Constant need for engine reset

Have they ever routinely operated correctly?

Factory reset or feature rest?  So they are loaded in the system and do start up, but just not with the setting you had set?  If so do feature reset so everything is operating normal, especially smoke and sounds and just turn track power off.  Do the sounds play a normal shutdown, or does the engine sounds stop abruptly? 

I have only PS3, so I can`t talk about PS2.  I operate in lash-up all the time and found that engines can sometime get in "strange state" (ex: obvious flashing number light ??? ) if I go into lash-up, out of lash-up, back in lash-up, etc...

Doing "feature reset" solve any "strange state" every time, so I have accepted to live with this nice & easy reset solution.  (it is much faster than a reboot on a  Windows PC which some people do sometimes :-) )

Unless I am missing something, I am not aware of any negative side effects of doing a "feature reset", so I do not hesitate to do it when I want and accept to start from a known and clean state.

I am curious to know if "feature reset" is widely use.

Thanks for all the replies. First off, the engines work fine in every way, except that they don't start up with any sounds after shutting down and then turning off the TIU between sessions. Second, what is the difference between a factory reset and a feature reset? When I tried each of them, they seem to do the same thing. Third, why should I have to reset the engine at the start of every session in order to get any sound? Is this just one of the quirks with DCS? If it is, I can live with it.

George

A Factory Reset does all of the same things as does a Feature Reset, plus two additional things. A Factory Reset changes the engine's DCS ID# back to what it was when it left the factory and also deletes the engine from the DCS Remote.

If both resets do the exact same thing to your PS3 engine, then your engine is most likely in need of repair.

Barry:

I only use my android phone and have never changed the engine's ID. So, how would I know if my engine is in need of repair?

George 

George,

If you do a Factory Reset and the enginedoes not need to be re-added to the app, or if you do a Feature Reset and it does need to be re-added, there's a problem.

Since the latter is the case with 2 of my engines, I guess I have a problem.  Thanks, Barry. Now the question is whether or not I just live with it or get it repaired.

George 

George,

Hold on!

If you do a Feature Reset and then have to re-add the engines with the DCS App only rather than also after a Feature Reset with a remote, there's a bug in the app (fixed in the current Premium beta) that a Feature Reset deletes the engine when it should not.

Do you need to re-add the engines after doing a Feature Reset with a DCS Remote?

Barry:

How right you are! I did not need to add the engine back when using the remote. So, now all I have to do is wait for the Premium app. I'm really relieved. Thank you so much for your help. I love this forum! I hope this thread helps others also.

George

Barry:

But one question remains. Why do I have to do a Feature Reset in the first place? Why doesn't the engine start up with sound without having to do a reset? Why do some engines start up with sound and others do not?

George

George,

But one question remains. Why do I have to do a Feature Reset in the first place? Why doesn't the engine start up with sound without having to do a reset? Why do some engines start up with sound and others do not?

The typical reason that a PS2 engine doesn't retain it's sounds after a Feature Reset is because the engine's battery is too weak to write the new settings back into the engine when track power is removed. If this happens, however, with a PS3 engine, it indicates that there's a possible issue with the engine's BCR orcharging circuit.

That's why I stated previously that if these are PS3 engines, they need to be looked at by an MTH tech.

I also have a PS-3 engine that has a bad BCR or charging system. Wish MTH made the BCR or super caps "plug-in". If I knew which caps to replace I'd give that a try. If their easy to get at.

Barry:

If I choose to live with it, are there any other problems that a faulty BSR  or charging circuit could cause?

It could, and would probably cause you to be unable to change the engine's DCS ID#. That would be very bad.

You should get this issue resolved.

Why would I need to change the engine's I D #?

Why would I need to change the engine's I D #?

Any number of reasons. If an engine is defective, you should fix it before it becomes more defective.

You never answered my question about turning track power off with sounds playing.  Does the engine play shutdown sounds or not?  the faulty supercap may be a simple as soldering a cold solder joint on one leg. Pretty simple.  It resolves the whole issue of reset and such.  G

G:

Sorry that I didn't address your question. I just tried what you suggested. The engine did go into a shutdown sound, but it lasted only about 3 or 4 seconds, before the sound went off completely. By the way, the engine has done this since it was new, about 15 months ago. Too bad I've ignored the problem, since now it is out of warranty. I wonder how much it will cost to fix and whether it will be worth fixing, since otherwise the Feature Reset step is not that big of a deal. Any idea where the nearest repair would be? I live in Ithaca, NY.

George

Dave Zucal posted:

I also have a PS-3 engine that has a bad BCR or charging system. Wish MTH made the BCR or super caps "plug-in". If I knew which caps to replace I'd give that a try. If their easy to get at.

Dave, The 2 large white caps side by side.  They are rated at 2.7V each.  Look at the solder joints. G

GJP posted:

G:

Sorry that I didn't address your question. I just tried what you suggested. The engine did go into a shutdown sound, but it lasted only about 3 or 4 seconds, before the sound went off completely. By the way, the engine has done this since it was new, about 15 months ago. Too bad I've ignored the problem, since now it is out of warranty. I wonder how much it will cost to fix and whether it will be worth fixing, since otherwise the Feature Reset step is not that big of a deal. Any idea where the nearest repair would be? I live in Ithaca, NY.

George

If your comfortable taking shell off and removing board, you can send just the board to me.  Otherwise ship the engine.  I am not knowledgeable of shops with techs that do board repairs in your area.  G

Any idea of the appropriate cost for the repair?

If you would rather communicate with me directly, my email is GJP3@CORNELL.EDU 

Thanks G, I've noticed they bend these caps over after they have been soldered in. I'm sure that is when the solder connection breaks loose on some. Do you agree?

Caps repositioned. I do this with all my PS3 boards.All perform 100%

Dave Zucal posted:

Thanks G, I've noticed they bend these caps over after they have been soldered in. I'm sure that is when the solder connection breaks loose on some. Do you agree?

No it is not the bending, I think a few just don't get soldered correctly out of the factory.  I do not see it often, but have seen it.

By the way the caps should be bent over so the harness wires go above the caps as in Willey's picture above.  Early on the caps pointed up and the wires where too close to the board.  MTH discovered that could cause DCS signal strength issues.  G

Wires above caps assembled.

If it helps this narrative, I have the 2010 GE GEVO with the traveling green lights. I have this engine in MU with a MTH AC4400 with PS2 (and a 2.7V battery). About half the time, both engines in MU would start up but the GEVO running lead would not have the traveling green lights activated and the ditch lights would not work, so I also kept performing a feature reset on the GEVO.  After some time, the AC4400 also would not react to commands, and it was not possible to have it retain settings. I replaced the battery in the AC4400 and now both engines in MU (and also individually)  react perfectly to all commands, save features, etc.

So a bad battery on one engine affected an engine with a BCR running in multiple......

Hudson5432 posted:

If it helps this narrative, I have the 2010 GE GEVO with the traveling green lights. I have this engine in MU with a MTH AC4400 with PS2 (and a 2.7V battery). About half the time, both engines in MU would start up but the GEVO running lead would not have the traveling green lights activated and the ditch lights would not work, so I also kept performing a feature reset on the GEVO.  After some time, the AC4400 also would not react to commands, and it was not possible to have it retain settings. I replaced the battery in the AC4400 and now both engines in MU (and also individually)  react perfectly to all commands, save features, etc.

So a bad battery on one engine affected an engine with a BCR running in multiple......

Glad you posted your find..i like these kind of observations...helps us all.