Frustrated with DCC

[bigfoot13]

I went to run trains tonight with my nephew and only one engine would move. The horn and lights would work on 1 engine but it wouldn't move. Another engine without sound or lights wouldn't work either.
Suggestions on how to troubleshoot?
Digitrax system.
Walther's ML-8 worked
Walther's raillink 104 lights and sound only
Throttle dcs52
And dual wireless
Command station dcs240
Jmri on Linux

 

[bnsf971]

Probably the first thing is to remove one of the command stations from your system. With only 3 locomotives, you only need one, and the second one is going to cause problems.

 

[bigfoot13]

There are actually more engines all of which show the same symptoms. The dcs52 is only used as a throttle. When running only the dcs52 I was having intermittent cutout on the steep hills with my consists when sound was on. The dcs240 seems to have solved that issue.

I'll try only one when I get up

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Which one is the booster?
How is your track linked to the command station?
Have you done any scenery work on your pike lately?

 

[bigfoot13]

Booster is throttle only. No scenery. Left it working last use. Initially I suspected a short but then realized the lights were working.

 

[Smudge617]

Have you checked the cables into the back of the DCS52, they sometimes work loose, especially if your carrying it around with you. I've had a similar problem, I just tinned the wires, no problem since.

 

[bigfoot13]

Wondering if it might be related to having played around with JMRI consist tool. As the locos that will not move are part of 2 different consists. I have 5 on the layout. 2 paired consists and the ml-8 switcher.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Good point. Break all the consists down and try again.
How is your track connected to the command stations?

 

[bigfoot13]

Finally tried all the ideas posted. Ended up having to factory reset each of the 4 locos that had been part of the consists. Thanks for the quick replies. I really appreciate this forum.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Did that solve the problem?

 

[bigfoot13]

After several loco resets I think I have things working again now. Need to spend some more time on how the long and short addresses work.

 

[dave1905]

Originally DCC had 2 digit addresses on basic systems and later higher end systems had 4 digit addresses. One of the reasons I went with NCE is because it was 4 digit addresses right out of the box. As time went on all system made accepted 4 digit addresses. The way I use long and short addresses is that only my engines with 2 digit engine numbers are set to short addresses, then everything else is set to long addresses. That way I don't have to worry about having to enter any leading zeros on any engine numbers, I access any engine by just entering the number painted on the side of the engine.