Deem Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 I don't know if I have fried the decoder by using in DC mode for long time (around 20 minutes, on - off, not constantly) but loco works beautifully in DC mode with slight delay when changing direction, but when I connect my elite, loco doesn't move, try to read man ID and I am getting xxx. Please correct me if I am wrong, if the decoder is blown, it shouldn't work in DC mode either? Any advice will be much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 (edited) 3 hours ago, Deem said: I don't know if I have fried the decoder by using in DC mode for long time (around 20 minutes, on - off, not constantly) but loco works beautifully in DC mode with slight delay when changing direction, but when I connect my elite, loco doesn't move, try to read man ID and I am getting xxx. Please correct me if I am wrong, if the decoder is blown, it shouldn't work in DC mode either? Any advice will be much appreciated. I bought a secondhand Hornby 0-6-0 fitted with a Hornby 0-6-0 and it did exactly the same. I was told at the time that a lot of old Hornby decoders fail like this. The decoder looks like a Hornby so perhaps it has the same fault. That looks like a Merchant Navy, the space in one of them is very limited, that is why I moved all my decoders to the tender, so perhaps it overheated. Unusual though, normally the drivers are the first to go. You could try resetting it, it might work, I also gather from posts that some of these early Hornby decoders had issues with reading CVs. If you are going to replace it, I think the Zimo has a shorter lead and is about the same price. Edited July 25 by ColinB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 Is it new Deem, and what is it? Plugged into a socket or hard wired? What address do you have it on? First to try - remove the suppressor capacitor for a start, then write 8 to CV8 to reset it. Now try to run on address 03. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deem Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 1 hour ago, ColinB said: I bought a secondhand Hornby 0-6-0 fitted with a Hornby 0-6-0 and it did exactly the same. I was told at the time that a lot of old Hornby decoders fail like this. The decoder looks like a Hornby so perhaps it has the same fault. That looks like a Merchant Navy, the space in one of them is very limited, that is why I moved all my decoders to the tender, so perhaps it overheated. Unusual though, normally the drivers are the first to go. You could try resetting it, it might work, I also gather from posts that some of these early Hornby decoders had issues with reading CVs. If you are going to replace it, I think the Zimo has a shorter lead and is about the same price. Thanks @ColinB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deem Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 1 hour ago, Fishmanoz said: Is it new Deem, and what is it? Plugged into a socket or hard wired? What address do you have it on? First to try - remove the suppressor capacitor for a start, then write 8 to CV8 to reset it. Now try to run on address 03. It's not hard wired, have proper 8 pin socket in there with decoder. I will try to reset the decoder but as far as I can tell elite can't seem to read this decoder at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 6 minutes ago, Deem said: It's not hard wired, have proper 8 pin socket in there with decoder. I will try to reset the decoder but as far as I can tell elite can't seem to read this decoder at all. 96RAF did say that there were a batch that did this, well I think it was him. Was it a new one or did it come with the loco? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deem Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 Thanks Colin, it came with the loco so I don't know if this was working or I have done something to it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deem Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 Just used one of my spare tts decoder and loco worked fine with spare tts decoder. So I am certain that decoder came with the loco is faulty or I have made it faulty by using with dc controller. Thanks everyone for your help and support, especially @ColinB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 Hi Deem, thanks for letting us know it is plugged into a socket but so far you’ve answered only this one of the 5 questions I asked? Also, I didn’t ask you to read it, you’ve already reported that you can’t, I asked you to write to it (8 to CV8). Then you say the loco came with this decoder so, if it’s new, send it back under warranty if you get nowhere after resetting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deem Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 10 hours ago, Fishmanoz said: Is it new Deem, and what is it? Plugged into a socket or hard wired? What address do you have it on? First to try - remove the suppressor capacitor for a start, then write 8 to CV8 to reset it. Now try to run on address 03. Sorry @Fishmanoz It's not, came with used Loco so I am assuming it's used decoder as well Plugged in socket, not hard wired as I can not use, can't read the address I have used with suppressor capacitor remain and used TTS decoder, it ran without any issue, do I still need to remove suppressor capacitor? I will try and update if I can write 8 to CV8 tomorrow, as I am out After that I will test with address 03 and see this works Once I can find out if this hornby or other make then I will try to contact the manufacturer to see what support they can provide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted July 26 Share Posted July 26 Capacitor (RF suppression capacitor) is definitely not need, the RF suppression is included in the decoder. And worse, it can fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dBerriff Posted July 26 Share Posted July 26 (edited) I cannot see any other comment on this but the white dot suggests it is an early model decoder and from what I have read these have limited capability, possibly including not being readable. Red dot came later, then the R8249 had a blue dot and 4-digit addressing. This is from a few scrappy notes so please correct me if I am wrong. From recollection the hardware did not change but the firmware was enhanced. I also believe that the firmware cannot be updated. ☹️ Edited July 26 by dBerriff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntpntpntp Posted July 26 Share Posted July 26 23 hours ago, Deem said: I have made it faulty by using with dc controller. Extremely unlikely unless maybe you gave it full power from an ancient H&M unit? The pulses from a PWM and feedback controllers may confuse a decoder but shouldn't be high enough voltage to damage one. DCC decoders are supposed to be designed to withstand somewhat more than the usual DCC voltage (I think something like 24V for small scale and 35V for large scale decoders). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinB Posted July 26 Share Posted July 26 On 25/07/2024 at 16:25, Deem said: Just used one of my spare tts decoder and loco worked fine with spare tts decoder. So I am certain that decoder came with the loco is faulty or I have made it faulty by using with dc controller. Thanks everyone for your help and support, especially @ColinB. No I doubt you did anything to it, it was exactly what happened to me. I think some of the early decoders weren't that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deem Posted July 26 Author Share Posted July 26 Thanks @Fishmanoz, @dBerriff, @ntpntpntp and @ColinB I am busy for couple of days with other commitment so I will update you all when I am free and test the theory of writing the 8 on CV8. Lets hope it will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted July 27 Share Posted July 27 The white spot tells me it is likely an old R8215 decoder. I don't have access to my train-pc yet due to a house move, so cannot quote chapter and verse on which revision it is but some of those decoders did not support read-back. My advice is to bin it and fit something more reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deem Posted July 29 Author Share Posted July 29 (edited) On 27/07/2024 at 07:41, 96RAF said: The white spot tells me it is likely an old R8215 decoder. I don't have access to my train-pc yet due to a house move, so cannot quote chapter and verse on which revision it is but some of those decoders did not support read-back. My advice is to bin it and fit something more reliable. Thanks @96RAF I was going to bin it anyway but I thought I follow the advice of @Fishmanoz to attempt writing 8 to CV 08, here are the result. First thing I did was that I wrote 8 in CV 08, followed by the Edited July 29 by Deem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deem Posted July 29 Author Share Posted July 29 I will leave in the Loco for now and carry on using as Blanking plate, which work in DC only mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelerXYZ Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 If it reads as XXX then the decoder is fried. I have experienced this issue many times. XYZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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