Class 31 probs

[sb67]

Having replied to another thread about how you get what you pay for with decoders and I've never had a problem with 'better' decoders I'm now having problems with my Hornby class 31 fitted with a Lenz standard decoder. Fine in one direction but going the other way the loco runs for about a second then stops then starts then stops then starts and so on........ I've never heard of this before. Everything is fine on DC without the decoder in it. 

I've only adjusted basic cv's and have factory reset the decoder.

Has anyone heard of this? 

Steve.

[RFS]

I have a class Hornby 31 that I originally fitted with a Lenz Standard+ decoder.  At first it ran very smoothly and I was very pleased with it. But after a while it sometimes behaved oddly, for example not slowing down or stopping immediately when I operated the DCC throttle. It got to the point that I stopped using because of its erratic behaviour. Also sometimes the lights would come on and sometimes not. 

 

Now I've had similar problems with Bachmann 2-EPBs with Lenz Silver21+ decoders.  The 2-EPBs worked reasonably well when I swapped the decoder for a Bachmann 36-554, but the decoder had an annoying habit of occasionally factory-resetting itself - a real pain when one of two units in a consist did this. All 4 of my 2-EPBs now have Zimo MX634D decoders and are superb performers. 

 

Having purchased a Zimo MX600R for another loco I decided to try it in the class 31. Result: absolutely perfect performance so the loco has been restored to service.

 

I believe the problem with both the 31 and the 2-EPBs is caused by interference from the lighting circuitry on the internal PCBs that seems to affect the Lenz more than other makes. I can't say whether your problem is the same, but you could try testing your 31 with a different decoder brand and see if it makes a difference. Or swap the Lenz for another Lenz to see if it's a decoder fault. I would also first check the value stored in CV 30 for the Lenz decoder: this is where it records whether there have been any power issues - motor overload, short circuit etc.  If CV 30 is not 0 you have a wiring problem rather than a decoder issue. 

[sb67]

Thanks for that RFS, I didn't know about the CV30 value, I'll check that. The loco did work ok with a Hornby R8249 decoder but I wanted to improve the running by puting a better decoder in it! 

Steve.

[RFS]

Just remembered I had another problem with a Lenz Standard+ in a Hornby 73.  At one point I found the loco would run perfectly in forward direction, but as soon as I tried to run it in reverse, the DCC system shorted out. Turned out to be a faulty decoder which Lenz replaced under the 10-year warranty.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Having replied to another thread about how you get what you pay for with decoders and I've never had a problem with 'better' decoders I'm now having problems with my Hornby class 31 fitted with a Lenz standard decoder. Fine in one direction but going the other way the loco runs for about a second then stops then starts then stops then starts and so on........ I've never heard of this before. Everything is fine on DC without the decoder in it.

Simplest possibility first and not specific to any particular model, this is typically momentary loss of track power. If the loco apparently runs smoothly on DC at dead slow without decoder but there is any flickering of the lights, that's the problem.

[10000]

I bought a class 31 a few years ago - a new release. Ran fine on DC but on DCC it ran extremely slowly using as many amps as my Powercab could deliver.  It went back to Hornby to be checked. Declared OK they even put in one of their decoders. 

 

But as soon as it was put back on my layout on DCC it did exactly the same thing. Its been tried with 3 different brands of decoder but doesn't work properly on any of them. 

 

Eventually I will get around to taking out the circuit board and hard wire a decoder.