modelpara Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 Hi guys, I have spend the morning going through a bag of 50 decoders that I acquired as part of a job lot. Thankfully 12 of those are fully working and another 4 are running in one direction only. The questions I have about these chips are.... 1) is there a setting that has chips running in one direction only? 2) most of the rest of the chips give me error 12 but I cannot find what that means (it's not in the manual that I have). Does anyone else know what it may mean? 3) is there anyone that recycles chips as there is a fair few that are scrap (including one that actually started smoking!) 4) I am not convinced my pro box is working as I cannot see the icon that is apparently supposed to show in the handset, does anyone know if there is a switch I'm supposed to change or cable that's supposed to be attached etc? 5) and finally, some of the chips had their wires clipped very short, is it safe to solder a new wire to the ends to see if these chips work (8 chips) Thanks in advance. Shane Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 Hi Shane A couple of answers:- 1. No 5. Extending the wires will be fine. Trying to reset a decoder with CV8=8 or similar (different decoders have different methods) might get it working again. Make sure that you have a motor or similar load attached when trying to read a decoder or you are likely to get error messages. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelpara Posted May 8, 2015 Author Share Posted May 8, 2015 Is there any particular reason why a decoder would have a motor run in one direction only? It's a variety of decoders so there is no one particular one, most are however Bachmann ones and the controller is a Bachmann Dynamis coupled to an eECU test unit. Cheers for the rest, will strip some more wire off them and test again to be sure they really are dud and add wire to the ones I've not been able to test yet! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 Is there any particular reason why a decoder would have a motor run in one direction only? It's a variety of decoders so there is no one particular one, most are however Bachmann ones and the controller is a Bachmann Dynamis coupled to an eECU test unit. Cheers for the rest, will strip some more wire off them and test again to be sure they really are dud and add wire to the ones I've not been able to test yet! Only going in one direction indicates a failure of one half of the 'H' bridge. This is usually caused by shorting one side of the motor to one of the track connections. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelpara Posted May 8, 2015 Author Share Posted May 8, 2015 Only going in one direction indicates a failure of one half of the 'H' bridge. This is usually caused by shorting one side of the motor to one of the track connections. So it's unlikely to be the chip at fault? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 the 'H' bridge is usually a couple of chips. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Izzy Posted May 9, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 9, 2015 Only going in one direction indicates a failure of one half of the 'H' bridge. This is usually caused by shorting one side of the motor to one of the track connections. So it's unlikely to be the chip at fault? No. I believe It means the decoder is duff/toast/binnable. Be careful when soldering new wires onto decoders. You ideally need a small iron - say 15/18watt - with a small tip, so the least possible heat reaches past the soldered joint. A quick in/out job is what's needed. Some decoders have short circuit/overload protection, and too much applied heat can make them shut down for a while and appear to be dead when tested. In my experience Digitrax are often like this, and others might be as well. I have had a few that needed up to 24hrs to recover, and have then been fine. Izzy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Small iron - I use a battery powered one I got from Lidl for a few quid. It has a nice fine point, just the right amount of heat and is ideal for mending loose decoder wires. Whilst looking at slot car stuff (an old hobby) I tripped over a site/forum where guys were repairing their decoders when known burnouts of various components or pcb links occurred, but as usual I can't retrace my steps back to there. No reason why some rectification of loco decoders couldn't be done if you know what you are doing - I don't. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelpara Posted May 11, 2015 Author Share Posted May 11, 2015 Small iron - I use a battery powered one I got from Lidl for a few quid. It has a nice fine point, just the right amount of heat and is ideal for mending loose decoder wires. Whilst looking at slot car stuff (an old hobby) I tripped over a site/forum where guys were repairing their decoders when known burnouts of various components or pcb links occurred, but as usual I can't retrace my steps back to there. No reason why some rectification of loco decoders couldn't be done if you know what you are doing - I don't. Sadly I dont either but will keep it in mind and see if someone in the club knows. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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