ps2 signal mostly threes ps3 all 10s a couple eights

The magic light bulbs might help, but how many engines are receiving power at once.... I suspect   the more engines  powered up ,the dcs signal most be almost perfect.

If you have any spare tiu channels take advantage of them, same power supply but less track on the channel  and another dcs signal generator at work for you..

when testing just one engine powered

light bulb brought it from ones to the threes

using usb tiu late model

z4000 

i have two tius

only one track connected

about 250 foot loop in ten blocks

 We know the TIU is putting out a good dcs signal using a small test track....What's the next move??

Disconnect the poor area and start adding feeders back one at a time checking the dcs signal with each add??

Do you  have any spare channels??

NSTrains77,

    Here is what I have found over years of working with DCS.  Signal strength especially for the older P2 Engines decreases as to how many track joins that are used on your layout.  So the best engineering for portraying DCS signal strength is to use as many long track pieces as you can, thus keeping the individual track joins as low in number as possible.  In other words its not the length of the track that matters so much, as the amount of track pieces used to complete your layout.  Use no more than 10-12 pieces of track per block, when setting up your DCS layout, I build using mostly 10 joins per block, especially when running my P2 Engines. Building this kind of engineering layout your P2 Engines will run with 8-10 signal strength thru out your entire layout, except around your switches, which I do not even pay attention too.   The newer P3 Engines seem not to be as effected as the older P2 engines because of the way they are engineered.  Also make sure your TIU is up to the latest revision changes, that the HHRC and TIU are matched correctly.

PCRR/Dave

i guess i have seven spare channels

all of the blocks hooked to fixed one on tiu 1

all ten have same signal

all ten have tens with ps3 locomotives???

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

NSTrains77,

    Here is what I have found over years of working with DCS.  Signal strength especially for the older P2 Engines decreases as to how many track joins that are used on your layout.  So the best engineering for portraying DCS signal strength is to use as many long track pieces as you can, thus keeping the individual track joins as low in number as possible.  In other words its not the length of the track that matters so much, as the amount of track pieces used to complete your layout.  Use no more than 10-12 pieces of track per block, when setting up your DCS layout, I build using mostly 10 joins per block, especially when running my P2 Engines. Building this kind of engineering layout your P2 Engines will run with 8-10 signal strength thru out your entire layout, except around your switches, which I do not even pay attention too.   The newer P3 Engines seem not to be as effected as the older P2 engines because of the way they are engineered.  Also make sure your TIU is up to the latest changes.

PCRR/Dave

even on the section its soldered too same low number 

older gargraves track

only ten or  less sections per block

could it be the pins causeing noise?

Due to the superior technology of PS2 engines as regards the DSP chip (FPGA vs. ASIC), in low DCS signal strength areas PS3 engines will show a higher DCS signal strength reading than will their PS2 counterparts.

It sounds to me as if you have some wiring issues.

NSTRAINS77 posted:

i guess i have seven spare channels

all of the blocks hooked to fixed one on tiu 1

all ten have same signal

all ten have tens with ps3 locomotives???

Why don't you try putting some of the blocks on Fixed 2. use the same power supply ,  jumper fixed IN over to Fixed 2 in... see what happens....

also do u test with engine sitting or moving?

i just tested sitting and it gets 8s all over

threes when moving

i just tested sitting and it gets 8s all over

threes when moving

It's not all that unusual for the strength to be lower when moving than when stationary. However, that's a bigger difference than I would have expected.

Questions:

• How many TIU channels are you using?
• Is each block isolated?
• How many lines off of the terminal block are you using?
• How many engines do you have in each channel zone?
• How big is the layout?
• How big are your blocks?

I have found:

• Only use 10 to 12 lines off of the terminal block
• Make sure that the blocks are isolated
• 5 engines in a confined area (yards / engine facilities) is the limit.  I have not tested this limit with engines spread all over the layout.  There are people here that dispute this but I can make it happen repeatedly on a single piece of track.  PS3 engines seem to be the bad actors here.

• I use ALL of the TIU channels I have available
• Keep my blocks and wire runs as short as possible.
• I run a 44'x 18' layout
• 3 TIUs 3 AIUs
• Complex track plan
• Operating sessions with 4-5 teams running at the same time.

I would also trouble shoot each block individually by disconnecting the from the terminal block.

I hope this helps.

Dave

NSTRAINS77 posted:

i guess i have seven spare channels

all of the blocks hooked to fixed one on tiu 1

....

bingo!

David Minarik posted:

Questions:

• How many TIU channels are you using?
• Is each block isolated?
• How many lines off of the terminal block are you using?
• How many engines do you have in each channel zone?
• How big is the layout?
• How big are your blocks?

 

I have found:

• Only use 10 to 12 lines off of the terminal block
• Make sure that the blocks are isolated
• 5 engines in a confined area (yards / engine facilities) is the limit.  I have not tested this limit with engines spread all over the layout.  There are people here that dispute this but I can make it happen repeatedly on a single piece of track.  PS3 engines seem to be the bad actors here.

 

• I use ALL of the TIU channels I have available
• Keep my blocks and wire runs as short as possible.
• I run a 44'x 18' layout
• 3 TIUs 3 AIUs
• Complex track plan
• Operating sessions with 4-5 teams running at the same time.

 

 

I would also trouble shoot each block individually by disconnecting the from the terminal block.

 

I hope this helps.

Dave

 

 

thanks dave

by the way 

this is jerry

ernies layout builder