Nooooooooooooooooooo.
I knew if I defended the AR-1 often enough as foolproof, one would eventually fail.
I have five of them on my layout.
This morning, one of them did not work, yet it worked fine yesterday and I did nothing to it or any part of the reversing section that it controls.
It is receiving power on the input side and it is carrying power to the rails on the output side.
I made various adjustments up and down to the adjustment screw but no luck. It is not reversing polarity like it is supposed to do.
I swapped it out for another AR-1 and that one worked fine.
So, something happened to the AR-1. I do not know what.
Is it toast?
Anything I can do to get it working again?
I wonder if Digitrax can repair or replace it without charge?
Ugh.
Rich
Alton Junction
I sent an email to Digitrax, I am waiting to hear back.
Does it click? Give the relay a good flick with your finger, it could be stuck. MTBF for the relay is very high, lots of operations, at current levels normally exceeding what is being controlled. But that just means half last longer and half last less, so someone gets the short end, with any manufactured item.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Randy, thanks for the quick reply.
As of this morning, it does not click. Yesterday, it did click.
I forgot that it is a relay rather than solid state.
I wil run down and give it a good flick with my finger and report back.
No luck.
I gave it several flicks of the finger.
Nothing, no click, just a short as it crossed the gaps into reverse polarity.
Toast?
Probably. One last saniity check, hook the input directly to the booster, then short the output, see if it clicks. Try witht he adjustment in either extreme. If not, it's definitely toast.
rrinker Probably. One last saniity check, hook the input directly to the booster, then short the output, see if it clicks. Try witht he adjustment in either extreme. If not, it's definitely toast. --Randy
Randy, just so I don't mess things up, help me a little more with this.
I am operating an NCE PH-Pro 5 amp system.
So I wire the input side of the AR-1 directly to the booster, and the output side to the reversing section, then have a loco cross the rail gaps. Is that correct?
Well, that's how it ought to be wired now. Just to eliminate any chance of it being something else (broken wire that shorted, gap that closed), I was suggesting trying it 'off layout' just connecting the input to the booster and then shorting the output wires to see if you get a click. If it clicks when doing that, the problem is elsewhere and the AR1 is probably fine. If it doesn't click when doing that, it's probably toast.
Oh, sorry, I see what you meant.
OK, I did that, and no click.
Bummer.
So, I got my first failure with an AR-1.
I will let you know what Digitrax has to say about the possibility of repair or replacement.
richhotrain I sent an email to Digitrax, I am waiting to hear back. Rich
Wow, a week has gone by and no response from Digitrax. So much for customer service.
Storm, election, and maybe something else going on?
Email is probably the worst way to contact someone, we have this expectation that is is guranteed delivery - it is not. It is also WAY too easy for your carefully craftred message to be considered spam by filtering devices, especially if they mention products, buying and selling, help, and other trigger keywords.
Your best bet is to simply call them.
rrinker Email is probably the worst way to contact someone, we have this expectation that is is guranteed delivery - it is not. It is also WAY too easy for your carefully craftred message to be considered spam by filtering devices, especially if they mention products, buying and selling, help, and other trigger keywords. Your best bet is to simply call them. --Randy
Yeah, you are probably right, so I will do that on Monday. They did acknowledge receiving my message, though, which I sent through their web site, and they do require you to include your personal email address and to type back a security code.
Never hurts to follow up with a phone call. Who knows how they are processed off the web site - do they get emailed to someone internally, printed out and handed to the approriate person? Someone may have been on vacation, or accidently deleted it, figuring the customer will call back. Can't tell you how many times I've seen that happen (the latter..since my day job includes installing and maintaining email systems).
Or it could be the other way - perhaps they emailed you and YOUR email provided spam canned it. Dunno who you use, but I've been using GMail for a few years now and I've noticed they are getting progressively worse with the false positives. Sometimes I miss Yahoo Group digests, because despite delivering the 50 previous ones, they decide one is spam. Luckily you can easily go in and see the messages flagged as spam, and move it back to your inbox. At least for 30 days, then it's gone for good.
Randy, I use AOL and when it flags an email as Spam, you are notified so you can just go take a look at it if you so wish. Digitrax has simply not responded, so I will call on Monday.
selectorStorm, election, and maybe something else going on?
FWIW, Digitrax was at TrainFest in Milwaukee this weekend. Not sure who all may have been there vs. holding down the mothership in Florida.
I finally spoke to someone in Tech Support at Digitrax this morning.
I am going to send it back to Digitrax for repair under warranty.
Since it receives and distributes power from the input and output sides of the AR-1, Tech Support thinks that it is a relay problem.
So, there you have it.
richhotrain I finally spoke to someone in Tech Support at Digitrax this morning. I am going to send it back to Digitrax for repair under warranty. Since it receives and distributes power from the input and output sides of the AR-1, Tech Support thinks that it is a relay problem. So, there you have it. Rich
I got the AR-1 back yesterday from Digitrax with a note reading "Replaced resistors - - tested, works OK".
I will re-install it later this morning and let everyone know what happens.
richhotrain richhotrain I finally spoke to someone in Tech Support at Digitrax this morning. I am going to send it back to Digitrax for repair under warranty. Since it receives and distributes power from the input and output sides of the AR-1, Tech Support thinks that it is a relay problem. So, there you have it. Rich I got the AR-1 back yesterday from Digitrax with a note reading "Replaced resistors - - tested, works OK". I will re-install it later this morning and let everyone know what happens. Rich
It works once again.
Case closed.
Rich,
Glad to hear the good news!! It took You a day and a half to drink that case!!! LOL
Cheers,, and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Frank