I know I am probably missing something very basic. I went to run the trains on the layout today and nothing happened. The environment is Digitrax Zephyr with TCS decoders in the locomotives. If I put the locomotive on the program track, it will read the CVs, but when I put it on the track, nothing. I cannot turn the lights on and off, make it move, nothing. I put a meter on the track and am getting power to the track. This was also confirmed using a DC locomotive. I put a DC locomotive on the track and was greeted with the familiar whine, and was able to get it to move forward and backward. What am I missing?
Richard
Did you do an actual reset. CV8 enter 8? Been a while but I think the loco jerks a little with a reset. It should run on loco #3 when you do a reset.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Were trains running AOK previously? What, if anything, was done to/on the dayout since the last satisfactory running? Re-check everything touched during that interval.
Do you have circuit breakers on two or more power districts? Are any of them tripped? If so, determine why, fix and try again. Did you try the quarter test? Do the relavent circuit breakers trip? Re-set?
Did you try two or more different locomotives? Same result on all of them? Do the wheels need cleaning? Does the track need cleaning?
Good luck. Let us know how things go.
I'm not sure I'd be jumping in and resetting decoders, especially if there is more than one loco involved and they are all doing the same thing.
Do you have the locos in a consist and are entering the incorrect loco number?
Do these decoders have a function where you shut them down and then you need to restart them w/a function key before they'll move?
They are single locomotives, no consists, and is failing with two different locomotives. It was working three weeks ago before a bunch of travel on my part. The only thing I have done in the mean time is some ballasting, nothing electrical. There are no circuit breakers, other than the one intrinsic to the Zephyr. It is not thrown, as I show voltage (14.4V) on the meter when it is attached to the tracks. Also, if there was no current, I could not operate a non-decoder locomotive on the track. I hate to reset the decoder, as I will have to find where I wrote down all of the other CVs (acceleration, deceleration, etc.) and re-enter them. On other note, there is a power strip between the outlet and the Zephyr. It is switched off when the trains are not in use, and was switched off the the three weeks.
davidmbedardGot the reverser on forward?
davidmbedardI mean the direction switch......
Oh, that it was that easy. (In other words--Yup.)
I'm not sure how ballasting a section could cause this problem but since that was the only work done since prior ops I would look at it under a magnifying glass, if necessary. Could a feeder have come loose? Have you checked to see if thre is any magnetic material in the ballast causing some electrical problem. Are the non responsive locos on the ballasted section? If so that section of track may need a very thorough cleaning.
Are any of your locos responding anywhere on the layout? If so, do they respond where two will not? If so you have loco not layout issues.
davidmbedard Was that the problem or no?
Was that the problem or no?
No.
I answered initially that your Zephyr might need a trip to the hospital if a DC locomotive doesn't buzz, but I forgot you had tried that. If a DCC signal is present at full voltage, the addressing must be wrong. Have you tried Add 03 to see if the loco works? Do you have to switch anything between the programme track and the other terminals? Only QSI have their coma-inducing double-tap of F9 to my knowledge, and you have TCS...
It is a puzzle, to be sure.
No DDC-equiped locomotive responds anywhere on the layout. Again, I can get nonDCC-equipped locomotives work, so there is power on the rails. It seems to be a communication problem between the Zephyr and the locomotives on the operating track. Works just fine on the programming track. I may reset one of the decoders, just to see what happens.
I altered my original post, above, while you were responding. Sorry for my oversight, but please take a look at the new information.
I'm putting my money on the ballast as the root of the problem. I have no idea whatsoever exactly what the problem is but I think it's the ballast.
An idea just struck me like a bolt of lightening. Were there any lightning storms in your area while you were away? A neighbor could tell you. And a lightning bolt might cause some sort of electrical disturbance to your command station (in which case I lose my money riding on the ballast).
Voltage is present on the track and having multiple locos failing at the same time being most unlikely,it becomes obvious that there are no digital signals reaching the engines.Either the Zephyr has failed or the signal gets disturbed some way.
Any PM42,AR1 or other Loconet device on the layout?Anything plugged in the Zephyr's Loconet port?Is the Zephyr's screen showing any message like "FULL" or other?If not,I'd check the Zephyr alone with an independent piece of track.May be the Zephyr needs a reset.
No additional Loconet devices. No errors on the Zephyr panel. Zephyr works just fine with the programming track. I know the address is correct--I read it on the programming track and used it on the operating track.
Jacktal: How do I reset the Zephyr?
Also, I have the locomotives right over a pair of feeders, that are live (meter attests to the fact) and are on a section of unballasted track. Nothing has happened to that section of track in the past three weeks.
As for lighting, the power strip is a surge protecting power strip and the Zephyr still talks to the programming track, so it does not appear to be fried.
At least, for my sanity, it is not something simple if it has stumped so may of the experts. I have given up for the night, but will be reseting one of the decoders in to morning to see if that helps.
Zephyr Extra's manual pages 54-55,OpSw 39.
If resetting the Zephyr doesn't cure the problem,I'd still try it with an independent piece of track...you'd then know for sure wich of the Zephyr or the layout is the problem.
I think it's possible that the Zephyr may have failed on the power tracks while still being OK with the programming track.If all this fails,email Digitrax and explain what you've done,they're very helpful.
Thinking of this...voltage to track but no digital signals...could the Zephyr be set as a booster only?Just for curiosity's sake,I'd check if OpSw2 wasn't accidentally changed before resetting the Zephyr.A wild guess here...that happens to me........
Can you read back the locomotive address on the program track?
Do you have an LHS where you can take the locomotives and test them?
I think resetting the Zephyr is a good idea.
Do you run your trains just from the Zephyr itself, or do you have a control bus around the layout for other plug-in throttles? I'm thinking that you may have a short in the control bus that might inhibit the DCC signals.
Another simplification to try is to disconnect the Zephyr from the layout and just hook it up to a single piece of track, and see if the trains will run on that.
By the way, this is an interesting problem. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Jacktal Thinking of this...voltage to track but no digital signals...could the Zephyr be set as a booster only?Just for curiosity's sake,I'd check if OpSw2 wasn't accidentally changed before resetting the Zephyr.A wild guess here...that happens to me........
Twasn't it either. I have been relegated to reading the Zephyr manual and learned that if it was set to booster mode, without an attached secondary controller, there would be a walking "L" on the display.
Based on the suggestions, I opted to reset the Zephyr before resetting any of the decoders, and lo and behold, it is working. It was a little sketchy over the recently ballasted area, but a quick pass with the Bright Boy fixed that.
Thanks to everyone for the help. Unfortunately, I was not able to discover the cause, only the cure.
It sounds almost liek it was in the intermediate E-Stop mode that happens with the DB150 and DCS100 with a DT40x throttle. It manifests there as the track power dot in the throttle display blinking instead of being either on or off. But the Zephyr console presents no way to (at least documented way) to even accidently get into such a mode. It's much the same though - measure across the rails and there is indeed power. But you can't control any DCC locos.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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