Loksound decoder hot, diagnosis?

[James90012]

Hi all, 

 

I have a peculiar problem with a locksound decoder which I wondered if anyone could help diagnose the problem. 

 

The symptoms are the speaker emits only a 'rustling' sound but far more concerning is the heat of the decoder. It seems like one of the components is faulty as it gets incredibly hot to the touch- way too hot to hold.

 

Have swapped chips around between locos and it definitely is the chip, have also tried with and without the speaker attached.

 

Is the decoder dead?

[smokebox]

I would first of all stop using it until I had tried a different speaker.  A faulty speaker could be the cause of the heat

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Probably component failure in the audio circuit, resulting in continuous output of noise, the 'rustling'.

[RAF96]

It shouldn’t get hot with the speaker disconnected as the amp is not working into a load.

[James90012]

Thank you I will try without the speaker and see what happens. Do I need to complete the circuit or will it be OK to just protect the wired ends of the speaker loop?

 

If I end up with a DCC non sound decoder it's better than having to bin it!

[Albie the plumber]

11 hours ago, James90012 said:

Thank you I will try without the speaker and see what happens. Do I need to complete the circuit or will it be OK to just protect the wired ends of the speaker loop?

 

If I end up with a DCC non sound decoder it's better than having to bin it!

Just insulate the bare wires to make sure they don't connect with each other or the metal chassis block. 

ESU do a repair service for a reasonable cost  and will quite often replace it with a new decoder rather than faff around with the damaged one .

I've used that service on 2 occasions.