Hello Everyone,
I have a few Soundtraxx TsumanI Equiped locos along with a few Bachmann sound value diesels. I have a strange thing randomly happening when running through a turnout that is not switched to divert In One Direction Only. The loco will either cause a short and shut down the system or it will restart the sound and the lights will start flashing and it will go wide open throttle with no control.
I stop it with the e-stop then try to replicate what happen at the turnout in question going the opposite direction. Normal operation occurs.
If I run it through the turnout not diverged again the same way the defect happened fast it will not act up.
The turnouts are of the Atlas WITH NON powered FROGS. One of the 2 suspect turnouts will short and shut down the system when I run a old metal wheeled AHM/Rivarossi with the large flanges over it.This is also running straight through it not diverged in one direction only. Trying to comprehend why only in one direction this occurs is the mystery in dcc.
This layout has a 6 gang switch that can flip the entire layout to dc control .These problems do not happen in dc just for the record.
Any Ideas?
Johnny
Short can corrupt the decoder settings beyond its capability to recover. When it does it will not always produce the same results. Short can permanently damage a DCC decoder. So put your efforts into eliminating all shorts.
Runaway is an indication the decoder is using the DCC power as if is DC. Disable CV 29, bit 2, Power Source Conversion* to eliminate this type of runaway.
*SoundTraxx refers to CV 29, bit 2 as APS, Alternate Power Source enable.
Really wide tired metal wheels can touch both diverging rails at a plastic frog and cause a short circuit. A long wheelbase steam engine can do it too. A little clear nail polish at those points will fix it, for a while any way.
Thanks,
Really strange how it does it on just 2 turnouts.I will give it the nail polish fix and see how it goes. I guess when things are mass produced no 2 are alike in their measure.
Johnny
I had the same odd thing, with only certain engines and certain cars on certain switches creating certain physics that pushed certain wheels in a certain way at a certain moment to bridge over the two almost-touching opposite-polarity rails right at the insulated frog. It was literally, if Jupiter aligned with Mars I would get a short.
I tried grinding the height of the offending rail down slightly, but the nail polish is easier, quicker, and with no damage risk.
Why does it only do it in one direction? When going into the turnout from the main, the locomotive is pushing the inside rail. When going from the siding to the main you are pushing the outside rail, and away from the inside rail.