some CSX: building a MTH train: MTH: see last post @9:37 3/12/18

OK after running one lap now the lash-up has failed. 2 engines are now not responding. They start right up when power is applied and ignore all lash-up commands. I'm getting tired of fighting!

Hmmmm

Ran my 5 engine mu's twice today...flawless as usual..but i'm still 4.2.  I sure hope this later firmware gets sorted out

willygee posted:

Ran my 5 engine mu's twice today...flawless as usual..but i'm still 4.2.  I sure hope this later firmware gets sorted out

I wanted to go back! I really did. I had to get the phone working for the grandson back a ways back so I went ahead and upgraded and apparently shot my foot.....

 I'm not sure yet if the lash-ups fail after a power cycle or if it's something else. I'm really tired of this smit.

I have to test to see what it is. The lash-up is 2 sets of 4 engines. The back set is parked on TIU #1 channel. So did that fail?

Urrgggg.

4.2 is no longer available.     

This software has gone south or something else has. It only finds one engine ( an AC6000 that acted up earlier), it won't find the rest of the engines (7 more) on a refresh.

I can't get the lash-up to respond after cycling power. Now only one engine started up at power on. The same Dash 8 that acted up first. 

 So I remove that Dash8 engine. All of a sudden the software finds the rest of the lash-up on the refresh, but only lists them as numbers. No info. I try to use the lead PS3 SD70ACe that I got last week to check track signal. It does start up. All the info is either blank or wrong. It lists it as a steam engine for example???????? there's no middle screen in the app for this engine at all. So either I have lost all track signal or the software went????????

WTH!

So I can't get the app to work right now. I remove all but one engine from the tracks. The app still doesn't read it correctly with the right info? So I decide to reboot the phone. While it's doing that I grab the trusty remote and sure enough it runs that engine fine. I do a track signal and it's all 10's everywhere using fixed channels 1 &2.

 So after the phone reboots I got to settings to make sure it's on the right wifi for DCS and when I leave there's a black screen that says something like Google+ has stopped. Please uninstall and re-install???

 I hate this!!!!!!

I must have been safe so far as I always use the remote outside with the G scale. When winter came I went inside and did not build any big trains that got run repeatedly. I'd make a larger lash-up for a session and then leave it alone. I only ran 2 engines more than once.

clem k posted:

4.2 is no longer available.     

How about 2.4 or similar??? 

what was the version in the good old days when it did work? (large lash-ups)

I put the 7 engines back on the rails and checked track signal on the same SD70ACe on channel #1 fixed is 10.

Everything sat quiet on power up. So what failed seems to point to the app only for me right now.

BTW It says version 3.1.0 build 49

The app is great up until now for one engine. Not batting very high for lash-ups.

I will try to delete all the engines and re-add them to the app to see if the info gets straightened out.

Then I will try to build this lash-up again. Then...... I hate to say it, I'll have to cycle the power and see what happens??

My experience in running engine consists is that you need to keep power applied or some of the engines drop out after a while and it's hard to get them back without rebuilding the consist. I usually do no more than three engines. You also need a pretty solid signal when doing this. 

AGHRMatt posted:

My experience in running engine consists is that you need to keep power applied or some of the engines drop out after a while and it's hard to get them back without rebuilding the consist. I usually do no more than three engines. You also need a pretty solid signal when doing this. 

Is that with the remote? Yuck. I didn't have to do that before. You must mean the app?

I always work at keeping everything updated, keeping the track signal best, charging batteries.

clem k posted:

4.2 is no longer available.     

I thought it was Mat Makens or someone that still has the files...dunno

OK, getting some where I believe?

Deleted the 8 CSX engines from the app. Left the dash 8 on my bench. Battery seems fine but it's on charge anyways.

Put the other seven engines on the rails. Loaded the seven remaining CSX engines back into the app. All the info in each appears correct.

Built a lash-up with the app. It ran correctly. Cycled power to the track. Still runs correctly.

I guess I need to cycle the phone's power next?

Unless the app does not know how to handle a lash-up with a member that does not respond correctly? Doesn't explain how the app lost all of each engines info though???

Just for my fans out there, I was running the seven engine lash-up and an engine jumps the tracks? It was on a switch but going straight. It never jumps there? So maybe Karma smacked it off the rails just for fun? Bad days get worse....

Engineer-Joe posted:

OK, getting some where I believe?

Deleted the 8 CSX engines from the app. Left the dash 8 on my bench. Battery seems fine but it's on charge anyways.

Put the other seven engines on the rails. Loaded the seven remaining CSX engines back into the app. All the info in each appears correct.

Built a lash-up with the app. It ran correctly. Cycled power to the track. Still runs correctly.

I guess I need to cycle the phone's power next?

Unless the app does not know how to handle a lash-up with a member that does not respond correctly? Doesn't explain how the app lost all of each engines info though???

