Thank you everyone for your contribution and advice.
Motor overload sound to be culprit of the fault.
I'll check the actual motor load in next couple of days and undate once i get a meter.
Chris.
Unless something has recently changed, Bachmann's decoders are made by Lenz.
When doing the calculations for total current draw, the motor is just one factor. The current load used by all the extra functions needs to be factored in as well. If you have 250ma worth of lights on an engine, that brings the motor control circuit down to 1/2 amp from 3/4.
Mark.
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I had to replace a couple of motors in Bachmann 44 toners. The motors had shorted and Bachmann sent me new ones.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
I had a similar situation with a Bachmann loco and Loksound decoder. My loco was a Shay. Almost exactly what you are describing was happening to me.
After about a year (on and off) I looked into the Bachmann circuit board. There are two tiny chokes (coils) in series with the motor wires and a capacitor across the motor leads. I removed the cap and chokes. Since the chokes are in series with the motor, I had to replace them with a jumper. No more problems.
These items are put there to reduce motor electrical noise and interference with TV's and such when running the loco on DC.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
It's not very likely that CV settings could cause the decoder to overload unless you set some that conflict with each other, like VMID and VMAX reversed; but I don't think even this would cause overheating.
As I recall those 45 toners use 2 motors. So you are probably over amping. When you check the draw, do it on each and then add the amps. You may find one motor is drawing too much. How did you wire the motors--series/parallel?
Richard
While you are checking things, make sure you check for cracked axle gears. If one or more is cracked, they will sometimes bind or cause excessive motor load that leads to increased amp draw. In response, decoders will go into thermal protection mode and shut down until it has time to cool.
Good luck,
Tom
It sounds like you have overloaded the micro and its internal circuit breaker is shutting it down. That decoder is rated for only .75A motor current, and the model you have installed it into probably draws more current than that, especially if pulling a heavy load.
You need to measure the motor's stall current draw to see if it's more than, or very close to, 3/4 Amp. Then disassemble, clean, and lubricate all moving parts to see if the amperage draw can be reduced.
Ok, so the sound and lights come on. Does it move? It could have resorted to DC, which could be the buzzing you hear
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Sounds like the decoder shut down on motor overcurrent. After cooling off it returned from the dead. Buzzing motor doesn't sound good. I'd look for something jamming the motor mechanically thus causing high motor current and decoder overheating.
D