TMCC loco starts up in reverse?

My first though is to reverse the wires to the motors(Can Motors). What kind of engine is it ?

 

Scott C.

I am thinking maybe two of the wires in the PWM cable may be reversed?

 

Bill

Are the headlights in sync with the direction?

When its starts in reverse, does the reverse headlamp come on?

If so, reversing the motor leads or any of the wiring from the DCDR wont really fix it.

You would also have to reverse the headlamp connections.

My Atlas RSD 4/5 starts up long hood forward. To me, thats reverse.

But its just the way the loco was setup and I dont want to go switching wiring around.

Which loco? If it's a Geep or some other double ended electric or diesel it might be running in the direction that mimics the prototype.  Real loco's have an F/R designation on the frame or cab that designate the "front", e.g. GG-1.  This was done so service personnel would know which end to be looking at for a problem.  Some roads ran Geeps long end forward for safety reasons, other's ran short end forward to make it easier for the crew to see stuff.

 

Also, you could program it as a one engine TR and set the direction within the TR command so it will run in the direction you want.  Just remember to address it as a TR.

Hi All,

 

  This is a TMCC steamer, never been in a lash-up!!

 

Thanks

 

I think the idea of reversing the wires to the motor(s) will do the trick.  Other than an MU configuration, I can't think of anything that would cause that.  You've replaced the R2LC, DCDR, and the cable, those are all the components in the mix here.

Just got done working on the engine some more, switched the motor leads and that solved it.  Thanks to all for posting!!

 

Jeff

Nicole,

I just converted Lionel AF Geeps to TMCC using ERR MiniCommander II's and they perform exactly as you described as a multi-unit and then as separate engines with the "residual reverse" of any engine in the consist that was programmed in reverse as part of the MU.  Kind of a pain.  Would be nice if when later addressed as an engine the default would be forward, not reverse.  Thanks for the write up, was starting to wonder about this.

PS - why is it anyone that some have such an aversion to the term "lashup" for a mu?  Thanks.

Yep, the cable from the R2LC motherboard to the DCDR has four pins, power, ground, and two PWM signals, one for forward, one for reverse.

John, pwm 4-pos connector is pin 19 & 20 (+5VDC) on two pins, R2LC pin 18 (forward pwm) and pin 16 (reverse pwm). The PWM functions as ground to the optos! Mike

Why would you have done that first?

Instead of  replacing  the R2LC, DCDR, and a new PWM cable between the DCDR and the motherboard.

Isn't that what I said?  I did forget to mention it was 5V power and not track power, that could be important!

I guess I should have clarified this more, I was trying the process of elimination by replacing the R2LC, DCDR and PWM wiring harness which was due to actually another problem with the loco. After this problem was resolved {with help from Mikado over the phone} I realized then that the loco started up in reverse. I did not catch that initially. I was looking at another issue with the loco. So the above 3 items were not changed due to the loco starting up in reverse. At first I thought maybe something was wrong with the newly installed R2LC,DCDR,PWM cable, which was not the case.

Thanks to all the replied, and to The Rocket for the phone call!!! Mikado & Rocket you guys are tough!!!

You don't want to have the "engine" address change direction to forward!!  If you are in an MU setup as a TRAIN, you can still address one of the ENGINES (loco) when running as a TRain; and operate the selected engine.  For example a "pusher" loco can be addressed as ENGine; and when gently nudged into place at the end of the Train; switch to the Train ID and run in sync.  If the Engine ID defaulted to Forward and it was set as Reverse in the TRain, then you would crash! 

 

Clearing the Train is the only proper way to remove any "residual" direction settings.