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Dead Elite


Guest Chrissaf

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A smell of burning is never good with things electrical. Have you disconnected the Elite from the track and plugged it into the mains? If there's no display Id fear the worse as it seems something on the i.c. board may have popped rather than the plug fuse blowing (which it wouldnt do if the short was on the track).

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Hmmm. That doesnt sound good if there's still no display. One would have thought there was short circuit protection built into the Elite (maybe there is and the issue blew it?). Internal fuses tend to 'pop' whereas a burning smell usually means another component has been fried to death. Might be a return to Hornby job unless someone more qualified in electronics can provide some insight.

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Obviously the Elite is fried......but it also looks like the Eurostar lighting mod caused it. I bet my bottom dollar, that a multi-meter reading across the pickup wheels will give a short circuit reading. However that said, the Elite short circuit detection should have kicked in to protect it. I would certainly test out the Eurostar OFF track with a meter before trying it again with a repaired / replaced Elite.

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If you haven't done so already, anybody who is going to undertake electrical wring work should invest in a multi-meter. Many are less than £10 on ebay and some less than £6. A small price to pay that potentially could have prevented this expensive learning exercise.

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There is a self resettng fuse in the Elte which should have kicked in, but if the heat transfer paste on the heatsinks of those power transistors shown in HBs picture has dried out or the heatsinks are a bit loose then those devices can overheat and burn out as shown.

Ask Hornby Customer Care about a repair as suggested.

Rob

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Hi all I have just installed a light set from express models on my eurostar and checked and double checked everything all looked ok and placed the loco on my test track, selected the program number on my ellite (1) and the loco would not move and no lights, then the red leds Came on although wrong direction and stayed on then I smelt like somet burning and when I looked at my ellite there was no display unplugged and plugged back In to no avail any thoughts would be welcomed 

regards

schuie52

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Hi there all thought you like to know my ellite is off to hornby today so I done some investigating and found a short circuit betwen pin 8 the right track and pin 7 the + 12 v feed this only came to light while checking for shorts, this was found under my daylight magnifier and after stripping the socket down and found a minute piece of pcb copper was shorting out the two pins, this loco was a dcc ready loco

have informed hornby tech department of my results now have to wait for my ellite to return

schuie 52

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Which is precisely why any loco should go on the programming track with its limited current. Any wiring faults will pull up an error to be investigated before putting the loco on the main track with its full, and as you have found out, destructive current.

 

Good detective work in finding the fault - now the loco should go back as well, except you have found and fixed the fault.

Rob

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Which is precisely why any loco should go on the programming track with its limited current. Any wiring faults will pull up an error to be investigated before putting the loco on the main track with its full, and as you have found out, destructive current.

 

Good detective work in finding the fault - now the loco should go back as well, except you have found and fixed the fault.

Rob

Thanks for this useful tip.

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