Hello you all,

I've a sudden and strange problem with my Intellibox. When I was connecting some signals to a Viessmann 5211 modules, I first cut off the power of the IB by pressing the stop button. I made the connections and press the green button (Go), but nothing happened. I had to disconnect the IB from the current and reconnect it to get power again. When I repeated the maneuvre, the same happened again.

I thought first there was some short circuit somewhere, but every connection seemed correct. All signals worked as usual. A few minutes later, when I ran a loc, I pressed the Function button on the right side of the IB after putting the address of the loc and nothing happened. But when I did the same with the left side buttons, everything worked as expected. More strange, when I definied the function of the loc with the left button and passed the loc over on the right buttons, all the defined buttons blinked as they normally do, but if I pressed the off function button on the right, I was not able anymore to reactivate it.

A last strange behaviour was that when I pressed the off function button on the right, the lights of the loc turned on as long as I pressed the off button.

Does anybody have an explanation for such strange behaviours of an IB ? And what can I do to repair these anomalities ?

Thanks for all advice you'll tansmit me.

Bye,
Chon

Hello Lars,

Thanks for the reply. I'll try to explain in large what happens.

The purpose was to connect 4 signals through a Viessmann 5211 decoder on my track. I did it as before and it always worked well. To prevent any short circuit, I put off the power from the IB to the tracks by pressing the 'stop' button (the red led enlightens). I made the several connections to the 5211 and hen everything is done, I press de 'Go' button to get back the current on the track and all the decoders. But nothing happened at that moment. The led on the IB was still red and the IB mentioned 'power off'. It's when I put off the current of the transfo and put it back again that I get current again on my tracks and the green led enlightened on the IB. If I pressed once again the 'stop' button, I lost the current and was anable to get the power back. That's the first thing I noticed.

Then, to control if everything else still worked, I put a loc on the track. With the left buttons of the IB, I fisrt inserted the address of the loc, than I pressed the 'function' button. The lights of the loc turned on as expected. I did the tests without problem. But it's when I changed the loc, via the right buttons of the IB, that I noticed that the 'function' button didn't work anymore (the F3 and F4 buttons neither). So, to convince me that it was not a general failure, I first addressed the loc with the left buttons and everything worked as exepected. Thereafter, I put the same loc-address on the right after changing it by another one with the left buttons, and it is then that I noticed that the led of 'function' button (that I previously had activated with the left button for that particular loc) turned on, meaning that the IB had remembered that I turned on the function. But if I then pressed the 'off' button ahead of the 'function' one on the right, the loc-lights turned off (as usual), but I was anable to turn them on again with that right 'function' button. No led enlightened neither.

It's only when I pressed the 'off' button (on the right) that the lights of the loc turned on as long as I pressed the button. But you say that this is a normal behaviour. I was'nt aware of it before (but never did such test).

So, the buttons on the right side of the IB that don't work anymore are : the 'Go', the F3 and F4 and the Function. F1 and F2 seems to work well, the leds enlightened as expected also. For the four others, the leds don't enlighten. If I want these functions to work, I have to address the loc first with the left buttons, then to readdress it with the right ones (after given another address with the left ones, so they don't conflict).

Is this explanation enough for you to understand what's happening ?

My desire is very simple : that the IB works as before : when I press a button, that the led enlightens and the appropriate command is transmitted.


Thanks for the reply,

Hi Hans,

I've tried what you suggest, but it doesn't work. I may press the 'Go' button as long as I wish, nothing changes, the red Led stays enlightened. I've no other alternative than to disconnect the trafo and reconnect it afterwards to get power again.

Thanks anyway for the suggestion,

Hi Jack,

I've just tried. It doesn't work. The power goes off. It seems that the 'Go' button doesn't react anymore. I suppose the other ones do not either. But how can I solve that ?

Thanks for the reply,

Hi Jack,

I think you're right. Something has blown inside. Have another question still. I'm considering to buy an IB-control (Uhlenbrock 65400). Should its 'Stop' and 'Go' functions also be affected or are they working independently from the main IB ?

Thanks for reply,

Chon:

As a matter of policy, I avoid plugging accessories into my IB (or any electronic gear) while it is energized. Pressing the STOP button only kills track power, not the circuitry inside the IB. In the future I would recommend powering down completely before attaching accessories.

Hi Jack and Ron,

Yes, I've tried, Jack, the reset procedure. It didn't work. No, I think something has blown as you said before. And Ron must be right saying that cutting the power off on the tracks only is not enough. That will be the lesson, an expensive one [:(!].

I know that IB Controls are acting as slave of the main IB, but if the main IB still recognize the commands given with the left buttons when I pass the loc over to the right section, may I not suppose that the same behaviour will occur when I should use an IB Control ? It's maybe only the right buttons that are affected and not the underlying commands. In that case, I will get the 'Stop' and 'Go' feature temporarily back, no ? Otherwise, I don't understand why the commands could pass over from the left to the right.

But I've to confess, I know very little (to say nothing) about electronics and all that kind of stuff.

Anyway, thank you all for the time spending in trying to explain to me what I have to do.

Chon,
Are there any boosters connected to the IB ?

George

Just guessing...
BTW I have the same problem with you but only some times (IB is not turning to ON state after pushing the red button and then the green one). I didn't have the time to track down this problem, but my first thought was that it had something to do with the boosters being connected to the IB

Regards,
George

Hi George and Hans,

Did you had the same problem in a similar situation (probably a short circuit, I guess) ? Or did the buttons refuse to respond suddenly ? In my case, it can't be due to humidity, I work in a very, very dry attic

By the way, does anybody here have a IB Control operating ? And in the case someone has, can he tell me if he can cut off and restore the power from the buttons on his IB Control ?

Thanks,

Chron,

The problem, as I recall, showed after a short-circuit. I have three boosters and a 6021 attached to the IB. Under normal circumstances I am able to turn off and then on the current on the IB.

George

Hi Cromarty. Not so much a transfer to the Digital section but as those into Marklin like me probably havent a clue what anyone is talking about maybe an IB section would be useful where those who use the system can have a blether. Also it could be used to explain just exactly what an IB does as at some point I will be considering the M central Station or an IB.
Sorry that this is off topic
David

Jorge: Did you replace the buttons yourself? You describe what I was afraid of: deterioration of the key operation.

David: "blether?".

Thanks ... Hans