TIU requires 20 foot wire for PS3

Nope, and I ran a PS/3 locomotive with about 4 feet of wire to the track, ran fine.

Sounds like we have our first TIU Urban Legend!

Greg

The 20 feet of wire is recomended for downloading the new PS3 sound files. I've had success with less. It has nothing to do with the wire between your TIU and the track.

 

Ralph

Where does the 20 feet of wire come into play???

Where is this documented?  I agree with Greg, sounds like an urban legend to me.

No, it's actually just as Ralph states. It's only recommended by MTH tech support when transferring PS3 sound files.

 

However, like Ralph, I've also transferred PS3 sound files successfully using my normal test track setup of about 12" of wire between the TIU (Rev. I) and a 24" piece of track, connected with alligator clips. I know others who also regularly ignore this advisory without any issues whatsoever.

TIU urban legend

 

Thanks everyone, I'll proceed normally.

 

So, I know it's not a rev L, but how do I tell what revision mine is?

Is it printed on the circuit board inside?

It's on the bottom ( outside ) of the TIU.

Ed

I was led to believe that not all TIU versions were so identified.  Maybe Barry can clarify if that's the case or not.

how do I tell what revision mine is?

As Ed says, look on the bottom, middle of the TIU for a sticker. The Rev. numbers may be: H, H1, H2, I, I3, I3a, I3b, or L.

 

If there's no designation, it's the original TIU, Rev. G.

Well, I was a tiny bit right.

You don't need 20 feet of wire   And if you are downloading PS3 sound files use a DC power supply instead of the AC tranformer and it will go much quicker

60 cycle hum noise strikes again.

DC eliminates the hum. Comm rate goes up, how 'bout that

Russell,

60 cycle hum noise strikes again.

DC eliminates the hum. Comm rate goes up, how 'bout that

This is interesting!

 

WhileI haven't done a lot of PS3 sound file transfers, the few that I've done have been over AC without the benefit of a cilil of wire between the TIU and the tracks. In spite of that, I've found that it goes very fast and without errors.

 

Perhaps this is because my PC and TIU are both getting AC power through a UPS.

I've uploaded to a number of PS/2 locomotives, and I can say that it's snail-slow, it's interesting that PS/3 is faster.  I guess I'd have to question why the PS/2 update is so slow.

I tried loading a PS/3 Sound file with a Rev I and gave up.  Retry city, and it never did complete totally.  Ended up crawling under the train table and using the Rev L. there and it went really fast.  Replaced the TIU with a Rev L on the repair bench after that.

 

I've never seen documented or rumored of the 20ft of wire before.

Jim,

I tried loading a PS/3 Sound file with a Rev I and gave up.  Retry city, and it never did complete totally.

That's interesting.

 

I just did an upload from a PS2 engine and a download to another PS2 engine using AC voltage, a Rev. I TIU and a postwar KW transformer. No bulbs, no lighted bumpers and no 20 foot loop of wire.

 

The upload to the PC took 12 minutes and the download to the engine took 6 minutes. No errors, no retries. The file was 3 volt PS2, 1 meg in size. To me, this has always been what I've come to expect. However, I've always had everything (PC, transformer and TIU) plugged into an APC UPS.

I've never seen such sticker on the bottom of any I've seen...

Look at the bottom of the Rev. L TIU on your layout.

Why would the upload to the PC take 12 minutes?  Are you talking fetching it from MTH?  That's about a 5 second effort for me!

John,

Why would the upload to the PC take 12 minutes?

That's uploading from the engine to the PC. Going the other way is downloading to the engine. MTH's terminology.

I have not had to do a PS-3 sound file yet, but using a filtered DC power source for PS-2 and 3 is the way to go.  Never got an error stop or delayed load when using DC.  With AC it can happen.

 

Yes the 20ft coil helps with speed and accuracy of load for PS-3.  That news has been out to the techs for about a year.  G

That's not in the 2.3 loader, right?

John,

That's not in the 2.3 loader, right?

Correct, you need Loader Program 2.20 to upload from the engine.

Barry,

 

I've never had a problem loading a PS/2 engine with the older TIU, just a Proto3.  The actual engine was a Starter Set **** express.  I tried numerous times.  Copied over a Proto2 the same day without a hitch.  Not worth digging out the older TIU to try, but good to know.

 

Also Yes I've seen the version of the TIU sticker, but nothing about the 20ft of wire.

 

So what is the theory of why the 20ft of wire helps???

 

Why was the upload from engine taken out of 2.3?  I liked to backup from the engine in some cases. 

So the 20 feet of wire goes between the transformer and TIU?

I can't imagine why the length of wire to the TIU from the transformer has a bearing, there is no DCS signal there!  This has to be from the TIU to the track, doubtless something to do with transmission line effects of the 3.27mhz signal.

Jim,

I've never had a problem loading a PS/2 engine with the older TIU, just a Proto3

I haven't done more than 1 or 2 sound file downloads with the same setup, however,  they've been reasonably fast and error-free.

 

So what is the theory of why the 20ft of wire helps???

 

It just makes things better, as far as I know.

Why was the upload from engine taken out of 2.3?

Supposedly because it could take a long time to download a PS3 sound file due to its potentially very large size. It's stated that the feature will return in the next version of the Loader Program, time-frame unknown.

I have 26 DCS engines, two of which are PS3 and the rest PS2. I have never downloaded or uploaded anything to or from any of the engines and they all seem to run fine - as far as I can tell.

 

What am I missing by not uploading/downloading?

 

THX!

 

Alex

Alex,

What am I missing by not uploading/downloading?

You're not "missing" anything. You would only swap sound files in PS2/PS3 engines if:

• There was a newer, improved, sound file for your engine
• You had freight yard sounds and wanted passenger station sounds, or vice-versa
• You preferred the sounds of a different engine and wanted to put those sounds in your engine
• Your sound file had a defect.

Barry,

 

OK, so not that critical, which is probably why I did not miss not doing it.

 

THX!!

 

Alex

Alex-you're not missing anything. But I can attest to enjoying this upload/download feature for the element of personalization. I have the Premier NYC Mohawk engine that came with freight sounds. I preferred the passenger whistle sound and station announcements. So now I have it. Have to say, it didn't go smoothly for me either. Tried 3x before I finally gave up (file stuck on like 98% complete). Ironically, when I powered the engine back up it was totally passenger sound programmed. Go figure...

20 feet of wire...? "magic" lightbulbs...? the need for special wiring considerations ...? As a newbie and non-partisan O gauger (with more MTH than Lionel right now) I have to say that continuing to buy MTH is sometimes difficult to explain to logically minded people not involved in the hobby...