Engine : http://mthtrains.com/20-20085-1 FEC SD70m.
System DCS rev l TIU and 4.20
Problem: occasional missed watch dog/dark and silent defaults to sounds and lights in neutral(conventional status i believe)
My quick fix:cycle power to TIU and all is well.
Happens sitting on a siding mu'd to 3 more engines(can't remember if ps2 or ps3 as they have been so reliable and i have forgotten)
Yes my track is dirtybut the rest of my fleet(2 more 5 eng mu's) don't seem to care and run very reliably .
Some more flagrant violations:non star or home run wiring (2 large loop layout on the floor ) and i would have to battle spiders and dirt in a crawl spaceYes i use track insulators.Another possible violation..TIU touches off 15 Engines at once but very reliably.
I am seeing consensus recommendations on wire rerouting from under the caps to over the caps,reseating the 40 pin conn paying attn to pins 1 an 2 ? which i believe connect to the dcc/dcs switch and reseating the 4 pin conn.
In the photo we have the 4 caps and wires behind them....i'm thinking and please correct me if i am wrong: snip the white wire tie,ease the harness out of the way,fold down all 4 caps 90 degreeish and rescure the wires on top. Just to recap...this engine runs fantastic just misses the watchdog maybe 1 out of every 25 times.