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Post by santafe49 on Jun 17, 2014 11:42:52 GMT -8
I have a Digitrax DH121 installed in an Athearn RTR GP60M. Was working just fine, until last night.
When i brought it up on the throttle and selected it, Nothing. No lights, No movement, or buzzing. I put the unit on the programming track and checked the settings via DecoderPro through my PR3 and the correct CV's were read. But, then i tried to do a decoder reset, CV 8 and it would not write to any CV. Tried using SoundLoader, and got the same results, no reset. Then i tried using the programming track off the DCS100 with the DT402. Same results. Can not do a decoder reset. It won't accept any writing or changing of CV's.
Is is fried?
Nothing was changed trackwise. Same equipment as usual. I guess i will have to get a new fancy decoder with all those FX.
This is the first decoder i have had to fail.
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Post by santafe49 on Jun 17, 2014 18:06:50 GMT -8
Well, i pulled the decoder and put the dummy back in. Hooked up a short stretch of track to my old MRC DC power pack. The Loco ran fine on the DC, lights worked as they should. I pulled the dummy plug, put the decoder back in and took to the DCC layout. Nothing. I tried a reset and get a NO-dec back in the screen on the DT402. All the wiring looks like it should. I guess my next move is to pull all of the wires off the Athearn light board and try direct wiring to the decoder. Strange that it worked one day and now says NO-dec?  |
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Post by spookyac47 on Jun 18, 2014 20:22:27 GMT -8
Well, i pulled the decoder and put the dummy back in. Hooked up a short stretch of track to my old MRC DC power pack. The Loco ran fine on the DC, lights worked as they should. I pulled the dummy plug, put the decoder back in and took to the DCC layout. Nothing. I tried a reset and get a NO-dec back in the screen on the DT402. All the wiring looks like it should. I guess my next move is to pull all of the wires off the Athearn light board and try direct wiring to the decoder. Strange that it worked one day and now says NO-dec? Not necessarily. I have a quartet of HO Scale Life-Like P2K FA1/FB1 locomotives. They were equipped with NCE D15SRP decoders probably 6-7 years ago. They probably have about 20 hours run time on our club layout. Figured it was time to do a bit of maintenance on them so pulled the trucks, replaced the gears with new gears (preventative maintenance before they crack)lubed and reassembled the trucks, set each one on the DCC test track individually and checked for forward and reverse. One of the "B" units rolled about a foot and then a whisp of smoke and PFFFT. Locomotive stopped dead on the tracks. My day job is electronics, very complex electronics and have seen a fair amount of whisps of smoke and an occasional PFFFT. Pulled the decoder and swapped it with one in another loco and it was dead in that loco as well. Put the good decoder in the "B" unit, ran it back and forth for about 15 minutes, no problem. Put a spare NCE D15SRP in place of the dead one and they have been running fine since. Out of 76 decoders of various makes, that has been my only failure. Every now and then they just go PFFFT!!!!!! |
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wsor
Full Member
The Route of the Ruptured Duck
Posts: 138
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Post by wsor on Jun 23, 2014 9:23:20 GMT -8
A DH121 is pretty old to begin with. Probably 10 years old or more. My dad had some, somewhat trouble prone.
Make sure the bottom motor clip is well insulated from the frame. Athearn likes to rely on paint for this. A piece of Kapton or regular electrical tape will accomplish this.
I would plug in a TCS T1, and sit back and watch it run better than before.
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