DCS: Is it really THAT hard???

[jonadel]

TIU does not need to be in a vertical position, good grief.

Jon

[garyseven]

Kooljock1

I actually listen to talk radio through DCS [:O][:P][;)]

[garyseven]

BTW - DCS was, if I remember right, a ten minute set up.

[spankybird]

My TIU is also laying flat inside a cabinet. MTH does recommand if you are having RF problems, and out of range problems, to mount the TIU in a vertical postion. It is something to check if you are having out of range errors.

[waltrapp]

(Sounds off-topic but I'll tie it together)

At York I purchased a wireless camera system. You've seen the guy - he had a set up in the purple hall and runs an 'N' scale engine and transmits to his TV. I'm not savvy about wireless 'anything', nor am I versed in the nuances of transmitting signals. The directions in the box point out that the antenna on the receiver and the antenna on the camera should be oriented in the same relative position for optimum performance. If the antenna on the camera is vertical, then set the antena on the receiver vertical. Ditto for horizontal. Something about the way waves are sent and received (wish I could speak more intelligently about it).

Now for the tie-in:

I think the same theory is at work with TIU positioning since both the TIU and the hand held have antennaes in them. When people say that they get better performance when the TIU is vertical, I'm guessing that those people hold the hand held somewhat vertical, thus matching antenna orientation.

I have my TIU flat but, given that I have a floor layout, my remote is probably more horizontal than vertical. Never really thought about it.

I don't think it matters in most cases but I'm FAR from the DCS guru.

Oh, and sign me up with the "It ain't that hard" crowd. There are things to do that will minimize the chances of things going fluey so they're probably best followed if possible. However, as many have mentioned, there are some of us that merely broke the wires between the existing layout and the transformer, inserted the TIU and AIU, and were off and running.

- walt

[CSX FAN]

Thanks Guys.

I don't think DCS is that hard to do especialy for the smaller layouts. As some of you know things start happening on the larger layouts. You just have to try it for your self. The purpose of the artical was for the bigger ones. The last one realy deals with the AIU's which realy lack documentation. I told MTH I would write an update but never got to it yet.

The second artical is on line here.

http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/005/906enrww.asp

More DCS tips


If anyone needs detail copies of the layouts I could fax them. I asbuilted Tony's layout and was considered to techincal to print not to mention it would require a fold out to do so. Mine isn't so bad to look at. I lost my hard drive and no longer have the printed RR copy. Pictures of my layout are on the other Forum linked below.

http://ogaugerr.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/453102703/m/3561079072
DCS Wiring

The artical was actualy alot longer but they had to cut it down and simplify it. I probably should have wrote a book. The artical is 48 pages long in it's complete text. Add all the photo's and some of the wiring diagrams and it would be huge. I have notebooks of wiring diagrams for the old post war Lionel and Gilbert stuff I've done. who would like to have those handy? Plus Daylight Don and I have work on a couple of TSLI set ups to run Dallee And Ross units with the AIU's. I have posted those on the photo album also.

Paul I think you said it all. Good luck getting your DCS unit back!![:D] THats how I got into TMCC. My local hobby shop told me to quit my winning about the Lionel engines cost. Take the unit If you can't get it hooked up and running in five minutes or you don't like it . Bring it back other wise you can pay me for it next time you see me. I gave him the money. The DCS wasn't as easy but not to difficult to figure out. I wasn't as lucky as many others. MTH did the same to me when I showed them all the problems I was having. THey saw my control panel wiring harnesses and offered me the first AIU to use. After about a month they did get it back but I was completly sold on DCS. ( I promissed to give it back before they would give it to me.)

The track wiring wasn't all that bad. Now that the system has been fiquired out I don't think it would take much longer to install than any converntional layout. You just have to go to the terminal strip instead of the TIU. I know several people that have there layouts working on grid wire. Including some serious rat's nests.

Had I known know what I know now I would have saved a ton of wire for the Accesory side of the layout. Distributiong the TIU with remote AIU's would greatly simplfy wiring.

