No response from engine and Flashing red LED on Remote

Anyone able to comment on this? Happy to try to provide more info but, again, being a newbie to Legacy, I'm rather lost as to where to start with this issue. 

Thanks. 

SJC posted:

I'm a total newbie to Legacy. I have two engines, a Mogul and Lionmaster Challenger. I plan to purchase the S2 New York Central electric this week. 

I am, somewhat regularly, having the engine fail to respond to commands and, simultaneously, the red light near the throttle on the remote flashes. I have a new Legacy system, V1.6. Power is run via MTH Z4000, ground straight to the track for the Legacy. 

It seems to always happen when blowing the whistle. Usually the whistle will work but sometimes I'll "pull" the lever on the remote and nothing will happen, except the flashing light. 

It is a very simple set up but I cannot seem to replicate instances for the engine to fail to respond to commands and the light to flash. 

Would appreciate any feedback on this as the Legacy manual is pretty lacking, IMO. 

a picture of how you have your system hooked up will help.

are or is your legacy system plugged into a power/surge strip?

I'll have to take a photo later (warning, wiring is not pretty). In short, the legacy system is hooked to it's dedicated terminal block with ground wires going off to each terminal block used for each loop, one ground wire per loop. Again, will take and post photo later. 

Yes it is plugged into a strip, along with everything else. 

If the light is flashing for any command input, it means the remote to base link is not working.  Normally, if the base <->remote communication is normal, the light will be off.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

If the light is flashing for any command input, it means the remote to base link is not working.  Normally, if the base <->remote communication is normal, the light will be off.

John, 

Is there any common cause for this? Ditto for resolution? Usually not touching any buttons on the remote for a split second or two clears it up.  Thanks again. 

That sounds like a sticking key on the remote.  That will cause this issue.  Top suspect are the two sliders, especially the whistle/bell slider.  Some folks have had good results blowing canned air into the control to clear out any contamination.

Here are the photos as promised, nothing much. I should note that this is a brand new Legacy system. 

I just ran the Mogul for 20 minutes. I was getting the flashing light when ringing the bell, blowing the whistle (whistle would "stick" on or not blow when wanted). I also got it at random when the remote was sitting on a table and when throttling up/down/braking. 

I run trains with 2 Z-4000s, accessories are run off 1 Z4K. Each loop is isolate (4 in total) from another and each has a side of the Z4Ks. Very simple, essentially 4 separate ovals. 

Wiring for 3 out of 4 tracks is:

Transformer

|

Terminal Block

|

Power feed on each loop (each loop is NOT broken into blocks) .

On the final loop, there is just one power feed directly from the transformer to the track. 

Legacy runs to it's own terminal block (seen in photo 1) which branches off to 4 ground lines to each loop. 

On 3 out of 4 loops, the ground plugs into the terminal block for each respective loop. On the loop with a single feed, it just plugs into the back of the transformer. 

Hope this makes sense.......maybe I should stick with Conventional......

gunrunnerjohn posted:

That sounds like a sticking key on the remote.  That will cause this issue.  Top suspect are the two sliders, especially the whistle/bell slider.  Some folks have had good results blowing canned air into the control to clear out any contamination.

Thanks John, this is a brand new system so I am hesitant to say a sticking key is the issue. 

In that case, contact Lionel.  The light flashing and not communicating is a classic symptom of a stuck key, and it happens to new stuff as well as old.

I have a question about picture one.

how many lines do you have from the command base going to the outside rail?

bigdodgetrain posted:

I have a question about picture one.

how many lines do you have from the command base going to the outside rail?

4.  One for each loop of track.

The blinking light has nothing to do with the track signal!

Wanted to bring this one back up....still having this problem.

At the suggestion of RickO, (much appreciated), I changed the Channel on the remote/base to a higher channel. Channel 9, to be exact. I see really no change in performance. The red "communication" light is on regularly when I'm not within a few feet of the base. I did a test and walked to the other side of the layout from the base (4 feet) and put the remote next to a 2x4 layout benchwork frame piece. Nearly constant communication light when trying to blow whistle, or and touchpad commands.

I guess what I'd like to know is....

1) Any other "fixes" to this? I'm not going to put the time and $$$ into this like I did trying to resolve my DCS issues but willing to try something.

2) What should I expect, realistically, for reliable operation. I personally would expect it to work without red communication lights when I'm in the train room (large, "I" shaped room. I realize I may get some issues if I go down the hall into the next room or similar.

I was at a National Capital Tracker show recently, as the public and an "ex-member" at the B&O Museum. The layout was in the center of the roundhouse on the turntable. A friend was running a Legacy engine and again, had nearly constant communication lights when not nearly next to the base. I realize this may be an extreme example but also circles back to #2 above....

Thanks for the help, much appreciated. I'd really like this system to work reliably. I had great luck with old-school TMCC and I find the difference in Legacy loco operation in conventional vs. command to be a night/day difference.

Contact Lionel and send it back for service.  This is NOT normal, it's broken.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Contact Lionel and send it back for service.  This is NOT normal, it's broken.

Exactly what I was hoping would not have to be the solution. Especially when I have no receipt, paid cash from ro at York.

Email Lionel and get an RA#. Lionel has been covering the Legacy control under warranty indefinitely.

Besides.  It's the least they could do while your stuck with that mogul that they haven't figured out how to fix yet.