I am new to DCC, I have a layout which was wired for DCC with autofrogs on 8 points. However, when I tried to setup a new decoder in a DCC Ready farish diesel, I could not get it to work, although the decoder was moving the loco slightly when the control unit was talking to it so it seems that some data was going to it but still no joy on the main track. I then realised there was a short on the main track, although I checked every connection as I went along. I then installed a separate piece of track to act as the main track, but still nothing. After 2 days of trying I decided to run DC instead, as I don't understand starting voltage, acc, dec, etc.
So i ran the diesel on DC and it works perfectly, as I sorted the short out. My questions are: Could I have damaged the autofrogs by leaving them connected while running DC, and could the short circuit have damaged the decoder in the diesel, as I still now want to get help to run DCC, as the Prodigy 2 I have cost a packet and I won't get much for it on ebay, and it may be damaged by the short as I did not realise it only cuts out for 2 seconds, and i left it on for about 15 minutes, and the base unit got very hot, so I switched it off. tried it later with another loco from ebay fitted with a decoder, and it runs okay. Please help, as I'm lost in a blur of brain fade at the moment.