New TIUs to go with DCS wi-fi

John,

While I think the other two TIUs work "ok" - is there any upside to replacing them?

The current Rev. L TIUs can improve DCS signal strength, and support more linear feet of track and more track blocks, than any previous model.

What is required to hook up the DCS wi-fi and the TIU?  I think if i keep the old TIUs there is a separate cable (RS-232) I need to buy?

The WIU comes with a USB cable that will connect it to a Rev. L TIU. If you want to connect a WIU to any older TIU, you'll need a serial to USB adapter cable.

Does DCS wi-fi do anything to improve signal quality?

Not really. It simply uses a 2.87 GHz WiFi radio frequency instead of a 900 MHz radio frequency to connect to a TIU.

If I understood it correctly I need 1 DCS wi-fi per TIU, is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

Any issues with using LCS with this as well?

No, as long as you use the WIU in Home network mode.

All of your stated WiFi concerns are addressed in the 3rd edition of my book. You should read it before you go too much further.

As I upgrade to 2016 are there any epiphanies related to wiring that you would say "You must do this."

The DCS Companion 3rd edition has an entire section devoted to the best techniques to use when wiring a layout for DCS operation.

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

Barry,  as always thank you.  2 TIUs ordered, 3 DCS wi-fi ordered.  Lets roll!!!

FWIW, the initial issue Rev G TIUs work fine with wifi.  I've used them with no issues on my 2 wifi layout.  If they have been adequately powering your layout, I wouldn't spend the money to replace them.  The required adapter cable is the same one you'd have been using to upgrade the old TIUs if you had a computer without a serial port.

You say you are rewiring the layout.  I wouldn't change anything---TIUs or wifi--- until the layout rewiring is completed.  If a glitch develops, it's easier to cure if you can pin down a single change that caused it.  I would add that if you have substantial signal problems using Rev G, I'd try to pin down a cause, rather than trying the stronger signal route

Re-wiring began today.  Just a mess for now.  iPad holders arrived.  TIU's DCS wifi did not, tomorrow.

I am happy.

What are you doing with your old Z4000?

Mike,

Semper Fi.  They will be for sale along with two ZWs, a bunch of 135s (9 to be exact) and 1033.

John 

Hi John, I don't know what 1033's are. Sorry I'm new to this 3 rail stuff.

Mike,

Lionel 1033 probably about as old as you and I, likely older.  It is a transformer.  I will sell all items individually.

John

Thanks John, I did not know. But I will be intrested in the Z4000.

Contact me off line and make me an offer.  I just want to pass these along.  Not looking to make $$$.

John

Sent email, Thanks John.

John,

"I am upgrading my power . . .  to 2 new ZW-L's."

You will be very pleased with at least this part of your upgrading!

Alex

They were pulled out of the boxes today.  WOW are those big.  I am pretty excited.

OK so now the fun part begins.  Given I have the three TIUs, I would think I would number them 1-3 first and turning on super TIU for all three then dealing with the DCS wi-fi, is that correct?

Anyone have any experience here on that??? 

Also is there anything else than a quick start guide?  I am somewhat looking through various empty boxes in my basement trying to find things, but can't.  Does this manual exist?

John

I am having a hard time adding TIU 2 and 3.  I thought I added them.  I was able to upgrade them last night.  I put them in the super mode I can see that they are in the remotes (I have two remotes) but when I do a read, it says TIU 2 address not found and also TIU 3 address not  found.

I have them hooked up to the DCS wi-fi for each of the TIU.

What have I done wrong?

John 

Have you changed the ID#'s of 2 of them to #2 and #3, respectively?

When you power them on, does one blink one time, another blink twice and the third blink 3 times?

Barry, I added the TIUs, #2 and #3 but when I turn them on they only blink once.  I looked in your book and in the 5th edition paper manual but can't find anything that seemingly addresses this.  Do I need to tether them to the remote?

John

John,

The following is from pages 121-122 of The DCS Companion 3rd Edition:

Adding Additional TIUs

Using more than one TIU allows more DCS signal to be allocated for larger layouts. Up to 5 TIUs may be used on a single layout and each one must have a unique TIU ID#. 

