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New DCC locomotive slow to respond to commands on some parts of my layout

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  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: South Carolina
  • 1,719 posts
Posted by Train Modeler on Monday, April 22, 2013 3:33 PM

If it's under warranty and you're satisfied everything is clean--I would call first then send back.   You should not be having pick up issues with a truck, IMHO.

Richard

  • Member since
    March 2011
  • 156 posts
Posted by owen w in california on Monday, April 22, 2013 3:03 PM

Oakhurst: How come you didn't mention this on Saturday when we operated? You had a brain trust there! Owen W

  • Member since
    January 2010
  • From: Chi-Town
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Posted by zstripe on Saturday, April 20, 2013 5:40 AM

I don't believe it is a bad truck,, I believe, it is a poor, solder,joint to the pick-up,wipers,or to the decoder,,causing intermittent power to the decoder....

Cheers,

Frank

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Los Alamitos, California
  • 322 posts
Posted by Oakhurst Railroad Engineer on Friday, April 19, 2013 11:38 PM

OK, here is the latest.  Still having problems with intermittant running out of control on some portions of my layout.  However, I have also noticed it is having more trouble going over some of my "dead frog" turnouts than would be expected.  As I was cleaning wheels (again) and using contact cleaner on the truck/wheel contacts I noticed that the front truck would sometimes lose conductivity.  The back truck would always work and the sound would be normal.  However, the front truck conductivity would go in and out and when it was working, the sound from the speaker would produce a lot of static.

Could my problem be a bad front truck that is adding a lot of electrical "noise" to the signal and disrupting some of the signals to the decoder?  If this is what is going on, I think I need to send the Heisler back to the manufacturer (Rivarossi/Hornby).

??

Tags: DCC , LOKSOUND , Heisler

www.oakhurstrailroad.com

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  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Los Alamitos, California
  • 322 posts
Posted by Oakhurst Railroad Engineer on Friday, April 12, 2013 9:14 PM

MisterBeasley
What kind of decoder is in the locomotive?

I found it is a Loksound decoder.

MisterBeasley
This sort of thing occasionally happens with "dual-mode" decoders that can operate on either DC or DCC.  There is a CV to put the decoder in DCC-only mode.  This often fixes the problem.

Tried it but it did not help.

I ran into a guy today that says he had the same problem with a Loksound decoder equipped loco and was never able to stop it. His was a small layout with more feeders and soldered joints.

I also recleaned the track and loco wheels but it didn't improve ...

Any other ideas anyone?

Tags: DCC , DCC Decoders

www.oakhurstrailroad.com

"Oakhurst Railroad" on Facebook

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: South Carolina
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Posted by Train Modeler on Friday, April 12, 2013 9:08 AM

Also, sound locos can be more sensitive to the lack of adequate power.  So, double/triple clean the track/wheels.    We add keep alive caps to ours many times.

Richard

  • Member since
    March 2013
  • From: Australia
  • 158 posts
Posted by tomcat on Friday, April 12, 2013 7:12 AM

make sure the track in that area is very clean ,make it shine  if your track is dirty it can intterupt the dcc signal, secondly maybe add another set of feeders to that part of the track ,

You can never have too many feeders

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
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Posted by MisterBeasley on Friday, April 12, 2013 6:29 AM

What kind of decoder is in the locomotive?

This sort of thing occasionally happens with "dual-mode" decoders that can operate on either DC or DCC.  There is a CV to put the decoder in DCC-only mode.  This often fixes the problem.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Los Alamitos, California
  • 322 posts
New DCC locomotive slow to respond to commands on some parts of my layout
Posted by Oakhurst Railroad Engineer on Friday, April 12, 2013 12:49 AM

I've been operating my layout on DCC for a few years now and have never had any significant problems with the Digitrax DCC.  I did convert the layout over from block DC and added enough feeders so that all of the track passed the "penny" short test.  I've been running many different locomotives without problems over the entire layout for a few years.

This week I received a new DCC locomotive (with sound) and it runs nicely.  However, on a couple of portions of the layout, it often does not respond to throttle or function commands right away.  Sometimes it runs out of control until leaves that area of the layout.  The problem does seem to be in areas that may be farther than typical from a feeder.  Everywhere else it responds fine.

I'm going to try running the locomotive on a friends layout over the weekend, so that will be another test.

So, have you guys experienced this kind of problem before?

Thanks,

Marty

 

 

Tags: DCC

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