MTH DCS remote thumbwheel madness...and fix

so the circuit board side of the wheel hits the pad?

Here is the inside of the wheel if you are brave enough Symptoms were erratic menu commands and speed control...cleaned with contact elec lube..that was 3 years ago,

I guess that will work ok.  It seems to me like the poster studied the situation and came up with a fix that works for him.  As these remotes get old, I usually throw in a new wheel but this approach he used is a good one to pass on.  Good post ChessieMD.  Not everyone lives near an MTH parts source but most of us can turn up a Home Depot.

willygee posted:

so the circuit board side of the wheel hits the pad?

 

Here is the inside of the wheel if you are brave enough Symptoms were erratic menu commands and speed control...cleaned with contact elec lube..that was 3 years ago,

Correct...

Circuit board side rests on top of the pad. So far 3 days in, works likes a champ!

CHESSIEMD,

I like your quick and dirty fix.  I haven't had the problem yet, but if I do I'll give it a try before taking more drastic measures.

ChessieMD posted:

Been happily using my DCS system for almost 6 years now without issue. However, over the last several months I have noticed the thumbwheel was "leaning" to one side (the right) and was seated farther into the remote. Last night it happened. The whole thumbwheel almost disappeared within the remote housing rendering it very difficult to use.

I opened the remote and noticed the unusual shape of the button housing and how the right side of the thumbwheel assembly, didn't have anything under it to prevent it from falling into the remote. I took a cabinet bumper I purchased at home depot and placed it in what I thought was the location of the small circuit board on the thumbwheel assembly. I put the remote back together and it seemed to work very well.

Thumbwheel now has a solid feel to it and depressing the thumbwheel to make a selection doesn't push the assembly into the remote. Just a PSA for all those that might have this issue in the future.

 

I have the same issue after only about a month of use. How did you get the thing apart without damaging it? I removed the small Phillips inside the battery compartment and tried to gently pry it open at the hand held end by the tether plug receptacle, but it does not want to come apart and I do not want to damage anything.

My thumbwheel broke off inside the remote. The two gray plastic prongs broke,

I glued back together with plastic weld. Then reinstalled with cushion as discussed above. Then reassembled.

Repaired remote scrolls great--but I cannot select anything by pressing down on the thumbwheel.

Any suggestions for further repair?

How did you get the thing apart without damaging it? I removed the small Phillips inside the battery compartment and tried to gently pry it open at the hand held end by the tether plug receptacle, but it does not want to come apart and I do not want to damage anything.

From The DCS Companion 3rd Edition, pages 161-162:

Opening the DCS Remote can be extremely difficult and can cause problems with the DCS Remote! You should consider having this done by an authorized MTH service center!

• Open the battery compartment door on the back of the DCS Remote and remove the batteries.
• Remove the Phillips head screw inside the battery compartment.
• Before opening the DCS Remote's case, note that when the DCS Remote is opened, there will still be a black wire connecting the two halves of its case.
• Begin to separate the two halves of the DCS Remote's case by pushing outwards from inside the battery compartment while squeezing the bottom portion of the top of the DCS Remote. This requires considerable patience, particularly when opening a DCS remote's case for the first time.
• Once the bottom of the shell begins to separate, gently continue to separate the two halves of the case and open the DCS Remote like a book, taking care not to damage the wire connecting the two halves of the case.
• The transceiver board is located at the top of the DCS Remote behind the LCD screen. Do not under any circumstances lift up on the transceiver board or black wire!
• Press down gently on the transceiver board to reseat it.
• Place a piece of soft, nonconductive spongy material on top of the transceiver board so that it will hold the board in place when the DCS Remote is reassembled.
• Carefully line up the two halves of the case and gently but firmly snap them back together.
• Replace the Phillips head screw, the batteries and the battery compartment door.

This and a whole lot more about DCS is all in MTH’s “The DCS Companion 3rd Edition!" This book is available from many fine OGR advertisers and forum sponsors, or as an eBook or a printed book at MTH's web store!

Barry I  read that.

Are you suggesting that the inability to select is due to a loose transceiver board?

Great idea CHESSIEMD. Makes me want to open up all my remotes and add that piece for backup.

CTR,

No, I was not responding to your post.

Has anyone had issues with their remote having a delayed response in speed? My thumbwheel takes forever to move and also it won’t decrease in speed when you scroll down on the thumbwheel. It also is hard to switch between engines and look move stuff around

I have my remote opened up.  Barry’s post on how to open the case makes a special point to emphasis making sure the transceiver board is seated.  How do I raise up the large green circuit board to remove the thumb wheel without violating his caution?  Can I lift the entire large circuit board as long as I take special caution to keep the transceiver seated in the large circuit board?  Also, should the transceiver board come loose what is the problem with re seating it?

SDIV Tim posted:

Has anyone had issues with their remote having a delayed response in speed? My thumbwheel takes forever to move and also it won’t decrease in speed when you scroll down on the thumbwheel. It also is hard to switch between engines and look move stuff around

Tether it and see if it improves 

Is this only in speed mode? Is the software up to date and/or the same as the rest of the system?

noswad posted:

I have my remote opened up.  Barry’s post on how to open the case makes a special point to emphasis making sure the transceiver board is seated.  How do I raise up the large green circuit board to remove the thumb wheel without violating his caution?  Can I lift the entire large circuit board as long as I take special caution to keep the transceiver seated in the large circuit board?  Also, should the transceiver board come loose what is the problem with re seating it?

Yes.

Make sure you're grounded and gently press it back down evenly.

Engineer-Joe posted:

Tether it and see if it improves 

Joe, 

My remote thumb wheel has not been behaving either.  I tethered it and it worked perfectly.  So what does that mean?  Reseat the transceiver board?

Ron

Ron045 posted:

Engineer-Joe posted:

Tether it and see if it improves 

Joe, 

My remote thumb wheel has not been behaving either.  I tethered it and it worked perfectly.  So what does that mean?  Reseat the transceiver board?

Ron

Yeap. I would just check any remote that's acting up first. It's easy to unseat the board and have issues.

When your thumbwheel goes, it may skip or give a good indication it's going. When the board is slightly unseated, the remote stalls and/or does weird things.

Tethering doesn't cost anything and shows the board is loose.

SDIV Tim posted:

Has anyone had issues with their remote having a delayed response in speed? My thumbwheel takes forever to move and also it won’t decrease in speed when you scroll down on the thumbwheel. It also is hard to switch between engines and look move stuff around

I’ve seen this when the batteries are weak, even before the batteries are changed. I change early and change often. I use rechargeable batteries, so I don’t feel I’m wasting them. Hopefully others will confirm, or indisputably debunk this possibilities solution.

Would tethering eliminate the need for a battery? I haven’t tried it, but definitely would if the Wi-Fi works out to do most things.

I would agree with the battery hypothesis.  But I have brand new batts in mine and the SMPH gets stuck a 1 or 2 with the roller not responding.  Then all of a sudden it jumps to 25 SMPH.  I thought I had a serious roller problem until Joe recommended tethering.  It worked perfectly when I did that.

Ron

What  is  meant  by  tethering?

john n posted:

What  is  meant  by  tethering?

Using a 4 wire curly telephone cord, you can tether the remote and TIU for a direct connection.