Christmas Train DCS Failure, Now not sure if my TIU is junked

Have you tried a different channel?  Maybe you just smoked that channel.  If you're powering it from fixed #1, try powering it with the AUX power input, then put the track power transformer through one of the other channels you weren't using before.

The fact that you're blowing the 20A fuse suggests you don't have sufficient circuit protection on the input of the TIU.

Another point, did you try a different engine?  Maybe it's the engine that took the hit.

The fact that you're blowing the 20A fuse suggests you don't have sufficient circuit protection on the input of the TIU.

I definitely agree.  10 amp is a max on an input.  Transformer breaker should have opened. What's the tranformer?

Thanks.

The TIU was powered off an MTH brick, with and MTH round plug to banana jack adapter, the brick never blew just the fuse inside the TIU. This was the sole power supply, to the TIU running through that fixed 1 channel.

I will dig out another transformer tomorrow, I hope, and engine, and try GRJ suggestions, having totally killed either a TIU channel or an engine is going to really suck.

I have reservations about another engine, as losing two for Christmas won't do much for my Holiday cheer.

Thanks,

Jason

Jason,

There's a good chance that all that's happened is that when you opened the TIU to change the fuse, the transceiver board lifted out of its socket a bit. That could cause the TIU to lose contact with the remote, which would cause all of your engines to not be found by DCS.

You can verify this by connecting a telephone handset cable (the curly one with smaller connectors, that goes between the phone handset and the phone base) between the TIU's Remote Input port and the port on the tail end of the remote.

If that corrects the problem, open the TIU and gently push the transceiver board back down into its socket. The transceiver board is on the forward, right-hand side of the TIU, if you're facing the channel inputs.

Whatever you do, do not lift up on the transceiver board or the black wire antenna!! If the board comes completely out of its socket, you may not be able to get it back in.

Regardless, place a 10 amp fast-blow fuse inline with the Hot wire between the transformer and the TIU channel's input's red terminal, for each channel that you're using.

This and a whole lot more is all in MTH’s “The DCS Companion 3rd Edition", available for purchase from many fine OGR advertisers and forum sponsors, or as an eBook or a printed book at MTH's web store!

Passive mode might work better in this situation, until the overload is figured our.

FWIW, I've found that the MTH bricks have a pretty slow breaker, I don't trust those to do the job.  You aren't the first to experience this with the Z bricks.

CincinnatiWestern posted:

Thanks.

The TIU was powered off an MTH brick, with and MTH round plug to banana jack adapter, the brick never blew just the fuse inside the TIU. This was the sole power supply, to the TIU running through that fixed 1 channel.

I will dig out another transformer tomorrow, I hope, and engine, and try GRJ suggestions, having totally killed either a TIU channel or an engine is going to really suck.

I have reservations about another engine, as losing two for Christmas won't do much for my Holiday cheer.

Thanks,

Jason

You do not actually have to run the engine.  Just replace fuse, put different engine on track and see if it loads properly and  back and forth.  Then go back and try the other engine.  You do need to see if you can isolate the problem to the TIU or the engine.  We can go from there.  G

Cause of overload must be determined before running, JohnH, to avoid other consequences, such as fire.

RJR posted:

Cause of overload must be determined before running, JohnH, to avoid other consequences, such as fire.

CincinnatiWestern posted:

So I hooked it up and somehow wires got crossed and the 20a fuse inside the TIU blew. I changed it out and we were again up and running, no trouble everything running just as on the layout.

Tonight, the with the help of the kids and cat, derailment, and again the fuse inside the TIU blew, 

I think he knows the cause of the overloads.

MartyE, if you re-read my post, you'll see that I was commenting on an earlier post that said to run passive until he determined the cause of the overload.  That is a bad practice so I wanted to make sure someone else didn't get a b ad idea.  And if you read the original post again, the problem has recurred and he is seeking a solution, which GGG is working with him to find.

Thanks RJR, I was just thinking of  protecting the TIU until he found the problem

A derailment should NOT blow the TIU fuse.  If it does, you have insufficient protection on the input of the TIU power!

Before doing anything, I placed two in line 10a fast blow fuses into the system, the first between the ZW which I am using the power the loop now, and the second between the TIU and the track. Following this I used the MTH brick to power the TIU. 

The first event, placing an alternate engine on the loop and seeing how that goes. All went well, no issues.

Second test, try the original engine. The TIU found the engine, and everything seemed to function as it made its way around the loop, then the remote seemed to freeze and became totally unresponsive -- the train still going happily around the tree. Several seconds (15-20) later the remote came back to life and I powered everything down. Upon powering it back up it now cannot find the engine again, only the message is no engine on track with the original engine, with the alt engine I get a check track message.

Any suggestions? It is a single loop of brand new Menards O track going around the tree, the level of complication is low, at least it should be. Kids just want to run the train.

Thanks,

Jason

Delete the engine and try adding back again with fixed 1.   If you can't    try fixed 2    you'll need the MTH brick to power the tiu (aux power port)