when you press on the name of that engine in the loco list screen?  Takes a good 5 seconds.

Yes, either it's your imagination or you have something else going on. I've never seen more than a half second to bring an engine into the remote's window.

Is this every engine?

Barry, I was unable to replicate it this morning.

Barry, I have the same issue described by the OP. Did the upgrade on all 4 TIUs and 4 remotes to 4.3. Put the TIUs in super mode on all remotes after numbering each remote. Fired up the new Shay for its little video, hit boost up or whatever it's called to increase the smoke and all the lights shut off. Hitting the HDLT button did nothing. Did a feature reset and they all came back on. Hit boost again and they all shut off. 

I have the same issue described by the OP. 

Reading the OP's later posts, his issue appears to be related to his layout, specifically one spot on his layout.

Did the upgrade on all 4 TIUs and 4 remotes to 4.3. Put the TIUs in super mode on all remotes after numbering each remote. Fired up the new Shay for its little video, hit boost up or whatever it's called to increase the smoke and all the lights shut off. Hitting the HDLT button did nothing. Did a feature reset and they all came back on. Hit boost again and they all shut off. 

Does this occur with only the Shay? If this occurs only with this engine, I would suspect that the engine has a strange chain or sound file. In that case:

• Try the engine under DCS 4.20
• Call MTH service and explain to them that this only occurs with this one engine.

If this occurs with more than one engine, we can discuss this further.

Barry, an update after 2 long days I was able to identify some wiring issues and corrected all but 3 I have to run 3 sets of paired wiring to correct that BUT!

I have left all the areas that have wiring issues disconnected so basically have tossed the wiring issue aside.

I am on 4.30 again remote reads both tiu's 1&2.

I had both tiu's powered on in normal mode all engines added correctly after adding 3 engines I set both tiu's to super mode all seemed fine until I turn smoke and or headlights on and off and works okay for awhile then for no reason I will turn smoke off and bam off goes the headlights and the smoke is off.

but I can turn headlights back on and most times smoke as well and it is fine again for a few more commands and then repeats the issue.

now in troubleshooting all of this I have discovered that if I shutdown the engine with the smoke/headlight issue when I restart it all is reset and working how is that possible????

now all this happens in super mode but if I set both tiu's to normal mode the issue with turning smoke off and having headlights go off no longer apply also no more issues with remote not showing that I sent a command to turn smoke or headlights off.

as to the remote screen not showing a command this does happen even if tethered most perplexing what am I fighting on this issue as I just bought this remote that dcs released about a week ago? the remotes screen has a very slight flash when it doesn't show a command of turning smoke or headlight off but no error or out of rf messages I would have thought that would happen!

I did try running engines from tiu #1 onto tiu# 2 in normal mode just to see if a software fluke was happening but lost control doing that but hey at least I tried a what if scenario.

now long ago all on dcs board said whatever you do do not remove the RF board in tiu and as luck would have it I had to because the antenna wire came loose and then the fun started as the black connector came off with the board!!

and those little pins oh my they were out of whack as well I do have it working again but if those pins are not in correct position you can do a read from remote until a cow jumps over the moon and it will not read any tiu # you give it or change any feature on it.

now wiring wise I have made sure that all hot wires and common wires associated with each of my 6 tiu channels are connected to only that transformer I have 4 blocks per tiu output with one transformer for each output for a total of 24 blocks so am I correct in assuming that dcs will not have  an issue with track signal issues?

on a good note my lionel legacy system is working very well and helps sometimes trouble shooting a wiring issue and allows me to run some trains and chill out from a frustrating day.

I have come across an issue my first with a lionel engine that sends dcs into a massive fit so will have to add the electronic gizmo to stop that one. and I have taken it off the layout so no that issue is gone.

MrMuffin'sTrains,  if you wouldn't mind try setting your tiu's to normal mode and see if like me the smoke/headlight issue goes away I would appreciate it if you could.

St.Paul,

To show commands, you must turn on messages in Menu/System/Remote Setup.

Regarding your other issues, send me an E-mail.