Procab and Powerhouse Pro

[johnday]

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

[cacole]

My first reaction would be to check the connectors between the cab and base system.  Unplug the wires and replug them.  Also unplug and replug the short cable between the command station and booster portion of the Powerhouse Pro, and make sure the Power and Track connector block is firmly inserted.  Also double check the wiring from the system to the track, and make sure the track is clean (and locomotive wheels, too).

What is the state of the Track Light and Status Light LEDs on the Powerhouse Pro?  As indicated on page 12 of the Power Pro System Reference Manual, the Track Light should glow yellow to show normal operation.  A red or green glow indicates a problem with the Command Station.  The Status Light should always be off.

Also read the paragraph entitled BATTERY CONNECT JUMPER on page 13.  As a last resort, you can open up the Powerhouse Pro cabinet and reset the Command Station to factory settings with this jumper.

Jim Scorse at NCE will no doubt have more suggestions.

[maxman]

Are you plugging the Procab directly into the command station?  When you do, watch the display on the Procab.  Does it give you a throttle number?

You also might want to try re-assigning a throttle number to the Procab.  If you assigned throttle numbers before changing the battery, and changed the battery with the power off, it's likely that the command station "forgot" what throttles had been assigned.

[richhotrain]

JDAY,

Before you call NCE tomorrow, do yourself a favor today and join the Yahoo Group, NCE-DCC.

If you write a post on the NCE-DCC site this morning (Sunday), you should get some good suggestions today to work on before you call NCE tomorrow. 

A number of the forum members on the Yahoo site are real experts with the NCE system.

Trim down the length of the message that you posted here though.  There is some extraneous information that could be eliminated to get to your main point quicker.

Let us know what you find out.

Rich

[locoi1sa]

Worn out? No way. Is the loco addressed on the procab? Even though you programed an hour earlier does not mean the locos address is still in the recall stack. Check the connections at the plugs. They are notorious for losing connection. I made a tool for bending the contacts back out of a T pin with a 90 degree bend on the tip. Those little fingers get bent back and lose the spring back they need to make a good connection. Why use a Procab for programing when you say you have a Power Cab? The Power Cab has more programing power then the PHP system. The PHP system may have trouble reading some sound decoder CVs where the Power Cab will not

         Pete