DCS Update Questions

Found this tutorial on YouTube...  Not mine.

The other option is to purchase Barry's DCS Companion 3rd edition via the MTH site.  Matter of Fact it's recommended if you have DCS.

Ralph M posted:

OK I downloaded the DCS 6.0 update and the 5.0 loader.

Now what?

I cant find any info on the MTH site about what to do next.

Hold your updating breath ... and pray.

IIRC, the loader also has on screen instructions that sort of walk you through the process. It's been a couple of years since I have updated, it may not cover everything, but it helps. As MartyE says above, the DCS Companion is well worth it's price and that is what I used to do my last update with. Went very smoothly following Barry's book.

Get a clamp for the remote power button or start exercising your thumb now to get it ready to hold the button down continuously for 6-8 minutes.  You have no idea how long that is until you do it once.

John,

While a clamp is definitely preferred, the thumb-hold for 5-1/2 minutes isn't all that big an ordeal. It also acts as a motivator to get the clamp.  

By the way, the clamp needs to be a rather specific, "Goldilocks", size to get the job done properly. Too small and it won't get around the side of the remote and too large causes it to press down on the screen. It needs to be just right!

If you are doing 1 or 2 upgrades the clamp is a waste IMO unless you have arthritis. 

Marty,

I'm not so sure of that.

IMO, the waste of time is what you can't be doing for 5 minutes because you're holding down a button.

Barry Broskowitz posted:

IMO, the waste of time is what you can't be doing for 5 minutes because you're holding down a button.

I waste time on a lot worse things.  Trains and all that goes with them isn't one of them for the most part.  LOL!

It's not the 5-6 minutes you waste, it's the 20 minutes you waste because your thumb slips off the button a couple of times.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

It's not the 5-6 minutes you waste, it's the 20 minutes you waste because your thumb slips off the button a couple of times.

You need a better thumb.

I have a clamp Marty, no additional thumb help needed.   When you have a lineup of around a dozen club remotes to update, the clip is MANDATORY!

"You need a better thumb."

You're youngish.  When you are older (say late 60s, early 70s) and your hand strength decreases substantially, as it does for everyone, you'll perhaps view things differently .

Landsteiner posted:

"You need a better thumb."

You're youngish.  When you are older (say late 60s, early 70s) and your hand strength decreases substantially, as it does for everyone, you'll perhaps view things differently .

 

From a few posts up...

"If you are doing 1 or 2 upgrades the clamp is a waste IMO unless you have arthritis. "

I think I covered aging.

"

"If you are doing 1 or 2 upgrades the clamp is a waste IMO unless you have arthritis. "

I think I covered aging."

Well yes and no.  While arthritis in the hands certainly increases with aging, this affects a modest proportion of individuals in their 60s and 70s.  On the other hand (pun intended), almost everyone experiences substantial decreases in muscle strength body wide in their 7th and later decades.  This change actually starts in the 30s but is not all that perceptible to most people until later in life.  So decreased hand muscle strength is an entirely different issue than arthritis, and affects almost everyone.  You'll see, unfortunately.  Your ability to hold down a button forcefully for 5 minutes will be quite different at 70 than it is for you now.  At 80 or 90 you may simply be unable to do it.

OK Thanks.  I figured as much as I get older I will be able to do less.  So if your older I recommend a clamp but for me it's a personal choice not to.

Ok, what clamp do you all use? That 7th decade is approaching in a few more years! I want to be ready in case I make it that long! 

I use one of these, and I've put a small dot of glue in the middle of the pad that helps depress the power button.

I've had these for a long time, don't remember if I got them at Harbor Freight or some other local store.  The one I use is about 3" in total length, it worked the best for the task.

Is that one of the smallest clamps they have like that? If so I'm covered, I have a box of them. I will take a look at my DCS remote and see how it all lines up. I take it that was hot melt glue you used to help with the button depress?

Thanks for the pic, worth a thousand words (as they say)!

Actually, it was a blob of CA adhesive.  Hot glue sticks when you press it onto something, the CA isn't sticky once it's fully cured.

Ok, thanks that's good to know. So much for my ability to guess at what glue was used...CA would probably have been my last guess. 

I wanted a small lump of something that wouldn't stick to the button.  The CA was the first thing I spotted that fit the need.   I started with a little piece of double-sided tape and a small chunk of Styrene, but it kept falling off.

Good thumb talk.

About 10 years ago, I bought a self-propelled Honda lawnmower (I know, but it's bullet-proof and starts first pull, every time) with a dual thumb drive mechanism for controlling speed, thinking it would be a piece of cake to operate.

I now have the strongest two thumbs in the universe and am happy to rent them out to all MTH users in need of an update !

I have experienced situations where the button has to be pressed below the surface of the remote to make contact.  In such cases, if there is too-large a pad on the clip, it won't work.  I finally did find some clips with smaller pads,; they look just like gunrunner's, but have smaller pads.  An alternative, which I have used when doing upgrades at York, is to have the remote's owner hold it down. 

"A thumb strong enough to hold buttons down on many remotes in turn is a sign of an inveterate hitchiker."