I have 5 of the Digitrax DS64s that I'm getting rid of. I'm replacing them with the NCE switch-it's. I have had enough of the powering on issue that make my 20 switches go crazy when I power on the system.
I have called Digitrax tech support about this issue. And they told me there is no fix for it, the guy who programmed them to default when powered on to set the switches to reversed. is apparantly not with them any more. I don't know why they can't come up with a fix.
I'm over it already. I have no need for them, so I'm either throwing them in the trash or giving them to whomever wants them.
PM me if interested.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
There is a guy who works for Tony's Train Exchange who used to work for digitrax. Why not give them a call first.
I seem to recall an issue about the power supply not being stable, which caused the CPU in them to go a little nuts, although I thought that was more related to th programming just disappearing at random. SOlutioon for that was, i thought, a bigger capacitor int he power supply section.
I'd be happy to fiddle with one, although I'd have to dig up a Tortoise or something since I use servos now. I am not convinced they are all defective, too many people are using them without a problem.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
That's weird. Mine don't do that.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
I'd be interested in playing with them Motley if they're still available.....let me know
Bob Berger, C.O.O. N-ovation & Northwestern R.R. My patio layout....SEE IT HERE
There's no place like ~/ ;)
Yes every one of them does the same thing. It's not consitant though, sometimes they do it, sometimes it doesn't happen. It's strange.
I'm trying to reply to PMs.
Well that was quick! There were 5 people that replied to me, so I'm gonna be fair and just divide them up with 1 each.
All I need is money for shipping first.
I don't have any experience with the NCE switch it's but I do with the similar switch 8's. I have 2 and both lose addresses sometimes during a short, including when a loco shorts on a frog. I was ready to get rid of them when I decided to buy a cheap auxiliary DCC booster and ran a separate bus for the switch decoders. That cleared my problems. I have a switch it but never got around to hooking it up but you may have a similar issue. If you do the fix will be to do something similar that I did. I have a feeling a similar solution would fix your ds64 issue.
Springfield PA
If I have problems with the switch-its I think I will just lose my mind. I sure hope not, I'm at the end of my rope I'll just hang myself.
When I talked to Digitrax, they said it was a programming issue that they were unable to fix. They knew exactly what I was talking about. I tried hooking up a PS14 power supply to them to no avail, same problems.
Why can't stuff just work? It's just so irritating to spend all kinds of cash on these products that don't work right. Remember the Digitrax Supercheif system I purchased and it was defective. I returned it and got the NCE and the thing is flawless.
Digitrax has made it on my "no buy" list.
I bouggt 2 Zephyrs, a bunch of decoders, a DT400, a Super Empire Builder Xtra, and a PR3. All worked perfectly out of the box. ANd I picked up a DT100 on ebay, used, and it works fine.
Regardless of the decoders you use, DO NOT power them fromt he same bus that powers the local track. If a derailment occurs, you won;t eb able to throw any switches. A seperate power district at LEAST is the minimum., a seperate booster (doesn't haev to be a full feature one, the one Tam Valley sells is great for this sort of thing) is the best, then none of your train runnign power is going to teh accessories.
davidmbedard Motley: Well that was quick! There were 5 people that replied to me, so I'm gonna be fair and just divide them up with 1 each. All I need is money for shipping first. Let it be known that I was one of the 5 and he refused me because I was from Canada. Very disapointed, considering I would be paying for shipping. David B
Motley: Well that was quick! There were 5 people that replied to me, so I'm gonna be fair and just divide them up with 1 each. All I need is money for shipping first.
Let it be known that I was one of the 5 and he refused me because I was from Canada. Very disapointed, considering I would be paying for shipping.
David B
I've had issues sending things to Canada before, just though it might be too much trouble.
Send me the money and you can have one.
PM sent...
Motley I have 5 of the Digitrax DS64s that I'm getting rid of. I'm replacing them with the NCE switch-it's. I have had enough of the powering on issue that make my 20 switches go crazy when I power on the system. I have called Digitrax tech support about this issue. And they told me there is no fix for it, the guy who programmed them to default when powered on to set the switches to reversed. is apparantly not with them any more. I don't know why they can't come up with a fix. I'm over it already. I have no need for them, so I'm either throwing them in the trash or giving them to whomever wants them. PM me if interested.
I had a similar issue where the power supply powering the DS64s was also powering two additional Tortoises via a DPDT switch. When I'd flip the DPDT switches the DS64s would toggle their outputs but then come back to normal. I added a .1uf capacitor across the power inputs to the DS64s and the problem went away. It seems that inductive feedback from the Tortoises was causing the problem.
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
For the record, I offered to send it to David in Canada and now he doesn't want it.
So now 4 of them are spoken for. Still have 1 available.
After reading this forum I am puzzled. I was going to buy a couple of the DS64's but now I dont know. I have a couple of the DS54's and have not had any problems at all, and no matter what position the switch tracks are when layout is shut down, that is where they remain when powered up. I have 9 tortise's connected to them and two of them work off of one port for a crossover. Digitrax discontinued the DS54's. But they can be found on Ebay. I have never used anything else so I can't compare to the NCE ones to witch I have read have there problems also. Maybe I'll just stick with getting the DS54's
Truck After reading this forum I am puzzled. I was going to buy a couple of the DS64's but now I dont know. I have a couple of the DS54's and have not had any problems at all, and no matter what position the switch tracks are when layout is shut down, that is where they remain when powered up. I have 9 tortise's connected to them and two of them work off of one port for a crossover. Digitrax discontinued the DS54's. But they can be found on Ebay. I have never used anything else so I can't compare to the NCE ones to witch I have read have there problems also. Maybe I'll just stick with getting the DS54's
I've got 9 DS64s and love them. I wouldn't hesitate to buy more if I needed them. The fact that they went so quickly should say something.
I have 8 DS64s and they all work perfectly.
I have one DS64 on a module that only gets used five or six times a year. There is an option switch #6 that can either be set to power up and throw switches to the position they were in when powered down, OPSW#6 thrown (factory default). Or to power up the DS64 but not throw switches until they get a command OPSW#6 closed. Are you able to program this option switch? My DS64 has been in use for two years.
retsignalmtr I have one DS64 on a module that only gets used five or six times a year. There is an option switch #6 that can either be set to power up and throw switches to the position they were in when powered down, OPSW#6 thrown (factory default). Or to power up the DS64 but not throw switches until they get a command OPSW#6 closed. Are you able to program this option switch? My DS64 has been in use for two years.
Yes I have tried to set Opswitch 6 to closed and still have the same issues.
With Digitrax's recommendation, I tried using a PS14 to power them also, but to no avail, same issues.
When I talked to Digitrax we verified I have all of the new version 2. The first one I purchased was 6-7 months ago, and the most recent purchase was about a month ago.
I'm all DS54s right now; hopefully I'll have a DS64 to play with shortly.
I'm probably going to have a couple extra DS54s, I guess I should put them on ebay.
Looks like all of them are spoken for. I'm just waiting for money to be sent to me for shipping costs.