 

Getting closer Joe...i think i think i hope i hope...i know clem k is watching

I also put the phone on the house wifi for about a half hour while typing above. I wanted it to straighten out the google app problem.

The darn phone's memory is near full but it always want to update everything. I have removed all I can.

Might be time for a new phone? It's over my head.

It's the app or the phone.

I cycled the power to everything. When the phone booted it again said to uninstall google +?

I tried to ignore it but it kept popping up. So I put the phone on the house router and let the phone load the play store screen. I selected uninstall and left without reloading it.

I then cycled the refresh in the MTH app after changing the wifi. I picked edit and the lash-up. It ran the lash-up fine. I noticed that the last engine had no sounds? So I cycled refresh again to pick that engine for a reset.

 The app came back with just a list of engine numbers only and no descriptions? 

Either the app is crashing or the phone is???

I leave the MTH app screen and then go back while I'm typing now. All engines are inactive and the engines names and numbers are listed below this time.

I have a feeling that the MTH app is crashing with the changes to the phone to make space?

Now i'm sad....i'll bet there is some behind the scene scrambling going on to get this right...

willygee posted:

Now i'm sad....i'll bet there is some behind the scene scrambling going on to get this right...

more like laughing, high fiving, or just running away! Depends on who it is.

Just remember Joe... The problem can be almost anything.  However it can never be a DCS problem...ever. 😉

My son can use the iPad.   I'm sticking with the remote.

Ron

It is a blast to have a pusher on the back, when I am bored I runt two engines on the point a powered and a non powered unit and a power unit on the back. It works for about 5 laps before some DCS gremlin bites it.  it is all part of the magic of our trains, When they work out you better take a video of it before it all goes Bat $%^$ crazy. 

I have found it best to shut down and restart a smart device after doing an update or adding a new app of any type. Everything seems to run better then. I wonder if our devices do some type of defragmenting and file clean up when a restart is performed.

 What frustrates me about the app the most, is getting different results everytime the refresh is used. It should be more stable. I'm leaning towards saying 6.1 is OK (minus the different member engine light and sound results with every lash-up build), but the app is the root of my troubles.

 So is it the app or my phone? Next is for me to try my better device.

 So here's some more results. I'm getting very tired.

https://ogrforum.com/...88#77875232779054588

using 3.1.0 build 49

DCS 6.1

Version L TIU with fixed channels #1&2

powered by Lionel 180w bricks and separate aux wall wart into tiu.

Joe Sez: Why go back to DCC when I have DCS!

Maybe you have just answered that question!

Simon

Simon Winter posted:

Joe Sez: Why go back to DCC when I have DCS!

Maybe you have just answered that question!

Simon

NOPE! DCC was worse! Engines slowing or even stopping at far ends of blocks. Not running well together. No conforming DCC set-ups. Each brand selling their "extra equipment" for more cash than it's worth while getting less. etc. etc. etc,

I'd have to go battery, if I wanted to.

But hey, thanks for the help.

Engineer-Joe posted:

Simon Winter posted:

Joe Sez: Why go back to DCC when I have DCS!

Maybe you have just answered that question!

Simon

NOPE! DCC was worse! I'd have to go battery.

But hey, thanks for the help.

Now you're talking!

Simon

Well go ahead then. Don't let me stop you!

I don't like buying batteries constantly, and separate sound cards, control boards, antenna boards, wireless remotes with more batteries......

Engineer-Joe posted:

Well go ahead then. Don't let me stop you!

I don't like buying batteries constantly, and separate sound cards, control boards, antenna boards, wireless remotes with more batteries......

The batteries are rechargeable

I haven’t been here in so long.  There’s now an app for DCS!? Sweet

Simon Winter posted:

Engineer-Joe posted:

Well go ahead then. Don't let me stop you!

I don't like buying batteries constantly, and separate sound cards, control boards, antenna boards, wireless remotes with more batteries......

The batteries are rechargeable

in high use like I do, I'd get about a year out of them. Having to buy a ton of rechargeable batteries every year, on top of the price of all the separate control and sound boards, does not sound good.

pitogo posted:

I haven’t been here in so long.  There’s now an app for DCS!? Sweet

As soon as the lash-up bugs are worked out, it will be fantastic!

There are some easy work arounds for now while we are using it. When I build large mixed (lash-ups) consists of PS2 mixed in with PS3, I have had to delete them and rebuild them after cycling power or the next session. 

 There maybe evidence of them needing to be brought to active so the remote re-assigns them to or sets directions in the consist build.

 I had thought they had lost association to the TIU totally. It maybe a case by case situation? One recent incident, had me scratching until several power cycles where the app finally saw the PS2 engine. It had run perfectly the whole first session in a large consist. Then, nothing could even see it. Once singled out, the TIU finally saw it and put it in active. I swear it lost the TIU association.