Lenz Silver 21 pin Decoder Runs only dead slow

[brossard]

The subject decoder was fine yesterday but after a session where I was trying to get a Bachmann 3F body to fit over an EasiChas EM chassis it suddenly would only go dead slow, like step 1.  It does run very nicely at this speed but I think I would prefer if I could get it to go faster.

 

My system is NCE PowerCab.

 

The decoder was probably seriously abused during the work I was doing.  In hindsight I should have done all that on DC.  I did finish up on DC and things run well now that I've sorted the body fit.

 

The decoder will read CVs and take new values.  I've tried a factory reset several times with no change.  I also tried to re-input the factory speed values for Vmin, mid and max with no change either.

 

I tried the decoder in a Bachmann 4F (00) and it performed the same in that loco.  The 4F with its' original decoder runs perfectly.

 

I was wondering if anyone else has seen this strange behaviour.  The fact that it has limited functionality suggests it is not fried.

 

John

[Gene]

Any luck getting it sorted?

[drjcontroller]

^{I'd also be interested in any ideas on this one as I've experienced this myself.}

 

^Douglas

[RFS]

As the decoders have 10-year warranty, I'd send any such decoder back to the UK agent (A&H Models).  They will test it, and if found faulty they will replace it.  I've only had one of these decoders fail: one day the train wouldn't move (it's a Bachmann 4CEP) but I could turn the lights on and off, and reset the decoder without any problem.  The decoder was indeed a failure and A&H replaced it.

[Phil S]

I assume that the slow speed running you describe is working in both directions - equally: this then demonstrates that BOTH sets of the power-stage drivers are working and not blown or permanently on.   I also assume that you have toggled the F number for 'shunt speed' - just in case it remained 'set' after resetting the decoder (beause it may have immediately been turned on again by the controller. if it was on before)

ALSO - you made brief mention of 'dc' " I did finish up on DC and things run well now that I've sorted the body fit." - or did you mean this WITHOUT the decoder installed, rather than dc mode with the decoder ???? ..... if you havn't already done so - have you tested the decoder when powerred from a 9V battery ???

IF it is still suspect after these simple tests, then mention them when making contact re warranty..

 

An option - you mentioned CV2 and CV5 (min and max speeds) and changing other CV values ... have you tried 'forcing' the user-entered speed table, and then altering any of them .... this is where a SPROG and JMRI DecoderPro come into their own ..... setting ti to read back all values,(especially the speed table)  and compare them against the default values, and then  trying to change them

A final thought - the settting range you uesed for CV2 and CV5 was withing the range used by LENZ and not simply 1-255 ??? as I have some Lenz decoders where the range used is only 1-64, and therefore any change outside that range would be ignored.