Mantagt Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 I have posted on here before regarding the odd behaviour of the lights on a hornby booster. However something a little more serious has just occurred.I decided to play trains for a change and everything worked fine but I noticed the yellow light on the booster was always off and the booster a little warmer than usual. I sent a train from the booster section to the Elite powered section and everything stopped, the elite had tripped. I switched off the booster, stopped all engines on Railmaster and reset the elite after moving the affending engine clear of the point. On restarting all seemed fine except the booster was warmer and the yellow light which usually flashed when a diamond crossing was passed stayed out.After using the elite for a while everything stopped again, the booster had tripped. Nothing appeared to have caused a short but on resetting I noticed a hole had appeared in the booster case caused by heat and the lights flashed alternate green and yellow about 12 times and then the red light came on. Time to swich off and have a cupper. When the booster was switched back on from cold the lights did the same thing so I rewired the supplies to how it was before the booster was fitted and every thing works fine again. The booster has obviously failed and is probably why it was so cheap from a certain box shifter.My main concern is not so much that it has failed but that it was mounted in veiw, in the open and with the heat source at the top, if it was in a closed panel I dread to think what may have happened. Has anyone else had this problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Which method of connected did you use for the booster unit as the manual,shows several methods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantagt Posted December 8, 2016 Author Share Posted December 8, 2016 The booster was wired to fig 2 using wires fitted with crimped on blade type ends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 Very concerning that the fault was serious enough to melt a hole in the casing. One wonders if the product could have been a knock-off hence the price but I cant see the Liverpool box shifters going down that road as they will already have a proper commercial arrangement with Hornby. I can only,assume a faulty batch. Is there a date stamp on the label. I would hang on to it for now in case of investigation. Something R8239 users should note, the best way to wire a booster up is using Figure 4 in the manual as this uses a direct district to district signal route, rather than the Elite Boost route which can be interupted if you are programming at the same time as running trains via booster.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 Just a point though, if it works OK without the Booster, was it really needed in the first place. Is it a very large layout? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantagt Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 Please note that I have no argument with the said box shifter as I have had good service from them even if an item has been returned. I cannot see them, or for that matter Hornby, knowingly suppling faulty goods but it does beg the question of why the booster, reverse loop module, Raimaster and the Elite have all come on the market at very low prices. Are they about to be superceded?When I can get back in the loft I will see if there is a date stamp. As to wether I really need it - problably not. The layout is fairly large and has a number of power hungry sound locos. At the time the booster seemed a good cheap way to split the power and give independent overload protection to two districts and surplus power if required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantagt Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 Ooh. Not sure wether that is good news for an upgrade or bad news for the wallet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 HFM obviously has a crystal ball or divine knowledge. Please tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantagt Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 RAF96The sticker on the box says REF01-92124 R8239-33-078 so no obvious date there. The back of the booster case however has 33 / 15 which may suggest a date, the back also has a depression caused by heat. I'm pleased I didn't mount it inside the control panel as I originally thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 @mantagIt is suggested that you return the booster to the supplier with a brief explanation of how the fault arose. I would hang on to the power supply though, having first checked the output is in spec just in case it had anything to do with the problem. Even if not used as a booster the R8239 is handy as a reverse loop module. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 ... Even if not used as a booster the R8239 is handy as a reverse loop module ... Really? I thought the RLM was R8238. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 A booster will act as a reverse loop polarity handler if one is to believe what is written in the manual introduction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 The optional use of a R8239 Power Booster as a Reverse Loop Module is mentioned twice in the R8239 instructions....see extracts below:./media/tinymce_upload/7253b6a6017ad54bbd92ea6cfd2bb284.jpg./media/tinymce_upload/7f026bd75a9e44612ffbfbaed9f34ecc.jpg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 Thanks ChrisI was just moving from iPad to a laptop so I could post this screen grab of the Introduction. /media/tinymce_upload/ce173bfc72b92689fac26e7f3ab7a4ac.PNG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 @RAF96 & ChrissafThank you both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantagt Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 Thanks for the input, I may well send the booster back for checking. As mentioned in my first post the yellow light did not appear to be working and the Elite tripped when a loco passed from the booster district to the elite district suggesting that they were at reverse polarity, also I was able to run the booster district as normal up until the lights started flashing alternately and the booster failed.Electronics are way above my head but the fault would suggest that it is the reverse loop circuitry that has failed in some way. The layout does seem to be running ok without it, though I can't see me getting much time up there until after christmas and you never know what might be annouced in the new year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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