I have a layout 11 x 15 ft. ho scale and i bought a prodigy advace dcc system off of e-bay.I have tested the system by the manuel guide.Its a (3amp system)and i cant run more than 2 trains at a time-also you can run one loco one time and a few min. later try to run the same loco and it wont. Do i need a larger system or is there something wrong with the prodigy system.? ( I’m new to the model trains about one year) can someone help please.
From what I’ve been told, you should be able to run 4-5 (or more) newer locos at the same time. (I think it’s 3.5 amps) You need to check your locos to see how many amps they are drawing. Newer ones should draw around 1/2 an amp.
I have the same system and don’t have any issues running several locomotives at once though I only have two with sound. I do have the system divided into blocks with PS4 and PSR breakers and a 12ga bus loop with drops at each rail joiner this on a 12 x 12 around the walls layout. If you can, hook up a meter to measure amperage draw of the equipment. If the draw is low and the stuff still won’t run right you may have found why the P.A. was E-bayed. J.R.
What size feeder wires are you running to your track, and how far apart are they? I only have a double loop 4x8 with two feeds to eack loop opposite each other. I have run 4 sound locos, 1 Lionel Veranda Turbine, 1 Athern Challenger, and 2 Atlas diesels, pulling 6 lighted cars (3 Walthers & 3 Bachmann Spectrum HW’s) without problems. Yea, I know these locos and that many cars look silly on a 4x8, but the grandsons love it!![:D] If you are running older locos with high draw motors, you should still be able to operate 2 at a time. Check the wiring and e-mail MRC if everything else is OK.[:)]
I am using the same system and I’m running two consists of 3 locos with sound and one additional loco by it self with sound as well, no problems here
Did you buy it from a dealer or from some guy in his basement?
Also, have you assigned your throttle an address as the “Master” throttle?
I’ve run a dozen N scale locomotives at once on mine with no problem. Sounds like you either have something hooked up wrong, a short in one of your locomotives, or worst case, a dud from MRC (not likely)
Lee
I have the Prodigy Express system and it is brand new, and I am running three BLI steam locos with DCC and sound all at one time and have no problems so far.
Running a J1 with sound, a T1 Duplex with sound, and an M1a with sound.
TheK4Kid
I have the PA and can run 8-10 engines at any given time. Most of these are not sound equiped however. I suspect that your engines are drawing up alot of power…
It sounds like you are just converting from a DC system to a DCC system. Some basics:
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The locos you reference are both DCC equiped - right? That is, you are not trying to run DC locos on your DCC system (different set of issues).
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Make sure your wiring is sufficient for DCC. You may have some voltage loss issues. There is a lot of material on this subject so I won’t go into this area here.
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Make sure you are not getting intermittent shorts or leakage. A DC system might ignore some situations that will shut down a DCC system.
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Make sure your power supply is not overheating or an internal breaker is not tripping/reseting due to the issues noted above.
Let us know more details and we can provide more suggestions.
Good Luck,
-John
I have the same and no problem running many locos. One thing to check is: does the main unit’s (the PA) cooling fan kick in at any time? If so, your drawing too many amps. If not, something else is up. I would suspect wiring.
Also check if the indicator lights on the main unit are blinking indicating an short is the system.
<>Hope this helps.
<> Peter
I use the PA and have run five trains at a time with nine locos, four with sound and a couple dozen other DCC locos sitting on the tracks, with no problems. The PA’s cooling fan will come on periodically once you start drawing two amps but this does not mean you are drawing too much, just that it is doing it’s job, keeping things cool.
Do check your feeder wire sizing and spacing. Also, if you got the PA used and it is an older PA, from when they first came out, it may have a 2.5 amp (2500mh) power transformer. Still, you should be able to run 4 or 5 locos with no problems.
Tilden
[#ditto] I use an original PA (now converted to wireless) with no booster to run a 17’X17’ N scale layout with nearyl 300’ of total track including main, sidings, and yards. I run as many at nine N scale locos at a time and have never experienced any power drop. I did have some communication problems with an older Lenz decoder when I bought my wireless throttle, but this was a decoder issue that some fiddling fixed with time.
