Hornby R3395 'Mallard' TTS, Just 'Died' - Help Wanted!

[latestarter]

When I last ran my R3395 Mallard, about 2 weeks ago, it ran fine at all speeds, with sound and no issues at all. Today, it ran for about 3 minutes, juddered on some points (that may have been set the wrong way - but not certain) and lost power. It got sound back once or twice, but didn't run at all after that, and now it's quite 'dead'. The connecting wires between loco and tender all seem to be intact.

 

Does anyone know what might be happening?

Hope you're all doing well - and Happy Christmas from the west of Ireland!

Stephen

Edited December 17, 2022 by latestarter

[amdaley]

HI Stephen.

Have you tried to read the decoder on the program track ?

Tony.

 

[latestarter]

4 minutes ago, amdaley said:

HI Stephen.

Have you tried to read the decoder on the program track ?

Tony.

 

Hi Tony

Thanks for the reply. I do have a programming track, but I haven't tried the loco on it, yet. By 'read', do you just mean see if the address appears in the controller - or is there another test I should try?

 

[amdaley]

7 minutes ago, latestarter said:

Hi Tony

Thanks for the reply. I do have a programming track, but I haven't tried the loco on it, yet. By 'read', do you just mean see if the address appears in the controller - or is there another test I should try?

 

The short might have reset the decoders adress to 3. Try address 3 & see if it responds.

Depending on what Dcc system you have you should be able to read the decoders address on the program track.

Put the loco on the programming track & see if you can read anything from the decoder. You could also try to reset the decoder by writing 8 to Cv8 on the program track. This should reset the decoder to its default address of 3.

Your dcc system user manual should have all the instructions you require.

The Hornby TTS decoder user manual will tell you what you can do with the decoder.

Tony.

[latestarter]

Thanks again @amdaley (Tony). I put it on the programming track and it worked, at the original cv address. This made me think that the issue was with the track, but not the whole layout, as locos were working on other lines.

I've narrowed the problem down to one of two sets of points, which are next to each other on a straight line. I'm 90% sure that one of them is not creating a circuit, some of the time. At the moment, it's working, and I'll give them both a good clean tomorrow.

Thanks for your input.

[amdaley]

10 minutes ago, latestarter said:

Thanks again @amdaley (Tony). I put it on the programming track and it worked, at the original cv address. This made me think that the issue was with the track, but not the whole layout, as locos were working on other lines.

I've narrowed the problem down to one of two sets of points, which are next to each other on a straight line. I'm 90% sure that one of them is not creating a circuit, some of the time. At the moment, it's working, and I'll give them both a good clean tomorrow.

Thanks for your input.

That's good news Stephen.

Decoders will sometimes default to address 3 if subjected to a short.

What Dcc system are you using & what size is your layout ?

Tony.

 

[latestarter]

16 hours ago, amdaley said:

That's good news Stephen.

Decoders will sometimes default to address 3 if subjected to a short.

What Dcc system are you using & what size is your layout ?

Tony.

 

The layout is 8 x 4ft  and I'm using the Hornby Select decoder, although I think it's getting a bit worn out after 1 year's use. I'm looking for a not-very-expensive upgrade. 

[Chrisr40]

6 minutes ago, latestarter said:

The layout is 8 x 4ft  and I'm using the Hornby Select decoder, although I think it's getting a bit worn out after 1 year's use. I'm looking for a not-very-expensive upgrade. 

Was watching Ken Patterson on YouTube and he had a segment on the new Bachmann ez command plus which I thought looked quite good , I always liked my original ez command before I upgraded to a powercab.

 

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Chrisr40

[amdaley]

2 hours ago, latestarter said:

The layout is 8 x 4ft  and I'm using the Hornby Select decoder, although I think it's getting a bit worn out after 1 year's use. I'm looking for a not-very-expensive upgrade. 

I have sent you a pm Stephen.

Tony.

[latestarter]

10 minutes ago, amdaley said:

I have sent you a pm Stephen.

Tony.

I've replied. :)

[latestarter]

I think I've narrowed the problem with my A4 (Mallard) cutting out as mentioned. It seems to be going dead when it goes over this diamond crossing (on the plastic area). All thoughts are welcome.

[latestarter]

I've worked it out, finally. The inner (far) switch rail needs to be pushed right up against the inner main rail, somewhere in the middle of the switch rail, in order for it to make contact.

I'm not sure why that is, and it's a bit of a pain, as use that point a lot. I seem to need to push it with my finger every time I change the point and need to put it back.

Any thoughts on fixing it are welcome.

[WIMorrison]

Get hold of a fibreglass pencil and rub it on the inside of the blade and the stock rail where they close together to clean them. You can also get hold of some switch cleaner and spray that in the gap to clean the contact surfaces (but not everyone likes using this sort of stuff). Also give the blade pivot points a blast with contact cleaner.

 

EDIT, I note you are using these Hornby clips to power the turnout blades - I recommend that you take them out and use the switch cleaner and fibreglass pencil on them also, they are notorious failure points on layouts.

Edited December 18, 2022 by WIMorrison

[latestarter]

9 minutes ago, WIMorrison said:

Get hold of a fibreglass pencil and rub it on the inside of the blade and the stock rail where they close together to clean them. You can also get hold of some switch cleaner and spray that in the gap to clean the contact surfaces (but not everyone likes using this sort of stuff). Also give the blade pivot points a blast with contact cleaner.

 

EDIT, I note you are using these Hornby clips to power the turnout blades - I recommend that you take them out and use the switch cleaner and fibreglass pencil on them also, they are notorious failure points on layouts.

Thanks again for your help. I was racking my brains today wondering about the best way to clean them. I've actually got two fibreglass pens somewhere. I'll dig

 them out tomorrow. I did wonder whether I should clean the Hornby clips. Thanks for confirming that.