All the engines appeared on the inactive list.

Hi Bill,

I assume you are using DCS engines. If the engines are inactive, the only way to make them active is to have them on the track. Your TIU will look for the engine in the address you programmed. If for any reason it is not on the track of having signal issues, you will get an "Engine not found message".

If I were you I would start with just one engine to see if it can find it. If not, when you apply power to the track, do the engines come on automatically? If so they engines are missing the DCS watchdog signal which is probably an interference issue.

Also, try cleaning the track where you place your test engine (As close to your TIU or power drop as possible is best.)

Let me know how this goes.

Please give us as much info as possible, like when did the problem start? Any thing new done to the layout? etc. They can help us see if we can faster pinpoint a solution for you.

Thanks!

You have to take off all of your Lionel or non-MTH locomotives from the track, and then place one MTH locomotive on the track and click the “read” button on the bottom of the controller by the numeric keypad.  You can only do one loco at a time. If that doesn’t work, try recovering the locomotive through the remote’s menu.  I’ve had the same issues before and that is what has worked for me.

One engine came up which was and sd50 everything looking good so far so I shut down sys and removed the sd 50 put on and sd45 turned the power on and did the same procedure and it called the sd 45 the sd 50 number and name.  Wished I knew dcs was so complicated I never would have added so many engines and the system very frustrated, maybe its time to sell everything and get out of the hobby, this is not enjoyment.

Billsrr posted:

One engine came up which was and sd50 everything looking good so far so I shut down sys and removed the sd 50 put on and sd45 turned the power on and did the same procedure and it called the sd 45 the sd 50 number and name.  Wished I knew dcs was so complicated I never would have added so many engines and the system very frustrated, maybe its time to sell everything and get out of the hobby, this is not enjoyment.

Hey Bill,

I am sorry to hear that you are having issues. It seems to me that your best bet may definitely be to clear your programming and start again. I have both DCS and Legacy on my layout and I will admit they were both a learning curve and to date I am not a master of any but I have never experienced your issues unless both engines got the same address somehow but I don't know how that is possible.

I hate saying this because our friend Barry has burned this into all of our brains, but the DCS handbook he makes is really the only way I was able to learn. Also Eric from ericstrains.com is my, hands down, favorite source for how to videos. DCS is not a complicated beast but it is also not a perfect system, nor is legacy, sometimes electronics do funky things.

If you have a bit more patience left in you, and I hope you do because in this hobby you are going to need it, I would start fresh, first make sure your track is clean. Me personally, test track is the way to go. Then make sure you are running the latest software on your TIU and Remote. Next add one engine at a time (Make sure no other manufacture engines are present) and after adding it give it a test run around the track, then continue one at a time. When you are done, grab a few random engines (say 5) and place them on your track; start them up and see if your issue persists. If it seems fine, find a way to back up your remotes configuration to a PC, this will hopefully save you from this "Mission" in the future.

I think its funny that even after all these years, we still find ourselves not using technology to its fullest potential. I remember when I took a Microsoft Office class in College, the professor would tell us a million times to save our progress through the day. He would also say he guaranteed someone will forget and pay for it. Now, I am glad to say I wasn't the one to "fall for it" in class but he was right, someone forgot and paid lol. Our remotes are no different, they allow us to create a back up so you wont have to be so frustrated if this happens again in the future.

ALL IN ALL, please don't give up. You are the master of the DCS system, not the other way around. I would highly recommend Barry's book or at least a few of Eric's how to videos. They are both excellent resources.

Keep us posted and good luck! (Not saying you are going to need it )

Thanks!

Bill,

Just do this, without ever pressing the READ button:

• Place any one engine on a track and put power to that track.
• Press ENG and scroll to that engine in the Inactive Engine List.
• Press the thumbwheel. That engine should move to the Active Engine List.
• Turn off track power.
• Repeat for all other engines, one at a time.

Well I got ahead of everyone, I deleted all the engines to start loading every thing back.  The system says there is no engine on the track.  Even with a piece of new cleaned track. What now.

I cant leave anything undone so I went back and tried to load the engines back in. This time every thing  I put on the track the dcs found.  I'm stumped.  Sure glad the street rods I build don't have these problems.