Hi, I have a Zephyr and I've noticed two problems that occasionaly pop up.
The most common is that the '3' button sometimes doesn't work. The only way to get it to work is to either unplug the system and plug it back in (I usually have to do this a few times to get the '3' to work), other times if I use a small screwdriver I can push down on the 3 hard enough it'll finally work. I'm pretty sure that the screwdriver idea isn't a good one, so I usually just unplug it over and over. Is this something I should send the system to Digitrax for? I bought the system in July or August of last year, so it's still under warranty. I don't want to lose the system for a month or more only to get it back and have the issue still occuring.
The other problem -
If I turn the track power off before unplugging the system to shut it down, and plug it back in the next time I want to use it, the power light turns green and the engines go forward and don't respond to the throttle. However, if I leave the track power on while unplugging the system, when I plug it back in I don't have the problem. I'm fine with doing this, I just don't know if that's normal or not. I haven't worked with anyone else's Zephyr system so I don't know what the norm is.
I hope this all makes sense. If you have had these problems and know how to fix them, I'd appreciate the help.
Ditto. Get that Zephyr repaired whilem it's still under warranty.
CALL Digitrax, and also include a detailed description of what happens and in what causes it to happen in the box when you send it back for repair. This will help avoid any misunderstanding as to just why you are sending it back. A basic system test will probably show no faults, but if you explain exactly what it wrong then the technicians has something to look at.
Just curious, when you have it turned on and hit the track power button to turn off track pwoer, what does your display show? It should show Po and 2 digits. The 2 digits are the version number. I believe there was an change that fixed the problem of locos running away when plugging it in. It shouldn't do that, but I make it a poitn never ot leave my track power turned on when shutting down. I just don't think it's a good idea to have everything power up all over the layout when I'm hitting the switch on the power strip and can't see it all. Even with the Zephyr not having any faults, it's possible for a decoder to 'see' power before the DCC signal stabilizes, and if analog conversion is turned on in the decoder, it could see this as DC and take off. This is why I also turn of analog conversion in my decoders, I don;t run my locos anywhere that doesn;t have DCC.
Of course, I also wonder at this sudden take off issue, since while I can see how at power up the DCC signal may not be stable for a half second or so and trigger the decoder to respond like it's on DC track, as soon as the signal DOES stabilize, it should see a signal that is equally balanced and stop and sit there and hum like a non-decoder loco does on DCC. All in all a rather interesting phenomenon but mostly avoidable by disabling the analog conversion option.
--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 think it was the first software version 11 that had the glitch. The corrected version was 10.
I have heard that current models have a version 12 installed.
Turning off track power displays "Po 12".
Thanks for the help, I guess I'll just send it back with a detailed description of the problems. My only concern is that the '3' button works sometimes, and so of course it'll work fine in the repair shop. Hopefully they'll just replace the whole unit. Do I need to send back the power supply/wall plug as well? I ask because that's a bit heavier and will add a lot to the postage.
Thanks again.
Save the postage and keep the power supply at home. Digitrax has plenty of them. Just make sure you send a detailed description of the problem. Make sure they know it's intermttant.
Martin Myers