Digitrax Chief shutdown

[mikebonellisr]

In the middle of running my layout,all of a sudden everything died,On my Chief command centerthe CONF. lamp is blinking a series of 8 blinks which seems to indicate that the "wafer" battery needs to be replaced also a red light on the lower right [OFF LINE] is on. The manual does not show this "off line" indication.I don't get any power to the throttles,I've tried 3 but they remain at IDLE.....Any suggestions about where to start troubleshooting?

[Anonymous]

Get in touch with Digitrax, I have always found them to be quick to answer with good suggestions!

[rrinker]

Couple of things:

Did you try powering off and back on again? It IS a computer after all.

Page 10 of the manual shows what the "off-line" LED means - when it is lit, track power is turned off. It's also mentioned on Page 36 of the manual - if track power is on but Off-Line is still lit, it indicates a booster overheat shutdown.

Beep codes are on Page 38. 8 beeps indicates CMOS memory corruption that was reset. 7 beeps is low backup battery.

Page 39 covers the CONF LED. 8 blinks seems to indicate that you should change OpSw 5 in the command station to Closed. The default is Thrown. If indeed you had an overheat and the memory got corrupted and reset (it does so automatically) , then it is very likely this got reset to the factory default. Also make sure OpSw 1 is set to Thrown. That is the factory default and should NEVER be changed (per the manual). But if it does get changed, you will have some of the symptoms you describe.

If all this still does not correct the problem, try disconnecting your loconet wiring and plug a throttle directly into the DCS100 and try that. If that fixes the problem, you have a wiring problem in your loconet wiring. Most likely a short at one of the jacks because someone jammed a throttle plug in and bent a pin, assuming everything had worked fine in the past.

If you are experiencing overheating issues - how many locos were runnign when this problem occurred, and what sort were they? Also, what power supply are you using? Digitrax says you can supply up to 22 volts as input to the command station, but if you are running on the HO track setting that's WAY too much. All the excess voltage will be dissipated mainly as heat within the command station. Some of the alternative power supplies put out 17-19 volts, also too much when usign the HO or N scale settings. That's why they recommend their own power supply, the PS515 only put out 15 volts. The DCC Specialties MagnaForce MF615 also only puts out 15 volts and is a good choice.

--Randy

[mikebonellisr]

rrinker
Thanks for the help...I'm going to try to work it out this afternoon.One little aside,I had a Trix Mikado on a dead siding,with the tender right over a kadee perm. magnet.When I activated that siding,I hade to move the engine by hand away from the magnet.The engine then ran for about a foot before the system shut down.I've had this problem before with other sound equipped tenders stalling over magnets

[rrinker]

That's probably just the speaker magnets being attracted to the track magnet. Good way to test if you glued the track magnet down good enough! [:D]

I hadn't thought of that being an issue before, but that just reinforces my idea of not using ANY permanent magnet uncoulers anywhere on my layout. The Rix uncouplers work quite nicely, and even with cheapy Radio Shack magnets I really can't make my own as cheap as they sell those for.


--Randy

[mikebonellisr]

Made my day! ..,The problem was solved the easiest way.I went to radio shack,bought and installed a new wafer type battery, and in a few seconds was up and running.That was the very first "problem" that I have had with the Digitrax Chief in 6 years of never being off.As for the magnets...I'm going to change the one's that I can't reach to electro magnets and do all other uncoupling by hand.Again,Thanks for your help.It's good to know that there's so much modeling knowledge out there.

[Anonymous]

Your opening post had me worried about Digitrax (still trolling around trying to decide if I want to do the DCC thing and if so, what system). Your last post changed my mind. Six years without a problem is pretty darn good!

[mikebonellisr]

Dave,
I will recommend Digitrax in a second.I know nothing about computers,bytes,bits,hex etc.and like I mentioned ....never had a problem.Thier system can be as simple or involved as you want to make it.I run 40+ different engines{not at the same time} over a radio controled,on a shelf layout in a 20x20 ft.room with 3 throttles connected to thier loconet.I'm very happy with the product.If you ever get a chance,try operating someones system.