We bought a DC Kato a couple of months back. Bought the Digitrax decoder and two speakers. It worked great (although the horn would break up after being on for a couple of seconds) on our smaller (Christmas Tree) track. Just ran power to one of the loops on the big (at least big to us) track and it will not power up at all. We have a smaller Bachman engine (non sound but DCC) which is running fine on the big track. When we first power up the loco the light on top (headlight bulb) will flash once then nothing. Put a test light to the two leads on top of the motor and it is getting power through the pickups. We did do the conversion to having stranded wire instead of Kato's garbage pickups. This shows the top and side view of what we did. I need some suggestions as to what to check on the engine (or could it be the track power)? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Stew
Newer Digitrax decoders will flash the light to indicate that the motor is not isolated, check for a short circuit somewhere.
Thanks for the input Locomotion, I look and don't see all to much that would short it out. When I put the short detector (9 volt & buzzer) across the wheels it buzzes. I would think that it should NOT be doing that. Any thoughts on how to test (component at a time)? Update: Talked to Digitrax, said to set the CV value to 8 which will bring everything back to factory settings. Did that. Reset the long address. Worked ok for about 5 minutes. Then, when we hit the horn, the engine would loose power, then start back up again. I know this was not the track as we had just driven over that section fine (without extra sound). After hitting the horn 3 or 4 times, and the engine stopping and restarting each time, it died again. Would it be able to have gotten this far with a short? Called Digitrax back, they want me to send them the decoder. Time to uninstall. Unless Locomotion or someone else can rescue us. Thanks for everything! Stew
Sounds like an internal short in the decoder, it can be very hard to diagnose with simple tools so let Digitrax replace it. I had one replaced that would only run the motor in reverse, all the light functions worked and I could change the long address, but the programmer would say " no loco detected" very odd.
bugger................... I was honestly hoping for an easier fix at the home level...even if it meant that I did something wrong, since then, I could fix it. Thanks for the input and your time Locomotion! Since it is going to be apart, I might as well hook up the additional function wire that the decoder came with. Are there any suggestions as to what to buy to be able to install wig-wag style ditch lights and/or a cab light? Thanks again Locomotion! Stew
Hmm, some indepth web research seems to indicate there is a program bug in some Digitrax sound decoders. You didn't say which model you had but the symptoms seem to be that if you sound the horn, the loco stalls! A work around is to disable the BEMF system, set CV 57 to 0 (zero) , not ideal as the loco may start jerkily but try it out. As for lighting, there is a newer manual available for download on their website with some good programming examples for ditchlights etc.
WOW Thank you for all the research for this! Completely not expected! Thank You!!! The decoder is a model SDH164K1B. I looked at the updated manual that their site had for that decoder. Just updated in Jan. It seems to be a generic manual to cover all of their decoders. Example, their updated manual says that the orange and grey wires are for the motor pickups, but both of those were attached to the speaker that came from Digitrax with my Decoder. As someone who can only understand the more basic electrical/electronic principles, I need to be told (quite specifically) what to do. With some direction, I can make stuff look really nice......but if you were to ask me what bulb would have the wattage and/or need a resistor is when my eyes really start to gloss over! Right now the decoder is pulled and on it's way back to Digitrax. What stinks is that it is a 30 day turnaround. :0 Explain THAT to an 11 yr old son who wants to go play trains. Thank you so much for all the research that you did for this. I have already spent a good hour reading the new manual that u found! Thanks again! Stew
Well now I have the decoder number I go to the instruction sheet and see... So I guess they knew all along, so why didn't the service person suggest this fix ? References to coloured wires assumes you have a wired decoder, looking at yours it is a full replacement board, so the big side clips are the "Red and Black" wires and the two small holes over the motor are the "Orange and Grey" wires. Always best to follow the instructions in this case. When you get your replacement board back I would suggest leaving the supplied speaker in place and test it fully on the bare chassis to see if the problem persists and if the fix works if needed, before installing your twin speaker arrangement.
That kinda miffs me just a bit! Their tech guy seemed like he just did not want to be there. Grumpy and short, that kinda thing. This just shows that there IS something else....which like you said.....they know about, or at least "some" of them do. Adding to this is the fact that in the reading on their site that I did, after your excellent suggestion, said that "if there is ever a problem...to call their tech support....there are no stupid questions." Evidently my question was "not stupid" enough for them to warrant a separate write up on it. I guess that I was just not quite smart enough to find the answer myself!! LOL!!! You also may be on to something with the speaker thing. I bought the decoder at a train show up here and was given the two speakers that would work with it. It had a 1" round speaker wired to the decoder already. That speaker not being able to fit was replaced with two TDS 24X14mm mini oval speakers. These are the speaker stats off of their site: 24 x 14 mm (0.95" x 0.55") 15.9 mm (.55") W with enclosure 26.7 mm (1.05") L with enclosure 3.9 mm (0.15") H 8.8 mm (0.35") H with enclosure 8 Ohm, 1 W While it is, what Digitrax says is safe as an 8ohm speaker, does installing two of them make a difference as to load? This place (no names mentioned) does a ton of decoder installs. There actually had a bunch of people waiting there at the show for them to do installs while waiting. The guy stopped his soldering and showed me how to do the install myself and where to put speakers. While I would not think that they would give me the wrong direction, they were super busy. Mistakes can happen. It sounds as if this could have been as simple as turning down the volume! If that doesn't work then drop the BEMF (but could lead to the engine jerking). Could i drop the BEMF some instead of all the way down to zero? Is it on a scale or is it more on and off? I always feel like I am climbing up some mountain to talk to the budda when ever I talk with you all about stuff like this! I am just barely tipping my toe into the pool of knowledge that you all have! Thanks again Locomotion! Stew
Ok , I'm pretty new to sound installs , I changed my 32 ohm round speaker for an 8 ohm "sugar cube" type, it works ok once I found a magnifier powerful enough to see the connections. :wideeyes: It is important to make sure the wires are attached the same on each speaker, there is no +/- but if you wire them up different from each other they will cancel each other out. Also if you wire them in series, (one wired to the next) the ohms are added ( 8+8 = 16 ohms) but if wired in parallel (+ to + and - to - ) it is halved ( two 8 ohm speakers = 8/2 = 4 ohms ) Here are some links to advice pages on commercial sites, Digitrax.com http://www.digitrax.com/tsd/KB1011/troubleshooting-guide-for-digitrax-sound-decoders/ DCCconcepts.com http://www.dccconcepts.com/index_files/DCCsoundinstalltips.htm sbs4dcc.com http://www.sbs4dcc.com/tutorialstipstricks/wiringmultispeakers.html To see what you can do with lighting, this blog site is all UK based rolling stock but he details in depth how he improved and added to the stock lighting on RTR products. basic LED info page http://s374444733.websitehome.co.uk/led-guide/index.htm site home page http://s374444733.websitehome.co.uk/railindex/trainsindex.htm
I got a digitrax hard wired decoder. I was disappointed to find out there's no wires for ditch lights and when it came time to set up the cv's I had to go online and scroll thru 40+ pages of blah blah blah just to get to 1 page with maybe half of the total full amount of cv's. never again will buy digitrax. Only plus side is there warrantee. I like that if I stupid and fry the decoder they'll give me a new one with proof of purchase. I'd much rather have a decent decoder with a manual in my hands like that of nce. You live n you learn.
