DCS engines all turn on when power is applied

Get rid of that poser! It's robbing signal.

Do a track signal test and see if there's anything soaking up the signal, like engines with cv boards, lighted cars, or powered accessories.

Nope not normal.  Is the var channel set to fixed mode or Var mode?

Here's how to set it fixed mode if you want to try it.

Menu/DCS set up/ Select var  channel and hit FXD.. There is a slight delay  until the track powers up. (a couple of seconds)  The tiu will remember the FXD mode setting.  You must have a good signal if you can shut down the engines. so maybe it's a timing issue.

I have the same issue on a medium sized layout.  All TIU outputs exhibit the problem.  I found that if I unplug the aux power and then apply main power (via Z4000), the engines do not turn on.  I can then plug in aux power after the start-up.  I'm not sure what the problem is, but I suspect the TIU.  An older TIU does not do this with the same setup.  I am using a Z500 to supply the TIU aux power.

Chris

First off, how are you powering the TIU? You need to power fixed 1 or AUX in order to supply power to the TIU. It sounds as if your locos are not getting the watchdog signal at startup

If you raise the Z4000 voltage from 0 too slowly, engines may be missing the DCS watchdog signal and the engines start up in conventional mode.  Barry describes this here:

https://ogrforum.com/t...872#9173460014746872

I suppose a simple experiment to see if this is the issue is to raise the Z4000 handle more quickly, or first set the voltage and then apply it (plug in) to the TIU input(s).