Using Brassmasters' Easi Chas Kit

This one is testing your resolve John.
Coupling rod nuts touching can cause a short.Do they foul on straights or touch on curves ?.
Keep up the battle.
Derek.

The problems described are without the body Derek.  I only have a straight test track.

BTW my system is NCE Powercab and the decoder is 21 pin Lenz Silver, if anyone has any ideas.  I'm going to sleep on it.

John

Well, what a to do!

After doing numerous checks with my multi meter (not on beep mode this time so I could see the numbers) and comparing the values with my 4F that has the identical decoder, I came to the conclusion that the loco is wired up OK.

I realised that the curious behaviour could be down to some loose rail joiners on my test track.  After tightening these, things seemed alright.

On to the body.  What a faff!  I read the account of building the 3F EasiChas in P4 by Colin McCall in MRJ 219.  He seems to have got on with it with no problems.  Now, OK, in P4 the wheels are thinner (2mm vs 2.2mm for Ultrascale and my filed down Markits) and flanges are also finer, but his picture of the chassis installed in the body shows no evidence of any work being done.  I find that strange.

My experience is that I've been gradually filing away at offending parts all day.  I think I fried my decoder* (how stupid!) so I'm continuing the work on DC.  I hit on the idea of using a black marker so that I could see where material is fouling.  I'm at the point now where there are no more obvious fouls but things are still tight.  I'm of the opinion that flanges are rubbing on the splashers and mulling over whether to shim the body by 0.020".  If I do that, the tender may not line up properly.

*I don't know for sure that the decoder is shot and if Max is watching, would value his opinion.  It suddenly began running very slowly with no response to the throttle.  It will go in both directions.

I checked the track voltage - 15VAC, which is what I would expect.

I checked my 4F and it runs fine.  Therefore the system is working to spec.

I swapped the duff decoder to the 4F and it still runs very slowly as before. 

My conclusion is that whatever is going on, it is the decoder.  I did a search on Google but didn't find any reports of decoders doing this.

John (exhausted by all this)

 

Hi John

I'm always watching.  It's The Curse of the Moderator to read every post.  

The quickest way to get a sensible opinion on the Lenz Silver is to PM John Dew.  I use Loksound exclusively for motive power and TCS/DCC Concepts for my auto couplers, so I would only be guessing.

John has a lot of Lenz, so he will be able to guide you better than I.

I'll ping him.

I'm doubtful if it would be fried and still go - even a little bit.

No doubt John will suggest a reset as a first Port of Call.

Thanks for this Max.  One thing I did try was a factory reset but it didn't change anything.

The fact that it does go at all has me puzzled so perhaps John can shed some light.

I had a bad Loksound decoder some while ago that made appropriate noises but refused to move.  I got this exchanged and blown for a good price.

John

Usually when a Loksound refuses to move when the sounds still work, the Notching Up has been left on and needs to be Notched Down again.  Too late now, I know. 

Hi John

Although I am flattered that Max thinks I can help I am not sure what else I can suggest.

Like you when I have a problem with a decoder I do a factory reset then if I continue to have problems I put it in a loco that I know runs well.

Dumb question but did you reset it immediately before you tested it in the 4 F?

I standardised on Lenz chips about 5 years ago so Max is correct I do have a few;-)………I must admit I find them totally trouble free ……..the only time I fried one was when I was learning to chip split chassis:oops:

It is weird that the decoder runs slowly rather than not at all

I guess at the end of the day they have a lifetime guarantee but like Max I am not convinced you have a dead parrot……this one really may be just resting;-)

Thanks for looking in John.  Honestly I don't recall whether I reset it before the 4F.  I know it ran slowly in the 4F (A loco I haven't messed with up to now).  I have set it aside in "quarantine" for now.  In any case it ran as though there was no speed control.  Perhaps I need to smack it against the bars of the cage to wake it up.

I like Lenz but I think DCC Concepts may be just as good value.  ISTR seeing a 21 pin from DCC Concepts. 

http://www.ehattons.com/80369/DCC_Concepts_DCD_Z218_ZEN_218_21_8_pin_4_function_1_1A_Decoder_with_Stay_Alive_22x16x4mm_/StockDetail.aspx

It looks clever.

John

This morning I continued working on fitting the body.  The light finally went on when I found that one of the motor wires was being pressed against the wheel when the body was fixed.  Moving this out of the way seems to have fixed that and the loco runs well on DC now.  I have found over the years that it is usually something stoopid causing seemingly intractable problems. :roll:

After letting the errant decoder have a sleep overnight I gave it another try but it's still poorly.

John

Good Morning John

I forgot to ask what is the decoder that is normally in the 4F?   Although, in truth, I think that is academic.

If the 4F runs satisfactorily and you rechip it with the errant decoder and then reset the decoder to factory standards and it continues to run slowly and unresponsively (?) then I think it may be time to send it to Lenz.

If its any help I have Lenz 21pin decoders in both my Bachmann 3F and 4F.  The settings are identical CV 2 : 1  CV5 : 120    CV6 : 80

Kind Regards

John

Hi John.  The 4F has an identical Lenz decoder.  As I believe that the bad decoder is my fault and I've had it a long time I won't send it to Lenz (too much hassle anyway).  I'll probably transfer the 4F decoder to the 3F now that it seems to be right.

I usually play around with CV2 to get the loco to just move on step 1.  With Lenz I haven't had to do anything.

I have created a thread on RMWeb for this to see if anyone has seen this issue before.

John