I have an NCE equipment issue. Not with NCE but understanding what kind of problem with a very good product that I have.
First the problem and then indications of may be a problem in the making.
First: I have moved to my desk Powerhouse Pro and Procab and have installed both on a 3 foot section of nickel plated flex track. I am using this set up to install decoders etc. in older locomotives. Has been working fine.
I just finished a complicated piece on an Athearn G7 with the old locomotive weights. Had the weight milled out to accept a Tsunami 1000? Installed the decoder along with a mini oval speaker (Tony’s Train Exchange) including two LEDs installed in series with a dropping 1000 K resistor. Much to my amazement everything worked as it should. I turned everything off and then an hour later came back to show someone what I had accomplished.
Now for the system we're using: Powerhouse Pro about five years old, and Procab.
When I turned it on, the soundtracks decoder power started right up however the Procab litup and I could do the internal Procab program but nothing else. If I turned the dial nothing would happen: no function work etc. and yet an hour before everything worked fine. My diagnosis as an amateur is that something in the Powerhouse Pro is wrong or it is gone.
That is my present situation. Here some early signals of an issue.
Over the last four months as I have been installing decoders I have had and two Powercabs (dogbones) stayed lit but were non-responsive. Send them back to NCE and they saw some soldering errors etc. but sent back cabs that worked fine. One they sent back began to have the same problems as before i.e. no response on the speed dial or related buttons. The other sent back has worked as they should. I have a third new one and was the one I was last using on a successful Soundtraxx instalition
My diagnosis: the Powerhouse Pro has worn out; I did replace the battery six months ago. That may be the problem because the dog bone control just lights up I can access the cab’s internal system but nothing seems to respond.
My question to you: is there some way to check if the Power Pro has worn out?
Any other suggestions?
For the record NCE on these earlier issues has been more than cooperative and responsive.
My only frustration right now is that I finally completed a complicated rework of an old engine and installed a sound decoder and it worked. I turned it off the system and came back one hour later and the Procab lights up but won’t respond.
I will be calling NCE Monday but I'd be interested in others opinions.
Thanks.
JDAY