I wanted a Legacy version, and since I also have the Cabbage unit, the MTH won't run seamlessly in an MU with that one.
I'm not sure whats more disheartening, the issues? or the fact the the forum "tech guru" is stumped by them.
Glad I have no interest in one of these. It just reinforces "no more preorders for me". Someone else can be the beta tester on these things.
gunrunnerjohn posted:I wanted a Legacy version, and since I also have the Cabbage unit, the MTH won't run seamlessly in an MU with that one.
Right, I remember your post to balance the lighting on that unit.
RickO posted:I'm not sure whats more disheartening, the issues? or the fact the the forum "tech guru" is stumped by them.
Glad I have no interest in one of these. It just reinforces "no more preorders for me". Someone else can be the beta tester on these things.
my thoughts too.....YIKES!!!...time for the Lionel man to jump on here.....I'm sure John can fix it.....buuuuuut.........he shouldn't have to....FAIL 
(on Lionel's part)
It's not a question of "if" I can fix it, it's a question of why should I have to?
gunrunnerjohn posted:I wanted a Legacy version, and since I also have the Cabbage unit, the MTH won't run seamlessly in an MU with that one.
well if you change your mind, I have a MTH Amtrak with a baby blue stripe I'll sell ya! 
.. well it does run great!
Well, one mystery down and one to go.
Turns out the oddity with the smoke stopping the engine isn't actually the locomotive, it's my Legacy CAB2! The keypad is super sensitive, so much so that even a light touch will sometimes cause adjacent keys to be activated. In this case, smoke down also sometimes hits the Reset key! 
My other remote is already in a box to go to Lionel as it's totally dead, so I can't really afford to ship this one off until that one comes back.
And of course, I now can't repeat the motor error code that I couldn't get away from before! Now that our show is over, it appears to run fine.
I have it running with the same nine passenger cars on the same loop to see if I can get it to repeat it's bad behavior, now it runs just fine. I really do think this thing is haunted! 
Man I feel your pain. I sure hope the gremlins are gone!!
Marty and john, marty you stated that you were glad the old modular board are fading/ going away. Does this mean we should stock up on older radio boards for our older legacy and tmcc engines? Maybe they will still be produced by lionel or some other source. You can still get a mechanical e unit so maybe I am just being a worry wort.
PAUL ROMANO posted:John, gut it and put in DCS!
I'm sorry to say Paul DCS is not perfect either and that is coming from a guy who loves DCS. I have had some problems with it especially the steam engines. 
Please don't take this the wrong way John, but it give me a strange sense of solace knowing you are having these problems.
I thought it was just me!
John, if you would have sent this to Lionel and they said they could not find anything wrong we, not you, would have blasted them for lack of quality repair people. Thanks for keeping us posted and I'm glad it's running as it should.
Rod Miller
gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, one mystery down and one to go.
Turns out the oddity with the smoke stopping the engine isn't actually the locomotive, it's my Legacy CAB2! The keypad is super sensitive, so much so that even a light touch will sometimes cause adjacent keys to be activated. In this case, smoke down also sometimes hits the Reset key!
And of course, I now can't repeat the motor error code that I couldn't get away from before! Now that our show is over, it appears to run fine.
and what if I posted right now that why I use DCS? (remember your post?)
It is interesting and I do hope it gets fixed. I would have guessed some engine component failing under load but I did not consider anything with the remote.
John, you are under warranty.
Marty Fitzhenry posted:John, you are under warranty.
Marty,
You are such a great asset to the forum, and so helpful to the forumites. Thank you!
Also, I really wanted to thank you for all the nice comments I read praising the RCMC. I designed every aspect of that PCB; from dimensions, to every single PCB trace, and wrote every single line of source code creating a new Real Time Operating System that is the software basis of every product since, including LionChief. It was two grueling years of my life, doing not much more than the RCMC design work. Jerry C. had made it my top priority, and his confidence in me making the RCMC a solution to many of the manufacturing concerns was inspirational. The praise from you, and others, means so much to me, and is truly appreciated.
The RCMC will be my Legacy, much as the Cab-2 is Neil's and Lou K's. I am happy it is well received and making the Hobby less stressful. GRJ, if you ever need PCBs for deeper investigation, please reach out and I got ya covered. Your knowledge and feedback helps all of us, consumer and manufacturer alike.
Is there a photo of the new rcmc somewhere on the web. I would love to see it. It sounds like everyone loves these boards and it will make servicing these new engines a lot simpler. Am I correct in stating that john and mary.
