Adding an engine

[Dean]

I was trying to add an engine to my HC-2. The HC-2 found the new engine, but when I tried to set it up, I got a message that I had reached the limit of engines in use. This is odd as I had just turned the power on to my layout and was not using the HC-2 for anything. I fooled around for a while with no success accessing the new engine.
I finally did a hard reset of the HC-2 using the button on the back. Everything works fine now.
Is it possible I didn't release the previously running engines?

[Alan]

Do you in fact have more than 12 RP equipped locomotives on your layout? If so then it is possible you were unknowingly in control of 12 trains, the limit. The others may have been at idle so you did not notice you had control.

If you have 12 or less locomotives then overload isn't possible. Something funky is going on.

[G8B4Life]

I'll second Alan's assessment.

It took me a while but I found the post about the max number in use message. It appears from the way I read it that loco's can stay in the actively controlled list after powering everything off if one doesn't wait enough time before powering off the HC and the track, even if the speed of the controlled loco's was set correctly at 0% before powering down.

http://rpug.pdc.ca/index.php?topic=213.msg1238#msg1238

- Tim

[Alan]

I accidentally discovered this during testing of my circuit breaker prototype. The HC would hold a loco active even after the breaker powered down the track section. If the speed was above 0% when the breaker tripped the HC would hold the module indefinitely and the loco would return to moving at previous setting when the breaker reset. Only after lengthy breaker-off time or cycling HC power would the HC release the module. Lesson learned - just because track power is removed does not necessarily mean the HC released the module. The 10 second delay at 0% throttle setting in conjunction with 12 max operating modules governs when a module is released. Or simply power cycling the HC.

Tip: If you use block (zone) circuit breakers and one of them trips, make sure to set loco to 0% speed before examining/rectifying cause of short. Otherwise, you may be in for surprise train movement when the breaker is reset.

[Dean]

Thanks for your replies.
The layout had been shut down for at least 18 hours. The HC-2 the same.
The engine I was adding was number 12. The HC-2 let me add it to the roster, but if I tried any thing else, I got the message 'too many engines are active...'
If it happens again, I'll try bringing up all the engines and then delete them from the running roster by making sure the throttle is at 000, and then close the page. Then wait 10 seconds to do the next engine.

[William Brillinger]

If it happens again, I'll try bringing up all the engines and then delete them from the running roster by making sure the throttle is at 000, and then close the page. Then wait 10 seconds to do the next engine.

I expect the sounds and lights must also be off.

[nodcc4me]

Also, if you have engines in a consist, all of them are counted, not just the active one on the controller.

[Josephbw]

I had the same problem, and asked Tim Ring how to resolve the issue. Here is the post with Tim's answer.

I sent an email to Tim Ring the other day and got a reply this morning in regards to the problem of "Maximum number of locomotives are in use". I received this response this morning.

Hi Joe,

I am sure there is nothing wrong with either HC.  You get a 'Max. locos in use' when your HC is actively controlling more than 12 locos.  Although you can have dozens of locos loaded in the HC you can only control up to 12 at a time with a single HC.  The HC automatically removes unused locos form the actively controlled list. However, to get the HC to automatically remove an unused loco it has to be at speed 0.0% for more than 10 seconds before you turn off the HC and the track power.  If you don't do this the loco can stay active in the HC active loco list and can eventually give you a 'Max. locos in use'.  To start from scratch you can press the reset button on the back of the HC that is reporting this (that will clear the locos in use list).  Then be sure before you turn the layout off to set all speeds to 0.0% and wait over 10 seconds before powering off the HC and layout.


Please let us know your results because we are very interested in happy customers.

Thank you for contacting Ring Engineering!


So apparently there is a 12 loco limit in a consist. There are a lot of gotcha's that should be included in the manual, and this is one of them. I will send a positive report back to Tim, and also a suggestion for a manual update. BTW, I did what was suggested and it works like a charm.  I have also been running the 3 unit consist together pulling 30 cars plus 2 dummy engines and a caboose around my test loop whenever I'm down in the basement where I can keep and eye on it. It does seem to be smoothing out and they are playing together much better now.

Joe

Good Luck

[William Brillinger]

So apparently there is a 12 loco limit in a consist

I need to find the reference to it, but recently I read that there is a limit of 8 locomotives in a real world MU setup.
So I guess 12 is actually generous

[G8B4Life]

It will be interesting if you can find that reference Bill, The only thing I ever found on the maximum number of MU'd loco's was all hearsay that it was individual railroads that implemented different numbers of maximum MU'd loco's and speculation on the reason for the maximum number. The only thing I've ever read in any official capacity was a standard that stated the minimum number of MU'd loco's that the cabling must support.

- Tim

[Alan]

I would think eventually coupler strength becomes the limiting factor. Imagine what the drawbar force must be like on the last loco's rear coupler in an 8 unit lashup.

[William Brillinger]

I believe I have confused another conversation. I take back my statement about the max number of locomotives that can be mu'd in the real world. I believe it was a "limit" imposed by policy on the railroad in question.

[Dean]

The consisting of RailPro is unbelievable.  I put three engines at the front of the train and two more towards the end of the train, all powered. There is no lurching, stalling, or dragging. Every engine runs extremely smooth. Beats anything DCC.

[Alan]

Welcome to the dark side.

[Dean]

It seems like you must individually remove each engine in a consist in the HC-1 to stay below the 12 engine engine limit. When switching from one consist to another, you can get the warning that you have reached the 12 engine limit.
You don't have to break the consist up. But you must do the zero speed / ten second wait for each engine in the consist.
Hopefully this will be addressed in a future update.