Interesting malfunction of Lenz Gold - ideas sought

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

While operating yesterday I had a freight runaway, a 9F that should have been plodding along running at maximum speed rather than the circa 20mph set. No command was accepted, and an all stop was required to halt it. When track power was restored the 9F immediately started and slowly (large CV3 value) worked its way up to full chat again. No response of any sort to controller.

 

On programme track it transpired that its address was now 001 instead of the four digit address it previously had. No evidence of a fault condition in CV30, and it accepted a new address. Put on power it just pulled away without command. Tried some resets: that put the address back to 003, but doesn't appear to affect the other programmed CV's as evidenced by the slow rate at which it accelerates, which looks to be what was programmed in CV3. Tried several more resets today, no alteration.

 

So what I appear to have is a decoder which tells me it is ok on programme track, but is locked in to immediately going forward when it gets DCC track power and accelerating to full speed. Obviously it can go back under Lenz warranty, but I am just curious that a decoder that appears to be capable of working will not accept any command.

 

Is there anything obvious I have missed trying? (Lenz 100 system, all other decoders operating normally.) I will try a few more resets, obviously, but if anyone has further ideas these would be welcome.

[Dagworth]

Try reading CV 19 and make sure it doesn't think it is in a consist. CV19 should normally be set to zero

 

Andi

[Allegheny1600]

How old is the decoder?

Where is the layout?

I had similar problems on my old shed layout that was constructed as a 'DCC tester' layout.

Damp & cold certainly seemed to affect things, whether in the loco/decoder or on the layout bus or within the handset/controller itself.

Can't remember any specifics for how I resolved it right now, sorry. Probably was just keeping things dry and re-soldering the bus!

HTH,

John E.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The decoder was purchased late 2006 - at least that's the date I recall for the purchase of the then newly released Bach 9Fs - I purchased decoders to go with at the same time. So somewhere past six years old.  The layout is in an unheated building, I get exemplary reliability; everything else is working perfectly (well, the wetware feels the cold a little more than once he did, but the germal thingerless floves really help) and it doesn't go below freezing inside since I added insulation. I am used to such uniform reliability that this has been a real surprise...