Hello everyone, I have a HO Proto 2000 Heritage 2-8-8-2 that I installed a new TCS LL8 Mother board in. The locomotive runs but it runs continous and keeps a constant speed regardless rather I speed up or come to a complete stop. I have the digitrax db 150 system on my layout. The Proto 2000 locomotive is Norfolk & Western #2033 and is a DC locomotive that I converted to run on my DCC layout. The locomotive has the eight wheel tender. Does anyone know of a remedy for this or has delt with this before with Proto 2000 locomotives? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Locojunkieit runs continous and keeps a constant speed regardless rather I speed up or come to a complete stop
There is a typo there; are you saying it doesn't stop either? I would disable the ability to run on DC as people say that can cause runaways.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I have yet to have thisn runaway thing people seem to have quite often. I try to remember to turn of DC in the decoder, but I don;t always remember to do that, since the defaults automatically set by the system when changing the address typically leave it enabled. And what usually happens in those runaway situations seems to be that the loco takes off at top speed, with no ability to slow down or stop it.
I can;t really think of how you could get the wiring wrong to have something like that happen, running at a medium speed but be incontrollable - unless maybe one side of the motor is to the rails and the other is to the motor output of the decoder. Recheck the wiring to the motherboard, though if the track pickup and motor wires got crossed the decoder is probably toast.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
It isnt a runaway per se it runs continously and will not slow down or come to a complete stop or speed up to full speed, it runs at an even speed all around my layout. I heard some where at some point that some re wiring had to be done to some proto 2000 locomotives in the locomotive itself to remedy this but I cant remember where I heard it or seen it. On some Bachmann locomotives there is a capacitor that needs to be clipped in order for the locomotive speed control steps to be followed correctly, maybe there is a fix like that here, I dont know.
The cv's in the decoder could be set so that this happens. It couldnt hurt to go in and check the cv's to make sure they will accept a speed range and not locked to one speed.
And yes. Some older locomotives do need alterations to work with a dc board properly. The one p2k i remember is the RDC where the installed board had to have traces cut before the added dcc board could be plugged in And
function propperly. it was recommended to just remove that factory board and hard wire it yourself. Which might be the better option for you if the cv's arent the issue. Just pull the factory board and hardwire your own plug for the dcc board you have.
Wolfie
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
I would start with a full reset. The last time I had strange decoder behaviors like that was because of a short... if the reset does not fix it, check the wires.
Simon
Someone may have set up the CVs for top end and for mid-speed reversed thinking that CV5 is mid and 6 must be for top end. Not the case on most decoders that I am familiar with. Whatever the glitch, human or digital, a reset as suggested will soon let you know if the decoder needs repair or replacement, or just a reset.
I've had one engine which wanted to "run away" on its own as soon as power was applied to the track (dcc). I believe it has a Digitraxx DH126 decoder.
I fixed it by disabling the "dual mode" cv using JRMI -- turning off the ability to run in dc mode (as well as in dcc mode). As such, it was now "dcc only".
After doing this, no more "runaways"...
Anytime I've had "loss of control" problems it seems to have always turned out to be my failure to "release" an address on the Digitrax throttle.
Another advantage to having JMRI is that under the "actions" tab you can "monitor slots" and if you see a duplicate listing of that particular locomotive you can simply press the "clear" button and all is well again.
This may not be your exact problem but it is a Digitrax troubleshooting hint to keep filed away for when it might happen to you in the future.
Cheers, Ed
I think Ed could be right, I've had a situation with my (CVP) system where I've been running a loco with one of the main controllers (it has two speed controls built into the unit) and then later tried to operate the engine using my radio controller. It would just kinda trundle along and not stop until I cleared out the main system so it was only getting info from the radio controller.
An incorrect CV or two is possible, or the OP could have inadvertently programmed the decoder to use speed tables, specifically a "flat" one where the engine would go the same speed at all speed steps - although I assume it would still stop at speed step zero?