With the Magna Force both locomotives that had the Soundtraxx decoders were stalling around the entire layout. The locomotives with Digitrax and QSI had no problems. I have 2 Mallet steam engines by Proto 2000. They are pretty much the same locomotive just different road names. Anyway, the QSI (factory installed decoder) locomotive has no problem going around. The Soundtraxx does. The Soundtraxx never had a problem on the Zephyr. I am thinking I have to reset the decoder, or setting the Zephyr back up to see if there is a difference. As for the Fox Valley, I talked to the hobby shop that installed the Soundtraxx decoder and they said it must be the motor. Later that day I unplugged the Soundtraxx and plugged in a Digitrax DH123P decoder and the Fox Valley made it up the 3 percent grade without a problem and I added some overweighted hopper cars and it pulled them up without a struggle.. So It must be some CV that needs to be changed. I contacted Soundtraxx but they did not reply. As for feeders I have probably about 14 on the mainline. There are I am guessing about 50 blocks total. The layout was built as DC years ago. Most of the blocks are in the off or DC position except for the main, which are usually set on the DCC side. Each block is powered by 2 wires. As for the Super Chief it is the 8 amp model. The turnouts on the main are #6 Atlas code 83.
Paul
The Magna-Force is plenty powerful to run a 5 amp Super Chief system. I used one to run by DB150 booster. Now, if it was failing - but it it still odd that only one loco was affected. That makes no sense if the issue was the power supply.
Stallign on frogs is probably a pickup issue, those locos are plenty big to span an unpowered frog IF all the pickups are working properly and IF the tender to loco plug is securely connected. Unless they are #8 or larger turnouts.
How many feeders do you have? There is either a mechanical problem with the Fox Valley loco OR there is insufficient power reaching it for it to not be able to make a 3 percent grade with no cars. Slow down without adding throttle - yes, unles you have BEMF in the decoder and it's set to 'cruise control' mode. It's normal for a loco to slow down somewhat goign up grades and speed up a bit goign down.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I did clear the memory and this did not seem to help any. I did some other research and what I found is what you are telling me or the power supply is not efficeint enough. I had a DCC Magna Force power supply. I ended up buying the Digitrax power supply that is made for Chief system. This seemed to correct the problem but the Proto 2000 steam dies on 2 turnouts now. The Fox Valley does not stall at all but does not run very smooth and has a difficult time making it up a 3 degree grade without any cars. I appreciate all of your help. Thanks.
-Paul J.
The behavior i still suggesttive of the loco selected on more than oen throttle. That's almsot always what it is when a loco moves a short sitance then stops, then moves again - especially if the headlight doesn't flicker. With a dirty section on the track the loco generally won't start again all by itself as it has entered a section where it gets no power and needs to be nudged ahead before it restarts. Or it will run through at speed with a flicker of the headlight but at slow speeds it will get stuck on the dirty section.
Besides just doing the reset to clear everythign, you can also try this. On the DT402, click the left knob, then press Loco, enter the loco's address, and press Enter. If you get a STEAL=? prompt, press Y for yes. Don't bother running it, but make sure the display shows the speed to be 00, and then press Loco and Exit. Now click the right knob on the throttle, and repeat the process, this time trying to run the loco and see if it still stops. To prevent fture occurances, when finished with a given loco, make sure the speed it turned all the way to 0 and press Loco then Exit to release it.
If you've ever seen the Steal=? message, that menas the loco was already selected on a different throttle. With multiple throttles, Digitrax does what they call slot following where more than oen throttle can control the same loco if they both select the same address. Remember that the DT402 is two throttle in one, so that counts. With encoders like the DT402, having the saem loco on two throttles usually just means it follows whatever the last command was - if one increases speed then the other decreases speed, the loco will speed up then slow down. But when one of the other throttles in a UT4 or the Zephyr console, with potentiometer throttles, what happens is the loco will go to the speed set byt he DT402 then a few seconds later when the UT4 or Zephyr sends its data the loco will jump to the speed set on that throttle. If you watch your display when your loco stops - I bet the speed drops to 0 even though you haven't touched the speed knob.
The Proto 2000 Heritage steam ran fine on the Zephyr. The Fox Valley engine is new and never ran on the Zephyr.
Chessx1I have only been using DCC for about 10 months. I just upgraded from the Digitrax Zephyr to the Digitrax Super Chief. The problem I am having is 2 of my steam engines with the Soundtraxx Tsunami decoders start and run for a few seconds than stall, and run again, then stall etc....
I agree you may have the two loco's running on more than one throttle. One has them running at the speed you have selected and the other has them at 0. When the cheif sends out a command update it stops the loco's then sends out another command update to resume speed. Following the instruction booklet, using the DB option switch #39 will clear the units memory of all locos that are running or not properly dispatched and should solve the problem. This step also breaks up any locos that were in a consist and they will have to be re-mu'ed. I do this once a month on my clubs layout with the cheif and we don't have any problems.
More info. DO the lights go off when they stop? If so, you have power issues. If not - you almsot certainly have the same address selected twice, either on the Zephyr throttle if you left it connected or on both knobs of the DT402 int he super chief.
I have only been using DCC for about 10 months. I just upgraded from the Digitrax Zephyr to the Digitrax Super Chief. The problem I am having is 2 of my steam engines with the Soundtraxx Tsunami decoders start and run for a few seconds than stall, and run again, then stall etc.... My other locomotives with Digitrax decoders do not have this problem. One of the steam engines is a Proto 2000 Mallet and the other is a Fox Valley Hiawatha in HO Scale.