Just did a google search for photos of the rcmc. Lots of good info as well as photos. Guess I should have did a search first. John and marty one question what is a thermister and what do they do?
gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, one mystery down and one to go.
Turns out the oddity with the smoke stopping the engine isn't actually the locomotive, it's my Legacy CAB2! The keypad is super sensitive, so much so that even a light touch will sometimes cause adjacent keys to be activated. In this case, smoke down also sometimes hits the Reset key!
And of course, I now can't repeat the motor error code that I couldn't get away from before! Now that our show is over, it appears to run fine.
Murphy's Law # 1- when demonstrated for the repairman the faulty appliance will work fine.
Glad you solved at least part of your problem John. Too bad you found a new one with your remote now.
Bob
SantaFeFan posted:GRJ, if you ever need PCBs for deeper investigation, please reach out and I got ya covered. Your knowledge and feedback helps all of us, consumer and manufacturer alike.
Thanks for the offer Jon, I'm not sure what I have now, it could all be gremlins. I'm mystified by the motor fault signal as I didn't find anything jammed or otherwise loose. The oddball issue with the remote kinda' confused the issue, however going back after a couple days and revisiting the issue allowed me to spot that issue with the CAB2, so that helps clear the air.
I'll be running the snot out of this to see if I can repeat the motor fail issue. 
gunrunnerjohn posted:SantaFeFan posted:GRJ, if you ever need PCBs for deeper investigation, please reach out and I got ya covered. Your knowledge and feedback helps all of us, consumer and manufacturer alike.
Thanks for the offer Jon, I'm not sure what I have now, it could all be gremlins. I'm mystified by the motor fault signal as I didn't find anything jammed or otherwise loose. The oddball issue with the remote kinda' confused the issue, however going back after a couple days and revisiting the issue allowed me to spot that issue with the CAB2, so that helps clear the air.
I'll be running the snot out of this to see if I can repeat the motor fail issue.
Make sure you have plenty of tissue. Snot is hard to get off the rails.
Hi John
This is quite a long post that I don't have the time to read , can you reiterate the issue that you're having with the motors. If it's the same issue I had with two other Lionel engine's, I might have idea of what this is.
Thanks
Alex
MartyE posted:Make sure you have plenty of tissue. Snot is hard to get off the rails.
Marty, that's why I always wondered about the guys that used Frog Snot on their wheels. 
Alex M posted:This is quite a long post that I don't have the time to read , can you reiterate the issue that you're having with the motors. If it's the same issue I had with two other Lionel engine's, I might have idea of what this is.
Alex, I'm not sure what the issue was. I had it stop flashing the motor fault code. I reset it and tried to move again and got the code. I then cycled the power and tried to move, again the flashing code.
Then I took the shell off and checked both motors for free rotation through a complete rev of the wheels in either direction. No mechanical issues that I could see, and now it runs again. 
I have less confidence than I did previously, but it's hard to say what happened there.
John
this might sound odd , check the potentiometer And see if it has the proper OHMs. I've had two engines with bad potentiometers that were actually making the motors crap out, then run again. I showed this to Dean and he was shocked that this could happen. My potentiometers on both engines showed bad, as soon as I installed new ones no motor troubles. Don't ask me how LOL
ALEX
Potentiometer? Where would that be in the speed control circuit? I'm not understanding what you were looking at.
gunrunnerjohn posted:Potentiometer? Where would that be in the speed control circuit? I'm not understanding what you were looking at.
I told you this would sound odd. Two engines I had I would turn the potentiometer volume up and down while the train was running on rollers and the motors would crap out. Why I don't know , but this is what happened. Give it a shot
Well... you're right, it does sound odd! It didn't have any effect on mine, of course now it's running fine and I can't seem to force the failure again!
gunrunnerjohn posted:I wanted a Legacy version, and since I also have the Cabbage unit, the MTH won't run seamlessly in an MU with that one.
John is the Cabbage powered ?
Not powred, but obviously has sound and directional lighting. None of that would work right with DCS controlling the other one. Bottom line, I don't want a DCS version or I'd have bought one.
BANDOB posted:Turns out I didn't need the back-up Williams Genesis at the Dulles Expo show this weekend.
It held its own on runs both Saturday and sunday.
Mine is running like a top now, I just had it running around with the nine cars for 45 minutes until I had to go to dinner, no sweat at all. I have no idea what was going on unless my popping the top fixed something.
