Lenz Silver21+ Throwing a wobbly.

[JZ]

Just fitted a Lenz Silver 21+(10321-01) to a Heljan Park Royal railbus. It ran as sweet as a nut on the rolling road on DC. Now put said decoder in and the fun starts. Firstly it reset itself to 3, yet all other functions remained as they were set. Then it come to a halt and the lights flash alternately front and rear. Did a full reset and try again. Now it runs for a foot or so, stops, starts, runs a similar distance, stops, starts and so on, sometimes lights are on and sometimes not. Another full reset and try running on address 3 and it does the same. It doesn't do it on the same place on the track, so that is not a reason. Short of getting it replaced, does anyone have any suggestions? Don't have a spare 21 pin decoder to try at the moment.

 

So, before I posted this, I though I would give the decoder a try in another loco. It appears to works fine. Differences being that this chassis has a large motor and no lights.

 

So could it be that this decoder doesn't like the small motor in the railbus, or is the problem with the railbus itself?

 

Looking at trying a DCC Concepts ZEN 218 21 & 8-pin  with Stay Alive. If this doesn't work, the loco may be going back.

Edited June 3, 2018 by JZ

[resin001]

Hi JZ 

 

There was some discussion on this forum relating to Lenz decoders fitted to the Heljan WM railbus a few years ago - I had similar experiences to you  and eventually exchanged the Lenz decoder with a Lokpilot v4 and all the issues were fixed. 

 

The Lenz decoder was transferred to a Hornby loco and that still performs perfectly 

 

Regards

Bob 

[RFS]

This is the earlier thread - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/86941-Heljan-ac-car-railbus-wierd-behaviour-with-lenz-21-pin-decoder/?hl=%2Bheljan+%2Brailbus+%2Blenz

 

I had similar problems with Bachmann 2-EPBs which now run fine with Zimo MX634Ds. The Lenz decoders run perfectly in Kernow Thumpers which share the same ancestry with the 2-EPBs. 

Edited June 3, 2018 by RFS

[JZ]

Thanks for the replies chaps. My W&M railbus has a Bachmann 36-554 decoder, the old type, which is my prefered option if using Bachmann decoders, you can set the top speed. That ran fine from the off. Might have a go a picking a few up as they are fairly cheap and OK for steam loco's. For the moment I will be getting a DCC Concepts with stay alive.

[RAF96]

That behaviour is identical to the Hornby Sapphire fuel simulator- when it runs out of coal/water/diesel it stops and flashes its lights until you refuel it.

 

Does the Lenz decoder have similar functionality.

Rob

[JZ]

DCC Concepts decoder fitted and all is good.

[RFS]

That behaviour is identical to the Hornby Sapphire fuel simulator- when it runs out of coal/water/diesel it stops and flashes its lights until you refuel it.

 

Does the Lenz decoder have similar functionality.

Rob

 

Lenz decoders do not have this functionality according to the manual.