DCS Signal Question (Remote Commander)

So you say you externally jumper the two terminals on your toggle switch that connect when you throw the switch...and it works.  But you then throw the switch itself and it does not work? 

What is this toggle switch?

As drawn wouldn't the LED come on even if you jumper the power right at the block?  That would suggest it's not the LED.

Now if you're saying you remove all wiring to the switch/LED when you did your jumper experiment, my question then is how long is this wiring back to the control panel?

My test wire jump was from center rail of the main to center rail of the siding block.  When the test wire is removed the engine sees no dcs signal and drops to conventional.  I have verified this by pulling the test wire with power applied and the engine immediately starts up in conventional mode.

Ahh.  I think I see what's going on.

The Remote Commander issues the infamous "watchdog" signal that tells an engine to powerup in command mode (silent) only 1 time when it (the Remote Commander) first receives power.  As I understand your experiment, when you inserted the test wire the Remote Commander had already been powered for some time so its one-time watchdog signal came and went long ago.  The engine on the siding then just gets plain power from the mainline (no watchdog) and hence starts in conventional.

So with the toggle switch (and LED) wired up try the following.  Turn "on" the toggle switch...but now remove power from the mainline.  Now turn on power to the mainline which will powerup the Remote Commander AND your siding together.  No test wire.  The Remote Commander should now send its one-time watchdog through your toggle switch to the siding.  The engine should powerup silent and in command mode.

I realize this is NOT how you want to operate the siding power...but first things first!

Hope this makes sense!

Thanks.  I'll give that a try.

Mitch,

After the engine comes up in conventional mode when the toggle is thrown, just press the Shut Down button on the DCS Remote Commander to shut it down. Alternately, press Startup to put it into DCS mode.

Good morning Charlie.......careful those two outside rails are dead for a reason, the third rail pickup rolls over them. Make sure all outside rails are getting ground from all approaches to turnout.  As a side note, PS3  2/3 rail locomotives do have a problem with them, because the axles are insulated from one side to the other(2 rail). The longer the turnout the bigger the problem. Traction tires don't help either.

Sure hope I explained that correctly if not give me a call

Clem

Clem,

That explains why only my MTH won't go through there.  Thanks.  All is well and working now.