DCS Upgrade: Have you done it yet?

I have installed it in all my stuff I have here, I have to still do the club TIU's and remotes, as well as any members that are interested in the upgrade.

Good Afternoon!

Just finished the upgrade to 4.3 on my DCS TIU.  All systems go, great instructions built into the software. Follow them to the letter.

I also noticed in the software there is an icon for upgrading DCS Remote Commander, any one have instructions for them?  I have three of the systems that will not control a factory reset PS-2 engine.

just did Mine and My friends 3 TIU's and 2 Remotes

Did 5 TIU's and 6 remotes. All working fine. The lash-ups work much better.

The DCS Commander software is still at 1.40 with a 2011 date on www.protosound2.com, so I wonder if there's an update available yet?

Hey John!

How would you connect to the DCS Remote Commander to reload even the 1.4 version?

I don't own one, but I presume you'd connect the serial cable and use the same DCS Loader, there is a key for the update.  This is a screen shot of the dealer loader, the same key exists on the consumer loader.

Kerrigan,

 but I seem to remember there was a "correction" which shortly followed the initial upgrade, kind of a "re-release"?

That's incorrect. It was DCS 4.0 that had a 4.02 or a 4.02a release, but that was in 2008.

How would you connect to the DCS Remote Commander to reload even the 1.4 version?

John did not refer to the DCS Remote Commander. He referenced the DCS Commander, which has a a serial port.

John,

There's nothing newer than 1.4 for the DCS Commander, and there's nothing of which I'm aware that's in the works.

Barry, I got snookered again by the nebulous naming convention for all these products!

Sorry Paul, the DCS Commander is what I was thinking of.  There is no update possibility for the DCS Remote Commander, at least when I took them apart, I sure don't see any possibility!

Yep 6 tiu & 8 remotes with  only one or two glitches trying to get the remote code loaded using a clamp. Anyway the super mode scrolling issue is finally fixed, Yahoo!!

John,

The DCS Remote Commander doesn't really have a software program per se. Rather, it "plays back" a "recording" of command sequences.

Well, there's "software" in the chip, but it's pretty obvious you can't change it.   There's no programming ports of any kind, even on the PCB.

I'm a bit surprised the DCS Commander didn't get an update, I guess it's the poor stepchild.

No problems or glitches.  Did 3 remotes & 3 TIUs (2 Rev G, 1 Rev I), all using a USB to serial cable from my Dell laptop.  Took a couple of minutes for each TIU and about 5 each for the remotes.

Wish I could remember what I used for a clamp on the power button.  My woodworking spring clamps are too strong-springed.

Where does one find the upgrade information? I looked at the MTH sight and could not find any info on it.

I have a TIU and 1 remote. Do I need to purchase the upgrade from MHT? What cables are needed to connect my computer to the TIU and to the remote?

Thanks

RAY

Upgrade and loader program are both free on MTH's protosound website. You need to download both.  The 4.3 upgrade program is a zip filed that unloads into 2 files, one with the suffix .rem and the other .tiu

When you run the program, it gives you step-by-step instructions.  You run the program before connecting anything, and thereafter it gives you instructions as you reach the various steps.

You will need:

1. a stereo cable with  1/8" jacks at each end, about a foot long.

2. a power supply to feed the TIU through the AUX port.

3. a telephone handset (not wall-to-set) cable to connect TIU and remote.

4. A cable to connect computer and TIU:

    a. If a TIU prior to Rev L and

         (1) your computer has a serial port, a regular serial connector cable, or appropriate gender;

          (2) your computer has no serial port, a USB to serial cable.  Radio Shack has one by Gigaware that I use.

    b. If a Rev L TIU, an appropriate USB cable.

Ray,

If you have a copy of The DCS O Gauge Companion 2nd Edition, there's an entire section devoted to software upgrading.

This and a whole lot more is all in MTH’s “The DCS O Gauge Companion 2nd Edition", available for purchase as an eBook or a printed book at MTH's web store!

Hold off on the upgrade, there's a fix to 4.3 coming out in a couple of days, 4.31.  Might as well update to the latest if you're going to do it.

What will it fix?

I have three TIUs and three remotes to upgrade so I didn't want, as my other half is wont to say in IT Land, "on the bleeding edge of Technology" ...

Don't know if mentioned anywhere, but is Loader 2.3 OK for the update, or must one have loader 2.32, or is the loader not necessary for the remote/TIU update?

Loader Program 2.30 will work fine.

Just finished upgrading 2 TIUs and 10 Handhelds.  Using windows 8.1 I had some issues. I upgraded my to L TIUs (help off my"I" TIUs until I get a usb serial adapter) and I got a message upon trying to upgrade my remotes that it could not find my TIU. After several reboots and going back from TIU 2 to TIU3 it found the TIU and remote. (Used com3 instead of 4?).  After getting the remotes updated, I fired up my 3rd level and of course forgot to power off/on the TIU before applying track power. All my engines on the 6th loop came up in conventional.  After correcting that mistake, I got them all running under command with a glitch. I have two double headers and two single engines and I could not turn the smoke off on any units. On TIU 2 with loop 5 (triple MU with heritage diesels, triple WM circus, an EVO single unit train, and an MU of dual Legacy diesels). I could not move my WM circus diesels into the active area. The MU is in the active area but the individual units are inactive. Selecting the WM units in the inactive area, I got an error message that the engine was not on the track; however, with the cursor on each of the three engines, I was able to sound the horn on each engine.  Interesting.  It may be the Legacy engines; however, all 4 trains run well on the loop.  I just can not move the inactive engines (WM) to the active area. Note that the lashups were created with my previous 4.01 DCS release. Smoke so far is controllable on my other engines on the other loops I have tested. I just tested my 7th loop and it took 90 seconds from selecting "all" and start to having the engines start up. This only took 4 or 5 seconds under 4.01.  I did move one engine to the inactive area (0-6-0) and it decreased back to 2 seconds. Note that I still have an MU on a minor loop with 2 diesels in the active area with the 2 second response.I also got the smoke to go off on one of my engines on the 6th loop.  The others still do not respond.