Hello All,
I have an ESU 53900 decoder tester, which I have been using to test various decoders from eight pins and so on. About six months ago I purchased an ECONAMI 21 pin sound decoder to use on a Bowser DCC ready diesel locomotive.
Yesterday, I picked up A Bowser DCC ready 2I pin engine.
Today, I was ready to install the 21 pin decoder into my Bowser engine. Before I install any type of decoder, I always like to test them on my decoder tester.
Sadly, when I plugged in the 21 pin decoder into the decoder tester, the blue light went off, and there was a smell something burning. I immediately unplugged everything, and it looks like I fried the decoder. After that, I phoned the soundtraxx repair department to find out what exactly what I had done wrong. According to the rep, if any decoder tester has a speaker that is 1 W or less it will affect a 21 pin sound decoder from soundtraxx because they are rated between 1 to 2 W.
The good news is they can repair it for about $45.
So my question to anybody out there is have you had the same problem as I did?
Also, if it has to do with a 1 watt speaker, I hope that ESU is aware of that problem.
Any thoughts?
That sounds fishy to me. The amp is supposed to operate at 1 to 2 amp. It should have damaged the speaker before the amp.
I can see it if the impedance is wrong. Does the decoder tester have a 100 ohm speaker like ESU used in the early days?
Pete.
wrench567 That sounds fishy to me. The amp is supposed to operate at 1 to 2 amp. It should have damaged the speaker before the amp. I can see it if the impedance is wrong. Does the decoder tester have a 100 ohm speaker like ESU used in the early days? Pete.
Hello Pete,
The decoder Tester is the ESU 53900 and has a speaker select switch with 3 settings:
OFF -100Ω -8Ω positions.
Most speakers are 8Ω, so I leave on that setting.
I would check that with a multimeter. I don't have that tester. So I'm not familiar with the circuit.
Still. If the soundtrax decoder is that easily damaged, then that would put a damper on my future purchases of said product. When I started in DCC many years ago. I bought a plug and play decoder from an industry leader. I plugged it in an 8 pin socket on a new DCC locomotive. Placed it on the program track and instantly saw the smoke roll out. I sent the item to the maker and their response was that it was mis-installed and would not be covered under warranty. More than a decade later and hundreds of decoders, I still don't have anything from that manufacturer. The locomotive is still in my fleet sporting another plug and play decoder from a different maker.
Sorry for the rant. I don't like weak products sold as TOP OF THE LINE.
Here is what my ESU Decoder Tester looks like:
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Here is another version of the 53900 with a round speaker and 16 Ohms instead of 8 like mine.
They look sofisticated. I never really found a need for one. Maybe if I was programming dozens of decoders a week.