Rog RJ

Same as loco detection........

If you can read cv 8 & cv7 the values they contain can be used to find the make & model of decoder Have you tried resetting the decoder, normally done by setting cv8 to a value of 8. The loco would then default to address 3. Some decoder makers need different values writing to them to perform a reset. Decoder testers are available but these are just a sort of dummy loco really, which you connect to your controller, they don't do any actual testing. .

I would be very surprised if worked.

Yes. You might have to use a small screwdriver to gently ease it out, bit by bit to avoid bending the pins.

Take the decoder out first or it will definitely damage the decoder. They don't like power being input on the output side.

Version 11 firmware is very old and had bugs. Best to get it upgraded.

Yellow is also a difficult colour that works best with a white primer

Absolutely nothing. They will be OK.

Put the dummy car & the powered car on the programming track at the same time, do the programming for the dummy car then remove it from the programming track and program the powered car alone. No swapping of decoders or decoder tester needed.

"...giving me a CV 17 of 221 and CV 18 of 156." That's correct for a DCC address of 7580

Just google them Colin https://dccwiki.com/LocoNet https://dccwiki.com/XpressNet

Sorry, can't help any further.

Try Reset1234

Not sure, I would try with my multimeter after removing the parts and checking the data sheets for pinouts and specs. If anything looked a bit odd I'd get new parts, test and compare and replace if necessary. If you haven't done this sort of work before it can be quite daunting. Sometimes you need to replace a who;e bunch of components at the same time. I worked in an electronic repair workshop for a while and had training prior to that in electronics. we had access to all kinds of test equipment that ordinary folk don't have. We also had full circuit diagrams to work from.

Having had a look inside mine, build code 11/07, it looks like the track output is fed by some kind of transistors/mosfets under the black heatsink (mine has different, plain aluminium heatsinks) then to the chokes and finally the track connectors. It may be that one or more of the output transistors has blown, causing Dodge's chip to burn out.