For those of you that have seen Tony's layout can see he elimated alot of wire with DCS.
His layout has over 300 drops. Haveing those terminal strips grouped all his blocks close together and eliminated some very long home runs. To see a scmatic of his layout is impressive. CTT just couldn't print it out it was so big.


My question to you all or wrmcclellan is what are the protable club layouts doing. I have seen a couple using grid layouts with paired wires insted of a common ground working pretty good. How about you all?


Jamie

[CSX FAN]

As a follow up I have a friends 31'x 33' layout coming on line. Everything is new the track, engines, batteries, DCS, Z4K's, Z-4000.... This was intersesting because I never got to get it all at once. It was tricking to get going especialy dealing with the clear coat on the Ross Track. It started right off the bat but had run for several hours to charge everthing up and to break in the rails. Once alittle breakin period was done the DCS has been flawless. Like WRmcclellan posted above I have another hooked on DCS friend that won't go back. [:D] We ran that layout for 8 hours the first night and didn't even realise it.

Jamie

[Anonymous]

"My question to you all or wrmcclellan is what are the protable club layouts doing. I have seen a couple using grid layouts with paired wires insted of a common ground working pretty good. How about you all?"

Jamie,

Our 25' X 25' demo layout is set up on the floor.

The TIU is in the middle, mounted vertically. A 5' wire runs from each TIU port to an MTH Panel (as you describe and show in your article), and the wires all radiate out from the center. There are two wires going to each block (like you, I like multiple wire drops per block-as long as the combination of block length and wire is not long enough to cause an out-of-phase condition, it works very, very well). All of the wires from the MTH panels to the track are 15' long (you mentioned paired wiring lengths-this is like taking it to the extreme but logical, given that the layout is square with the TIU in the center). Track connections are all made with MTH lighted lock-ons.

The layout always works exactly the same-complete and solid control.

[wrmcclellan]

Jamie,

I wi***o congratulate you for the article and taking the time to asemble all the information into one place. It is a job well done.

To answer your particular question, I do not have any knowledge of what any clubs with portable layouts are doing.

Obviously the size of the layout will determine how far one will have to go. If it is large and they wi***o have reliable operation (as those of us with large layouts to maintain have painfully learned), then it will be prudent for them to follow the guidelines you published.

I can attest (as do many posts on OGR and CTT) that not following those guidelines will not spell disaster for everyone, but we experienced long periods of solid DCS behavior followed by periods of totally eratic behavior (once went for about 4 months with the DCS not working at all until we made lots of minor adjustments). Our layout evolved early last year into precisely what you published and the DCS operation has been stable since that time (and this is also backed up by many posts on OGR and CTT).

Thanks again for your hard work that backs up what many of us have implemented and will serve as an excellent guideline for those in process of building a layout (large or small) that will use DCS.

Regards,
Roy

[BigJim]

"but programming locomotives to do tricks like recordings and loops. "

Now if we could only get GE to do this!!!

[CSX FAN]

Thanks again

RAK I was thinking of your layout and Allens layout in Texas. Your method seems to be the way to go at the moment for the portable layouts.

Jamie

[Anonymous]

Now that i have the Magizine and have read the artical in question, i can see the problem. THat artical really gave me the willies and i run TMCC. I could not believe that it could be that overwhelming. Now a lot of that has to be because the DCS has so many more features than the TMCC. No harm admiting the truth.[:D] However since i really don't want all that extra stuff, i will stay by my original assertion that TMCC is indeed the better choice, if for no other reason than its ease of use, and ease of setup. Personally i hope that TMCC-2 keeps its ease or set up and understanding whenit arrives.
BTW, i know understand the "light bulb" trick, that is really bizzare. [}:)]

And just to round out our conversation on the subject, how hard is DCC to wire up?
Thanks and have a great holiday.
Bill

[FJ and G]

DCS takes just a couple hours to set up and run for most small or mid-sized layouts.

There are lots of advanced things you can do with DCS, but I misplaced my DCS manual. Couldn't find MTH online manual. Am I hunting in wrong place?

Thanks.

[spankybird]

Dave you can down load one from this site

http://www.protosound2.com/service.asp

tom