Re: Newest Revision of the MTH TIU

[Bill Lohman <844bill@gmail.com>]

Thanks for the update, Ira.

 

For what it's worth, I agree with Ira.  Take a 'wait and see" attitude toward the new DCS -- due to the many problems with the current DCS hardware/firmware. 

 

However, the new DCS does hold hope for greatly improved performance for Proto 2 and Proto 3 engines.  (Proto 1 engines operate under conventional transformer control and are not impacted).

 

For any of you who might be interested, you can go to the  O Gauge Railroading Forums    MTH DCS and PS2 section and follow the discussions as the new DCS hardware/firmware and Proto 3 engines come into use.  No battery to go bad in the Proto 3 engines!

 

Bill

 

 

On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 11:09 PM, Ira Schneider <ira_schneider@iname.com> wrote:

MTH just announced that they released version 4.20 of the TIU software, so I went
to see what it contained.  It appears that this update only adds functionality for
ProtoSound 3.0 HO engines.

I noticed that they posted a note about a new revision of the TIU hardware.  The latest
version of the TIU includes a USB port to communicate with the computer
(for downloading software updates).  It also contains a new processor which they
claim improves the track signalling on most layouts.  The interesting thing about
this new processor is that they claim that the light bulbs which improve the signal
on the older TIUs actually degrade the signal on the new version.  They recommend
removing the light bulbs for the new version of the TIU.  I assume this includes the
reistor/capacitor circuit which people used instead of the light bulbs.

Since we don't have the newest level of the TIU, this doesn't affect us.  I certainly
wouldn't suggest that we replace our TIU at this time.  However, it does show
that they are working on improving the signalling capabilities of the DCS system.



Ira



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