First, increment the DCS ID# of all TIUs currently on the layout as follows: 

• Press Menu to enter the DCS Menus. 
• Use the thumbwheel to scroll to SYSTEM and press the thumbwheel to select it. 
• Use the thumbwheel to scroll to TIU SETUP and press the thumbwheel to select it. 
• Use the thumbwheel to scroll to EDIT TIU ADDRESS and press the thumbwheel to select it. 
• A list of currently available TIUs is displayed. Use the thumbwheel to scroll to the highest numbered TIU currently in service on the layout and press the thumbwheel to select it. 
• A list of available addresses to which the TIU may be changed is displayed. Use the thumbwheel to scroll to the next higher TIU address and press the thumbwheel to select it. The TIU Address is changed and the Engine Control Screen is displayed. 

Second, physically connect the new TIU to the layout. It will have DCS ID# 1. Each TIU that has been renumbered will also have any AIUs associated with it remain associated with it, however, their path will now start with the newly renumbered TIU. 

Third, re-add TIU#1 to the remote: 

• Press Menu to enter the DCS Menus. 
• Use the thumbwheel to scroll to SYSTEM and press the thumbwheel to select it. 
• Use the thumbwheel to scroll to TIU SETUP and press the thumbwheel to select it. 
• Use the thumbwheel to scroll to ADD TIU and press the thumbwheel to select it. 
• A list of all TIUs not currently in the DCS Remote is displayed. Select TIU #1 by scrolling to it using the thumbwheel and pressing the thumbwheel to add it to the DCS Remote. 

Finally, add to all other layout remotes the number of the new TIU as follows: 

Press Menu to enter the DCS Menus. 

• Use the thumbwheel to scroll to SYSTEM and press the thumbwheel to select it. 
• Use the thumbwheel to scroll to TIU SETUP and press the thumbwheel to select it.
• Use the thumbwheel to scroll to ADD TIU and press the thumbwheel to select it. 
• A list of all TIUs not currently in the DCS Remote is displayed. Select the lowest numbered TIU by scrolling to it using the thumbwheel and pressing the thumbwheel to add it to the DCS Remote. 

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

Barry,  I bought your book.  I have read those pages.  I am a bit confused.  When I do the initial edit "first section", should I only have the power on to the one TIU that I am looking to change?  or have them all on?

John

PS the 5th edition is the Operators Manual that came with the TIU.

Since you've got 3 at the same address and already improperly added TIU #2 and #3 to the remote, the first thing you need to do is delete both TIU #2 and TIU #3 from the remote. Then, power off the 2 new TIUs.

Now, with only TIU #1 (original TIU) powered on, start following the procedure above. The most straightforward  thing to do is to just follow the first 3 parts of the above procedure all the way through for the first additional TIU, and then again for the 2nd new TIU.

The first time through the first 3 parts of the procedure, you'll edit TIU #1 (the original TIU) to #2, and then add TIU #1 (the first new TIU) back as TIU #1.

The second time though the first 3 parts of the procedure, you'll edit TIU #2 (the original TIU) from #2 to #3, edit TIU #1 (the first new TIU) from TIU #1 to #2, and add back TIU #1 (the second new TIU),

Now, your remote will contain TIUs  #1, #2 and #3, a the 3 TIUs will also be numbered #1, #2 and #3.

Next, follow the last part of the procedure to make any additional remotes the same as the  first remote.

I tried again last night to make this work.  I will take it up when I return from skiing.  Barry,  assuming when I am doing this only one TIU is powered on at a time, correct?  The other two are off.

The TIUs start off all powered off.

Each time that you edit a TIUs address, you must turn it on first. Then, you can leave it on.

OK, back from spring break and a successful ski trip YIPPEE!!.  

Now back to the trains.  I want to think about this a bit logically in order of what to turn on first.  When I walk into my train room the order of turning on the TIU from front to back is 1-2-3, all on power strips, ok, makes sense right?  If I look where I have my ZW-L's, that is where TIU 2 is located.  When I turn on the ZW-Ls they have to be powered up so its not like there are full power when I flip the switch.  Should I go in this order 1-3-2 or 2-1-3?  Or am I over-engineering it???

John

OK I have deleted all TIUs.

I turned the power on 

I added a TIU

I hit edit TIU address

i changed it from 1-2 following what is stated above seeing "change TIU addr" on the remote.  after about 30 seconds it says "out of RF range" and then "TIU ADDR ERROR"  i am sitting right next to it on the ground and sitting here with my laptop

At this point i have no power to the tracks (via the ZL's) but i did have the power on the TIU.

I am going to try another TIU and see what happens.

