Ok, so I have 2 of the new Intermountain SD40-2 locomotives with ESU DCC / Sound. I tried to MU the locomotives but the trailing locomotive would not respond once MU'ed. Is there some magic trick to getting ESU powered locomotives to MU?
I'm using a DCS51.
Loksound decoders support all forms of consisting. Can you successfully mu other engines ?
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Yes.....I have over 80 different DCC equipped locomotives and have never had problems MUing locomotives. These 2 are my first 2 locomotives with ESU decoders though.
Odd - I've had no trouble consisting them myself .... but I'm using a different system than you are.
David, good question. Universal consisting using my DT402 throttle. Lead locomotive on the right throttle. Training locomotive on the left throttle. Select the trailing locomotive, then MU then +.
Select right throttle again and lead locomotive responds, trailing locomotive does not.
Do they have the same momentum settings and so forth - with them selected, but not coupled and before you press MU +, do they both move at close to the same speed, and start near the same speed step/ If not, one will start and the other will not when MUed. They SHOULD both creep at step 1, ESU motor drive is quite good.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Randy, they both have identical settings. The only thing different is the long address. When MU'ed the lead engine works as expected but the trailing engine does not respond at all. Once I do the MU then -, then the trailing engine will again respond to its long address.
Have you tried each of these, one at a time, with one of your other locos that does consist fine? ESU #1 lead, other loco trailing, and other loco leading, ESU #1 trailing. Then repeat with ESU #2. I suspect the one you are having trouble consisting, the one that doesn;t move, will have trouble with another loco as the lead, not just the other ESU. This would indicate something messed up witht he address in the command station. I'd consider a reset to clear it out. Often does wonders when wierd things are happening. There's absolutely no difference with ESU decoders, especially when it's Digitrax universal consisting - in fact there's really nothing different between the command station and decoder than when it's running by itself. When MUed, the command station is merely repeating the commands given to the lead loco to all others in the consist. Try a reset, OpSw 39.
I'll do some experimenting with a few other engines that I've had no problems MUing together in the past so see what happens. I would tend to agree that a command station reset would be in order......except that I just upgraded my DCS50 to the DCS51 last week.
Yes, there is an OpSw value that makes Digitrax use CV19 instead of universal consisting. Universal is the default. It was my post on this very subject that got me a response from Andy S that ended with my 'letter' being published.
You might assume a brand new out of the box system is set to all the defaults, however like decoders, factory testing can sometimes leave the system in a non-default state. I doubt it's trying to do CV19 consisting, what's more likely is the slot being used by the address of the loco that fails to respond in consist is corrupted. Either way, a reset will clear is all back to normal. With a Zephyr/Zephyr Xtra thre's usually nothing to then go back and 'fix' because the defaults are usually fine. DCS100 is the one to worry about, the default settings only enable 22 slots, it's a non-default option to enable all 120, so if you reset one and then try to run more than 22 locos, you end up with Slot Max errors.
Randy & David. You guys were spot on with your suggestion about resetting my brand new DCS51. I did a factory reset on it and suddenly now the two ESU lok sound equipped SD40-2's work perfectly when MU'ed. Thanks for the advice and the help!