Disabling Remote Functions

quote:

Is there a way to disable all remote functions except the thumb wheel, direction, horn and whistle? We like to let visitors run our trains. We have had no real problems, but occasionally some one will hit the emergency button or a menu button and create minor havoc.

Sorry no way ,however we sometimes will add only one engine to a remote to keep visitors from selecting other engines that they are not running. Helps quite a bit.

Dick,

About all you can do is impose a speed limit on PS2/PS3 engines operated from a particular DCS Remote.

quote:

Dick,

About all you can do is impose a speed limit on PS2/PS3 engines operated from a particular DCS Remote.

But even that is over-rideable using the QuickSpeed option. I wish it wasn't so!

- walt

Well, there is a way, but not with the regular remote.
Buy and connect (Passive) the DCS Remote Commander 50-1033.
Reset the engine they will run to Factory default.
Do not address the engine with the regular DCS system.
They will control that engine only with the limited commands of the small remote.
Speed (no quickset so run too fast takes lots of button pressing) (Hit DIR for a fast stop)
Volume, Couplers, Horn or Whistle, Bell, PSA/PFA, Direction, Start up & Shutdown.

Russell,

The only drawback is that you cannot override the engine's operation with a DCS Remote - you'd need another DCSRC remote.

Russell, Curious, can you run the DCs remote commander and the regular DCS remote at the same time on the same track or layout? Thx.

Gregg,

quote:

Curious, can you run the DCs remote commander and the regular DCS remote at the same time on the same track or layout.

Absolutely - been there, done that!

quote:

You're probably aware of it but forgot: pressing down the DCS RC (+) rocker switch for seven seconds will accelerate an engine from minimum speed to its maximum;

Cab: I never heard or read that before! I can't wait to try that.

I find it interesting how people discover things about DCS. Last night I tried to figure out how I could have missed knowing that. I looked at both the DCS manual that came with the TIU and also looked at various sections in Barry's book. Your comment is not mentioned in either, as best as I can tell.

thanks for the tip!

- walt

Thanks for straightening me out Cab. I missed that part - obviously!

- walt

New member here.
Have been following all the OGR forums for a year or so, and have learned a tremendous amount. Want to thank all of you. Day-to-day posts, discussions, squabbles, may not seem much, but taken together as a whole over a period of time it amounts to a body of cumulative knowledge, experience, opinions, research; very valuable resource.

Will try to avoid newbie behavior, listen and learn for a while.

In the process of building a Standard Gauge layout in my barn. DCS to run both new MTH PS2 and vintage traditional trains. Will keep you posted.

Posting on this thread because I have a question for Barry:

quote:

Originally posted by Barry Broskowitz:
Gregg,

quote:

Curious, can you run the DCs remote commander and the regular DCS remote at the same time on the same track or layout.

Absolutely - been there, done that!

I have your book and have read it several times over, little at a time, trying to get the principles and details right in my head. So, if I have this right the DCS Commander receiver module 50-1033 acts like a mini- TIU, layering the command signal on top of the power going to the track? So the way to do this would be to attach the output wires from the DCS Commander module to the input terminals on the 12-port terminal block for distribution to the track – the same terminal block and the same input terminal screws that the TIU channel is attached to?

From reading your book, this is not something I would have thought of as OK – the emphasis seems to be keeping the signal pathway clean. This would introduce possibility of 2 overlapping command signals at the same time to one track power district. Of course, presumably the DCS Command signal and the TIU signal would be addressed to different locomotives.

If the DCS Commander module and the TIU channel each were powered by different transformer handles, it would seem that you would be delivering 2X the voltage to the track power district. So would both the TIU channel and the Commander module have to be powered by the same transformer handle?

If this works, it sounds like a very attractive way to provide simplified control within the larger DCS system. Do I have the wiring right?
thanks

quote:

So the way to do this would be to attach the output wires from the DCS Commander module to the input terminals on the 12-port terminal block for distribution to the track – the same terminal block and the same input terminal screws that the TIU channel is attached to?

That's correct.

quote:

This would introduce possibility of 2 overlapping command signals at the same time to one track power district. Of course, presumably the DCS Command signal and the TIU signal would be addressed to different locomotives.

That's also correct, however, it's exactly the same as if two operators each issued commands from two DCS Remotes to two different engines, which is perfectly OK to do.

quote:

If the DCS Commander module and the TIU channel each were powered by different transformer handles, it would seem that you would be delivering 2X the voltage to the track power district. So would both the TIU channel and the Commander module have to be powered by the same transformer handle?

You would run the DCS Remote Commander in Passive Mode, i.e., you would not connect a transformer to its input terminals.

quote:

it sounds like a very attractive way to provide simplified control within the larger DCS system. Do I have the wiring right?

Yes, it is and, as long as you run it in Passive Mode, you've got it right.

quote:

You would run the DCS Remote Commander in Passive Mode, i.e., you would not connect a transformer to its input terminals.

now, that i would not have guessed.
thank you, and thanks also for the book and the forum support. command control is a relatively new concept and complex: it will get easier as time goes on, but quite a few of us would not be doing DCS without your backup.