John 

so this time i took a slightly different approach but i seem to be coming up with the same answer:

i turned on all three TIUs.

i deleted all three, so i would now think i have no TIUs on the layout.

with track power on and all TIUs on i went to add TIU (as none were there for me to edit)

i added TIU

i turned the power off to the other two TIUs but kept track power on

i hit edit TIU and got the same error message as described above

i am sure i am overlooking something really simple here as this can't be THAT difficult.

john

ok this is getting more and more frustrating.  for some reason i can't add / find a TIU.  

i have tried tethering my remote to the TIU

i get the same error message.

i have tried it with track power

when i hit find, it returns a message saying no TIU found

i have followed the instruction for adding a TIU.  i am sitting right next to it and still nothing

will do some searching here and in Barry's Book.

Make sure that the TIU number that you added to the remote has the same number as the TIU that you're attempting to read.

You may want to find out what number your tius are by checking out the red led blinks upon powering  i up each tiu separately .Each red blink is the actual tiu number, Example  a 2 blinker would be tiu #2.

Unfortunate dcs will allow you to add tiu  Nellie Willie even if they don't exist. This is where most make  this mistake.

If you go ahead and add first, you now  can  not edit a tiu  to that address taken by a fake tiu.

 Botton line. find out what   numbers your tiu by checking the red blinks.  Under the tiu set up you can delete edit  and add tiu.  Without know what numbers your tiu are it's hard to give an exact  fix...

Don't forget if 2 tiu have the same address if you go to edit the address on one of them, the other one must not be powered else it gets edited as well.... I know this can get confusing .

Gregg/Barry,

I did the blinks test.  I have two that have three blinks and one that has two.  I don't have any that are blinking once.  I also started with deleting the TIU for the one that is powered (one of the 3 blinks) yet when I powered it back up it blinked three times again.

Also when i try to edit, it is telling me i have no TIUs to edit, have to add one first.

John 

This shouldn't be too hard (touch wood)  

Deleting a tiu doesn't change it's address,  The tiu ID  sticks with the tiu unless edited or factory reset.

Power up one of the tiu that blinks 3 times, add tiu #3 to the remote if it if it isn't there already.

A  couple of options ... edit  tiu #3 to tiu #1.   If tiu #1  has already been added to the remote you could delete it first before the edit  or just do a factory rest of tiu #3.

 this should  leave you with tiu #1  a 1 blinker

tiu #2   a two blinker   add if not already added.

and TIU #3    a 3 blinker.

 Verify with the "read" tiu 1, 2 & 3 found.

I took a deep breath.  I basically did what you said while you were writing your email.  

Thank you. THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

So now I have 3 TIUs at 3 different addresses... and all were found.  YIPPEE.

Do I now want to do the wi-fi or change the TIUs to super mode. 

To operate in Super TIU mode, you must change each TIU to Super TIU mode, in each remote.

The other thing i want to do is to change the variable output to a fixed out put.  I am using variable 1 and the two fixed on the TIU 1.  I don't want to have to turn on the variable every time I run trains.  I just can't remember how to do it.  I am reading in the 3rd edition and can't find it.

John

I am now trying to connect my wi-fi to my home network, I am on AT&T.  Consistent with page 209 of the guide, i have put it into home and pressed the WPS on my router then on my first dcs wi-fi device.  The wifi button flashed for a bit and so did the WPS the wifi stayed on and the WPS went off.

I do not understand how I am to select and choose (last two bullets) on that page.  On my iPad, I can see the AT&T wireless connection but when I open the MTH ap, it doesn't find the TIU.

Not necessarily related to wifi, but I am also having a problem finding any engines.  I have switched the TIUs to super mode, and when I do a "read" they find each TIU, but have not found any of the engines that are sitting on the track.

What have I done wrong?

John

I put a few more DCS engines on the track today in different positions across the three TIUs and took off most of the other engines, and all the caboose that were on the track.  I then did a "read".  The TIUs are still found, no engines are found. 

John

jbmccormick posted:

The other thing i want to do is to change the variable output to a fixed out put.  I am using variable 1 and the two fixed on the TIU 1.  I don't want to have to turn on the variable every time I run trains.  I just can't remember how to do it.  I am reading in the 3rd edition and can't find it.

John

Menu/System/DCS set up/ select the var channel and hit FXD. Select Tiu #1  There is a slight delay but the var channel comes to life and will remember this setting.

Sorry  can't  help with wi fi?

John,

I then did a "read". The TIUs are still found, no engines are found. confused

Were these engines already in the remote? If not, a READ won't find them. READ only looks for engines that are already in the remote. Ones that it finds, go into the Active Engine list. Ones it doesn't find go into the Inactive Engine list.

This and a whole lot more is all in “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 OGR’s web store!