Hello All,

First of all, Merry Christmas!. I have a nice size Marklin layout, 400 cm x 240 cm. I am using a CS3+ for the controller. Every so often, one or more of my engines will activate even though not being selected when I power on the controller. I have to go into the engine profile and select a feature, and it usually addresses the problem. In my layman's understanding of packet transport and digital addressing, it appears to be a bug in the controller S/W. I have updated to 2.5.2.6 but still the same random issues occurs.
Any suggestions most appreciated.
I have about 25 engines in various parts of the layout. I also have some random spots where an engine may stop. If I move it a little bit, it starts working again. I use C-Track.

Thanks!
Frank

Hi Frank

Merry Christmas to you too.
What you observe is the sign of wiring which needs improvements. It may be very nice looking but still have problems.

The key targets
- be as short as possible between the source (CS3+) and the feeding point
- there must be as few as possible connections (screw terminals, sockets, etc)

Here are some tips if I may:
- use 0.75 mm² gauge
- wire in a star-like manner starting from your CS3 ("Ringleitungen" are a stupidity for digital)
- wire permanently the ground return as no interruption is needed to locate a short-circuit. So no connectors / plugs of any kind needed there.
- avoid using Märklin / Brawa/ Viessann plugs as they offer resistance and have a tandancy to pop-out
- arrange your layout in zones whose center rail is isolated from other zones, thus allowing to find where a short is located. One method is to use a 5W lamp for cars is series to feed the "B" of the zone. They have a very low resistance and the one feeding a zone having a short, will lightup.
- arrange a separate wiring for all decoders and avoid embedded decoders plugged to the track (excellent for carpet trains but very poor for permanent layouts).
- you MUST chase all possible causes for temporary shorts (rather rare using C track but still may happen) as it pollutes the digital signal and may translate into fantom commands.

I am not more intelligent than others but rather I have experienced the effects you describe on certain zones of my layout and fixed the issues.
THERE ARE NO BUGS IN CS3 VERSIONS related to unwanted actions on locos. Wiring issues ONLY.

My layout uses a CS3 with a 100 W power supply, has 28 locos, has no insulated sections because Rocrail controls the stopping and speed of each loco (better for continuity and simplifiedf wiring. This also means that all locos are powered, all passenger cars are lit, lanterns are fed from the track
Here is my layout (at the time with a CS2 and 100 W PSU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6WnhXPcRqI

Cheers
Jean