ACL 6-14524 Directional Lighting and Factory AA Lash-up

Assign them the same TMCC ID and see if they work better by simply addressing them as an engine.

John, in addressing both engines with the same TMCC ID, won't both of them start in the forward direction? Or is one of the set wired to start in reverse?  I admit l am not familiar with the Lionel powered double A's.

Ray

Ray, since one is a dummy, I am not really worried about it causing a big issue.   FWIW, many of these powered/dummy sets were designed to be run with a single TMCC ID in just that manner.

Gunrunnerjohn, First thank you for your reply to my post. I will try as you suggest. I would think that if I do make both the same engine number that the smoke units in both the powered and dummy will also work on and off simultaneously when the buttons are pressed. This is actually a good thing. The only thing that I would think with reference to the directional lighting is that with the engines opposed to each other, meaning back to back with the headlights in opposite directions, that they will turn on and off together and not have one go off and the other go on. No? Setting them with the same engine No. should have them both either go on or off together and not light in opposite directions when you change direction? Is my thinking flawed or maybe I'm missing something? Thank you again for your input. Peter C.

It depends on how they're configured.  As I said, many of these sets are designed to use one TMCC ID and the dummy starts up with the headlight off.  The only way to know is either run them or look at the manual.  Since Lionel's manuals are off-line now, I can't look at the manual.

I tried to attach the manual as pdf file here. Hope it worked. Reading the manual is well let's just say limited, to be kind. It does state that the powered is factory set to N.1 and the Non-Powered to N.2. But you have to switch back and forth from engine number to change the headlights. As well to turn on and off the smoke units. This is rather cumbersome. Beside a pain. LOL But I'm trying to understand what Lionel means when they say it has " Directional Lighting." I my mind the headlights should reverse themselves when you change direction. Maybe Lionel thought otherwise, or it was just a marketing play on words!

If they come from the factory with different engine numbers assigned, did they also assign it a "Train" number? IIRC the Century Club FM Train Masters were engine 1, engine 2, train 9 from Lionel. 

If you are running them as engine 1 and engine 2 rather than as a train, what you are doing is required.

BobbyD, Thank you for this reply. I do see in the manual about the TR N.9 I have tried that and there is no response from the train at all. It is not clear to me in the manual how to assign the both AA units to this TR N.9. Everything on both units works perfect. I'm just not knowledgeable about the settings and how the "directional lighting" works or even if it does work how I thought and stated above.

These need to be configured as a lash-up (or MU for Rich), as they are not configured for single TMCC ID.

Is this configuration difficult to do? I'm guessing it's in the manual and say something about it but the directions did not seem very clear. I've never done any type of lash up. 

Do you have Legacy or TMCC?  It's easy with the Legacy CAB2, not quite as simple with the TMCC CAB1 or CAB1L.  The instructions for the CAB1 (or CAB1L) are in the user's guide.

Sorry I should have stated that. I have what is called now Legacy "Lite". I guess a newer version of TMCC. To me it looks just as the original TMCC with the Cab1 remote. If I may just ask simply, if after all the configuration of Lash-up is completed, will the headlights on the Powered and Non-Powered units change direction with the direction of the train? I mean it seems to me that the only functions, other than the couplers, of the Dummy (Non-Powered) unit is the smoke and the headlight. I don't see any other functions.

That's the idea.   I will say, not all the stuff worked perfectly on all engines, even some early Legacy had some issues with lash-ups and the lighting operation.  However, that one was probably designed to operate at least the basic lighting properly.

The CAB1L uses the same instructions as the TMCC in your manual.

John, Once again I truly thank you for your input. I will try in a day or two to program/reprogram these to first engine N. 1 and N.2 then as a TR 9. I saw in the manual reading very closely that indeed the headlights SHOULD change as I thought. I actually states that in the note below the Lash-up build. I'll see how the couplers, smoke units and headlights work and post results. Thank you.

Ok so I started from scratch to configure the Lash-up for this AA set. The short answer is I got it to configure the lash-up, and YES the headlights do indeed switch from front to back when pressing the direction button. Also both smoke units turn on and off together with the 8 and 9 buttons on the Cab1 remote. The issue was that the lash-up instructions of the train manual state only one number is necessary to configure the lash-up, while the Legacy Lite ( TMCC ) manual very clearly states that you need to input two numbers ( 07 not just 7 ) in order to configure. But AFTER it is configured you only need to press the TR and then 7 on the Cab1 (Not 07.) So the two manuals are in conflict with each other. It only worked when I configured using a two digit number ( 07.)

Now my final question is can you configure this same lash-up to work using the MTH DCS and control it from the MTH remote and/or the MTH wifi app?  Ahh they taunt indeed. Thank you.

That's a question that I don't know the answer to, I haven't actually tried with the MTH remote as I prefer using the CAB1L for TMCC and the CAB2 for full Legacy.

Per our late Barry Broskowitz you should be able to do it Peter. Like John, I've never tried any of that in DCS, we just use the Lionel remote when operating TMCC/Legacy products.

https://ogrforum.com/...y-lash-up-on-dcs-app

I think I will do that way as well. I was just wondering if it could be done. Also I had been away from the forum for a few months and missed seeing that Barry had passed. I bought his last version of the book just in January and he answered a couple of my posts just a few month prior to that. A knowledgeable and most helpful man that will be incredibly missed by many. Thank you Barry for all your contribution towards that continuation and development of our hobby.