I was testing a new-to-me Genesis FEF-3 Greyhound which came DC from Athearn, I think it's a model from around 10 years ago. It ran fine on a basic controller on my layout. When I plugged in an E-Z Command Control Center from Bachmann (My DCC system) that can run a DC locomotive it simply stopped responding. Not even a short sound or electronics. This was without even moving the throttle. Loco doesn't respond to any inputs. The tender unplugged doesn't show the rear light on when in reverse. Other Athearn steamer tender I have does turn on when in reverse with the loco unplugged (Both with a decoder and a DC dummy plug).
Is the board on the tender dead? Could it be some other thing? What do your recommend me to test? I'm planning in putting a Soundtraxx sound decoder in it. Could it be a safe choice to rip the board out of the tender and hardwire the decoder?
I changed the dummy plug to a 9-Pin decoder and the same result, dead.
You could try feeding DC directly to the motor wires to see if the motor runs.
I usually remove the factory boards that are in DC locos and hard wire DCC decoders. Those boards are usually set up to provide constant lighting on DC and may interfere with DCC operation.
lebenard It ran fine on a basic controller on my layout.
Maybe a dumb question, but did you happen to try running it again with the basic controller?