R1125 Somerset Belle train set - doesn't run

[Andrejs]

Hi guys,

I bought this awesome set (see topic) for my son's birthday, and we were all excited until loco simply stopped running. All looks fine, controller does work, although I haven't done any additional checks like voltage measurement, etc. So far my intuition tells me loco's motor is simply dead.

How can I confirm that? What are initial troubleshooting steps? What actions do I need to perform isolate the issue?

If it does matter, I'm an engineer, and do have all the required tools at home.

Best regards,
Andrejs.

[walkingthedog]

Do you have a PP3 battery. If so touch it across the drive wheels to see if they move. If they do you know the loco is unlikely to be at fault. 

[walkingthedog]

Ah just realised it’s DCC. That might not work, sorry. 

[96RAF]

Should work as DC running is set as default.

Rob

[walkingthedog]

Thanks Rob, wasn’t sure if it was.

[96RAF]

Basic fault finding Andrejs.

Start at the wall and work toward the loco, checking for voltage remebering the output from thencontrl is pseudo AC and should read about 15vAC on your meter.

 

If the wall power supply unit is good and the controller has an output, check the wire link to the track, then check the track.

 

After that it has to be the loco. The loco can be a bunch of things, pickupsmon the wheels, duff decoder, motor gone,  so check back after the initial checks are done for more info  on these.

 

Rob

[Chrissaf]

The Hornby R1125 Set contains a Select DCC controller. This controller is basic. It doesn't support performing a 'factory reset' of the decoder in the loco. So if the loco decoder is corrupted, and won't respond to being re-addressed again (see further below) then you are 'up the creek without a paddle'.

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Firstly, when it was working, were you using the default DCC 003 address or something different to 003?

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With DCC, loco decoders can be prone to loosing their configuration when a transient short circuit occurs on the track. Did you have any short circuits just prior to this issue?

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Sometimes, the short circuit completely corrupts the loco decoder programming and it is necessary to perform a factory reset to recover (write value 8 to CV8, but you can't do this with a Select controller). Sometimes the corruption just resets the decoder back to factory conditions i.e DCC address 003. Hence my question about whether you changed the 003 address or not to something different, if you set it to 005 for example, you might find that it now works back on address 003. If that is the case, just use the Select as before to revert the loco address back to what it was.

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There is reference to 'Factory Reset' in the Select manual, but this relates to factory resetting the Select and NOT the decoders in the locos. However, that said. It is still worth performing a Select factory reset if only to eliminate that from the possible issues.

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If you never changed the loco from the default 003 address (i.e that was the address that was previously working OK) and factory resetting the Select fairs no better, and the loco hasn't developed a mechanical / electrical fault. Then you will need to find someone (perhaps a model railway shop or a model railway friend) with a more capable DCC controller who can write 8 to CV8 to factory reset the decoder.

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If it was always DCC address 003, then you could try going through the Select address your loco process to try and write a new address to the loco in the hope that will overwrite any decoder corruption that might be present, negating the need for a CV8 factory reset.

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I know it is difficult (particularly when children are involved), but with DCC, one should try to avoid getting into situations where a short might happen. You can help protect your decoders from being affected by short circuits by fitting a 'snubber RC filter'.

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PS - A multi-meter set to AC Voltage will read a value about 13.5 to 16 volts on the track if the controller output has power on it.

[Andrejs]

Thanks a lot for your fast responses! I will check all the things you mentioned, and will come back with my findings.

 

However, one more question: DCC controller has XpressNet connector on the back. Chrissaf wrote my DCC controller is not smart enough to write to loco registers. Perhaps I can do something about that XpressNet to achieve that? Like connecting DCC controller to PC in one way or another, and then sending commands via XpressNet to loco's?

 

Thanks!

[Rog RJ]

NO.  DO NOT try to connect the Xpressnet port to pc.  Damage will result.

It is only for connecting other compatible controllers or power and signal boosters (R8239).