My R2784X Mallard died tonight.

[JohnnyGee]

Got a mint second hand Decoder fitted Mallard today. I have gatherd that it is ok to run on my analogue track, which it did very nicely for a while. It was showing a liking for derailing on points, floppy unsprung front bogie and Hornby points to blame.

 

It finally derailed and I guess the bogie made contact with and shorted out on the frame,there were sparks from there anyway. And smoke from under the body. Decoder was burnt out. Removed blanking plug from new DCC Ready Evening Star, also bought today, fitted

 

to Mallard and it runs fine, so no major damage apart from I managed to break the speedo drive mech..what a fiddly piece of nonsense that is, have removed it now anyway.

My concern is how easy it seems to be to fry a decoder chip if you have have a loco

 

which is prone to derail,which the Mallard appers to be, the Evening Star has no issues at all.

[poliss]

A short shouldn't fry the decoder at all. Have you tried the coin test? You put a coin accross the track and the controller should cut out immediately.

The speedo cable should be removed with a 2.5mm nut driver.

[JohnnyGee]

poliss said:

A short shouldn't fry the decoder at all. Have you tried the coin test? You put a coin accross the track and the controller should cut out immediately.
The speedo cable should be removed with a 2.5mm nut driver.

Tried

the coin trick, all working OK, I've got a Hornby 2000 controller. Got a blanking chip today and she runs just fine, after 50 or so laps she doesn't seem to derail much either and I've ordered a new lubricator thingy so all is well again. cheers!.