Ron
Ron,
Does your PA have the 2500mh transformer? Mine died and I happened to have a new 4 amp transformer from the original Prodigy system. I remembered talking to MRC and them saying the PA could take 4 amps but for insurance reasons they ship it with 3.5 amp power supplies. I swapped out the plug-in connectors and have had no problems. I mentioned it to MRC who asked me to send back the old power supply for diagnosis. They sent me a new 3.5 amp power supply anyway.
Yea, the wireless throttle is great I was running mine last night. I hardly use the teathered ones anymore. Spoiled I guess.
Tilden
I will have to check on that amp, but it is the one that came with the system. I’ll check tonight and get back with you. As for the tethered throttle, I have one “extension plate” installed at my largest yard and I use my tethered throttle there as a dedicated yard throttle and for programming on the programming track which is right across the isle. This works well as the yardmaster never really needs to go further than that tether will reach.
Ron
After reading the posts, and confirming my initial suspicion, I would suspect the power supply is deficient or defective. It surely could be a connectivity problem, but that tends to make the engine stop at one spot, and consistently. This sounds like anemic power.
Since we’re talking PA’s, are you guys that bought the wireless units happy with them? Any range or interference problems? I want to get the PA2 and then the wireless upgrade so I have 2 throttles. Anybody else do this? No problems using the two throttles at once?
loathar,
I’m not sure what you mean by problems using 2 throttles. I have four plugged into my system, one wireless and three tethered, all work interchangably. The original Prodigy system had dedicated throttles, 1 through 4, each had it’s own port and the ports were prioritized. The Prodigy Advanced system’s base station has only three throttle ports but they are “open” ports, meaning any throttle can use any port. With the PA, you number the throttles (up to 99 I believe) to identify them and can set each throttle to allow them to program decoders or not (this comes in handy keeping “visitors” from “adjusting” (read messing) with a loco’s set-up).
The wireless throttle’s antenna simply plugs into one of the ports, like any tethered throttle. The wireless throttle can be charged by being plugged into a port (any port will do) or you can recharge the batteries in a charger. As for range? I can run trains from anywhere in the house, upstairs or down. Sound units are great for testing range, just sound the horn. [(-D] As mentioned, a tethered throttle is fine for a yard throttle but if I were purchasing new, I’d get a wireless PA2 and a second wireless throttle. In fact the wireless spoils you and I tend to use it mostly. I’ve set my wireless throttle as #1 and it is the only one that can program decoders.
Ron, I did buy two extension plates when I got my original Prodigy, but having some network knowledge, and wanting two available jacks per throttle (the original Prodigy having set throttles), I made my own network using RJ45 jacks and CATV cable. It worked fine and when I converted to the PA I ended up with eight open ports (jacks) so I have plenty of flexability plugging in throttles.
Tilden
Tilden-Thanks! That answered it. I guess I was asking if anyone found any quirks or problems using one wired and one wireless together.
I was kind of wondering why someone would buy the PA2 wireless when you can buy the PA2 and the wireless upgrade for about the same price and you end up with 2 controllers instead of one. I think that’s the way I’m going to go.
As long as the subject is open I would like some help with a problem. A friend has a couple of recent BLI locos, an RS3 and an SD40-2. They run on DC, and with my Digitrax (5 amps) I can not only run them, I can consist them. However when using a Prodigy Advance (2.5 amps)the lights and sound work, the sounds follow the throttle changes…but the motors no go! We have tried everything in the MRC download, especially the part dealing with BLI’s. Does anyone have any ideas? jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
Good Morning John,
I don’t think it is a power problem, especially with two newer lcoc’s. I have a couple of Blueline engines and noticed every now and then, like when consisting and/or there is a short, the motors quit responding. I’ve found shutting down the system and restarting it brings the motor control back. Why? Don’t know.
Tilden