DCS Lash up issue

I have similar MU problems all the time. Somehow one will miss the watchdog signal and start up in conventional or startup and not move. I can always solve it by cutting power to the track and starting over. For some reason, reversing before turning the thumbwheel will alleviate the problem, but not always. The engines sometimes will shutdown with the remote and restart, but still won't move together. I always have to cut track power. I have posted about this problem before, but never got an explanation or solution.

Guest posted:

Hello Joe, when I turn on my remote, it's version 6.00, is that what you mean?

I'm not having this problem. I have in the past. It was an engine battery issue for me. I believe that the system got confused when a PS2 member didn't do what it should have, and it scrambled a PS3 engine in the process.

How is the battery in the PS2 engine?

Maybe the engines are sitting on an area of poor or lower signal?

Are too many engines getting power?

Can you try it after doing a signal test of each engine?

@Engineer-Joe posted:

I'm not having this problem. I have in the past. It was an engine battery issue for me. I believe that the system got confused when a PS2 member didn't do what it should have, and it scrambled a PS3 engine in the process.

How is the battery in the PS2 engine?

Maybe the engines are sitting on an area of poor or lower signal?

Are too many engines getting power?

Can you try it after doing a signal test of each engine?

It could be the batteries need to recharge or be replaced at this point. The trains haven't run in months.

I'm guessing the only way to check the batteries is to pull the tenders apart, correct?

Only 2 engines on the track and a few lights from the search light car and caboose.

What do you mean by a signal test? I can get each engine to run on the same track when they aren't lashed together.

So I just ran another test. First I cleaned the track with a track cleaning car for 30 minutes, I also had track power applied for about 2 hours to help the batteries. I tried to run the engines and no sucess, same issue.

I added both of them back into the active section of the remote and again, each one runs fine when not lashed together. I'm going to delete the lash up again and try to add them to a new lash up in a different order. I know it should make a difference, but it can't hurt.

Out of curiosity, did you check to make sure they are not part of an old lash-up. Also one of their addresses didn't change?  

@clem k posted:

Out of curiosity, did you check to make sure they are not part of an old lash-up. Also one of their addresses didn't change?  

I deleted the old lash up, so I should be good there.

Not sure how their address would have changed, is that something that can happen if the battery runs down?

You need more rope to tie your “lashup” together.  

What a horrible term. It’s a Multiple Unit Consist.

seems like anything can happen

Someone suggested running multiple units together using the "all" button - is that an option in lieu of creating a lashup?

FWIW: I have had nothing but challenges lashing up PS3 engines, never tied a PS2 and PS3. I know this is anecdotal but there is something amiss with PS3 electronics that prevents lashups from running consistently together and retaining settings. At first I though it was just my two Triplexes, but then again with T1s, and then again with bipolars. I even swapped out my older TIU for a brand new one last year - didn't help a bit. I've spent so much time programming and naming lashups it is ridiculous.

I’ve seen some weird things happen when a battery gets low.  I would recommend doing a feature reset and then a factory reset on the PS2 loco.  Make sure the battery has a good charge when doing this.

As others have said the battery could also need replacing.  To test for a weak/exhausted battery, after charging it, apply power to the track, start up the engine and wait for the start up sequence to finish.  Cut power to the track, wait and listen.

If the volume of the sound changes significantly, or if the shutdown sequence doesn’t play to completion, then your battery is kaput.

@Paul Kallus posted:

Someone suggested running multiple units together using the "all" button - is that an option in lieu of creating a lashup?

FWIW: I have had nothing but challenges lashing up PS3 engines, never tied a PS2 and PS3. I know this is anecdotal but there is something amiss with PS3 electronics that prevents lashups from running consistently together and retaining settings. At first I though it was just my two Triplexes, but then again with T1s, and then again with bipolars. I even swapped out my older TIU for a brand new one last year - didn't help a bit. I've spent so much time programming and naming lashups it is ridiculous.

Do you by chance have “speed mode” enabled on the remote? I think sometimes when that is enabled AND there are signal problems, operations are sometimes unsuccessful, but this is not apparent because in speed mode the remote doesn’t wait for commands to reply to the remote before allowing you to continue with other operations.

@Rich Melvin posted:

You need more rope to tie your “lashup” together.  

What a horrible term. It’s a Multiple Unit Consist.

I know that MU consist is the official term, you know it’s the official term, but official does not make a word roll off the tongue, per se.

”Lashup” or more correctly “lash-up” or “lash up” I think has it’s origins in the nautical realm in terms used by a ship’s boatswain or “bosun” when tidying up, getting underway, or tying down.  The phrase was “lash up and stow.”

How it got applied to multiple locomotives in a consist, the world may never know.  I have a hunch that it may be from the very early days of railroading and canals when horses, oxen, and mules were the primary means of motive power.  I’d wager a guess that the term carried over from the deck hands that found employment on the canals in the late 18th century and early 19th century.  This probably carried over to the inclined railroads that connected the the canals before steam locomotives saw wide use, when multiple livestock were tied together to pull a particularly heavy load.

Progress marched on in most places through the industrial revolution, especially in more populous areas, but my guess is that some of that older terminology stuck around in the areas that were a little more cutoff from the “modern world”.

Just one man’s opinion, but “Multiple Unit Consist” is not exactly of Shakespeare or Wordsworth in origin and definitely in need of some word-smithing.

P.S. I wonder how many of us rail-fans or the actual railroaders refer to everything by its official term.  Do you call it the energized conductor or “hot”? Grounded conductor or “neutral”/“common”? Grounding conductor or “ground”/“earth”.

In the original post, it was the engine with the battery that responded, so it seems it's not a battery problem. Just to add to the soup, try a conventional reset on the PS3.

I use The ALL feature on DCS to make large Lash-ups, Four or more locomotives. It's way more reliable, faster, and easier. I'm not going to adjust all those features on all those locomotives, just to start over because of one little glitch in the system.  

I had a issue with two PS3 diesels, where one of the engines would lockup and would get super hot to the touch, no sounds, no responses.  A power down and a re-address of the engine or the lashup would fix the problem until it would show up again during a later operation session.   It was a known bug by MTH in he PS3 firmware, and too infrequent for them to fix I guess.  I finally got sick of it and sold those two engines.

Without reading all the responses, which engine is causing the issue, PS2 or PS3???

And Rich, don't let the term LASHUP live rent free in your head.  You have lost the battle, time to surrender.

Hello all,

Thanks for all the advice. I stepped away from it last night and tried again this morning. I went into my controller and deleted the lash up I created yesterday and re did it. Now I'm not sure if this helped but I deleted the lash up with the locomotives off, so just the handheld was on. Then I turned on track power, created a new lash up and now everything works.

I have no idea what fixed it. As much as I love all the bells, whistles, speed control, sounds, etc, some days I miss my ZW

Thanks again for all the help

Sam