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Having Problems with MRC Prodigy Advance Dcc system.

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  • Member since
    January 2008
  • 595 posts
Posted by mreagant on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 10:05 PM

A suggestion for checking rail voltage. Get 4 alligator clips and 2 4+/- inches of wire. Clip one set of the jumpers to one rail and one to meter contact. Repeat. Turn on meter. Read voltage with 14 v +/- will  tell you that connection ok at that location. Try at several locations and if all readings are consistent, problem is  located at a some point outside the power supply/ DCC controller. 

Hope this helps 

Mike 

  • Member since
    September 2020
  • 432 posts
Posted by JDawg on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 9:34 PM

I hope that you can fix it. I will second the motion to check the power supply. I am not familiar with MRC, but an easy way to check the power supply by itself is to do the following.

1- use a sewing or other needle and insert one into the + wire. Then do the same for the - wire. Use a multimeter to then check the Volts across the needles. If it's below 14 or so, you have a problem.

This of course does not work if the wires from the power supply are not clearly defined from one another.

If you do have to buy a new system, I would recommend a switch to NCE. It's a controversial topic, but I am a big proponent of NCE. 

JJF


Prototypically modeling the Great Northern in Minnesota with just a hint of freelancing. Smile, Wink & Grin

Yesterday is History.

Tomorrow is a Mystery.

But today is a Gift, that is why it is called the Present. 

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Bakersfield, CA 93308
  • 6,526 posts
Posted by RR_Mel on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 11:58 AM

Welcome

Check the voltage to the rails, with a cheapo multimeter it should be about 15 VAC.  The Power supply could be the problem if the voltage is lower than 13 volts.

Mel


 
My Model Railroad   
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
 
Bakersfield, California
 
Just turned 84, aging is definitely not for wimps.

  • Member since
    March 2008
  • 409 posts
Posted by ba&prr on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 10:29 AM

Are they tethered or wireless throttles? If wire less check the batteries in the cabs. Did you make 1 cab the master one?  The manual will tell you how to do this. You can only have 1 master cab. I believe each cab must have a different number assigned to it. Also, you may want to joint the MRC group: https://groups.io/g/MRCDCC               Joe

  • Member since
    October 2021
  • 1 posts
Having Problems with MRC Prodigy Advance Dcc system.
Posted by HEYPOTATO on Tuesday, October 19, 2021 6:05 PM

I have had an MRC prodigy advance system for a while, and purchased a second remote (Advance Elite I think) and have had them both for a while. I had no problems whatsoever with how they worked. Recently though, I have been having a large amount of trouble getting a stable connection to my layout. The screen on the dcc remote is weak, and the connection is extremely spotty. I can barely get a train to move more than a foot without the power cutting out. The problem is not with the connection, as everything on my layout works fine with dc power. Is there any way I can solve this problem without having to buy another DCC system?

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