I just bought a Marklin Digital Starter Set which includes oval track and Mobile Station 3 (Black one)

When I first got it I was able to register both MM2 and DCC Decoders, no problem at all. Then this morning my Mobile station, kept stopping the Locomotives with the STOP sign coming on the screen but I had not touched anything. The Locomotive lights were also flickering.
I turned everything off, check all wiring and connections. Once I restarted, I still noticed lights flicker. I went ahead with registering Marklin 3422. During the process of "Find" the Locomotive, smoke came out of the Locomotive. After opening the Locomotive, I can see that Decoder chips had burned with a circular burn mark. I tried to register one more locomotive the Marklin 37591, Mobile Station found the Loco but I just runs at a constant speed and won't slow down or accelerate but will stop when I press the STOP button.

I strongly believe the Mobile Station is defective but wanted to hear anyone's suggestion, if I am doing something wrong or if anyone has experience something similar.

Thanks.
Daniel

What kind of decoder did you have in the 3422? Was the lok converted by the factory or by a dealer?
If there was a short in the locomotive, it could have caused lights to flicker until the decoder (or a wire) burned out.
Many older digital loks and conversions done with 6080/6090 relied on the locomotive chassis for grounding of lights and some other connections, which can be problematic with decoders. Modern loks have the wires leading to the decoder and then directly to all connections, skipping the common ground.

The 37591 probably has a MM 6090 decoder from the factory. It sounds like the locomotive is responding as if it was set to analog.
Does the lok still have the Dip switches and are they set to a digital address. If they are not set, the lok would respond exactly as you describe.
It is only loks with the OEM ESU or post ESU Maerklin mfx decoders that you can remotely set the address without opening the lok and changing the settings manually.

My recommendation would be to test the set up with only one locomotive to see how it responds. Try using the one that came with the start set and maybe one coach or car with interior lights or tail lights.

The service department or a specially trained dealer will be able to tell you where the problem lies.

Regards

Mike C

The original MM (Maerklin-Motorola) digital system operated with regular but constant AC voltage with a DC carrier wave. The digital signals were sent to the decoder via DC, while the power that was used to run the locomotive was AC. The newer Mobile and Central Stations operate using only DC. I have been concerned that running older models, especially those which use the locomotive chassis for ground, might be prone to damage when exposed to DC current, as this can cause overheating of parts and burnouts at the weakest points.
From your photo, that decoder looks more like a Delta chip rather than a full decoder. The Delta chip only allowed 4 addresses with the Delta controller and a few more with digital operation. The 6080/6090 had 8 DIP switches and allowed any address between 0 and 80.

As far as my previous reply. Did you try the 37591 again after having selected a digital address?

I think that the safest option when migrating to CS or MS would be to have your models upgraded to DC motor and current mfx capable decoder without common ground.

Before you return the set to the dealer, you may want to specifically submit this issue to my favorite digital expert, Mr Jacques Vuyes through the forum.

You can also submit this query directly to Maerklin at service(at)maerkln.de

Regards

Mike C

Was your Hag locomotive factory digital or did you convert it yourself or have it converted post acquisition? All Hag locomotives require a DC magnet and wiring change to be safely used with modern digital decoders.
I wonder what Maerklin's policy is on damage to products caused by a defect in one of their items?

Regards

Mike C

My HAG is used and came with decoder pre-installed. I was able to register it the first day and it ran fine but after I needed to do a factory reset, I could not register the HAG during the same "find" process and I smelled smoke.
The Decoder was damaged on the second attempt to "find" the decoder and won't work on Analog either anymore.

Probably yes.

These Delta decoders weren't very good (old technology, not very smart, not very robust, poor running characteristics, would not recognize analog from digital automatically ,etc..) !!)
Get newer ones , preferably Mfx/M4 compatible.
I know it's an investment but youll be happy to do so and you'll never look back.
You'll have to upgrade the motor to the permanent magnet/five pole but the kits to do so have become more affordable.

For the big Swiss Ae 8/14 loco , it originally had a 6090 type of decoder driving one half of the loco, the second motor was just driven through a second (unregulated) output.
Again, not very good stuff these "one-off" type of decoders, made from "patching" an original 6090 with a second output.

Here again I threw them out and replaced with a ESU decoder that had enough juice to power the two motors (providing that the loco is mechanically sound and both motors run smoothly)
Problem solved.

Unfortunately I have had very little experience with MS station , so I cannot offer any sensible advice here but I'd suggest that you try to have the help of your dealer to make sure your MS is OK before trying to do any further damage to you locos! (What happenned to you HAG loco is worrisome...unless it is equipped with an early Digitax decoder which are exactly in the same "so-so" category as the early Märklin Delta and such)

If you were closer, I'd have invited you here to try to sort it out, as I know how much distress these type of repeated failures can cause!

My broken HAG is from the UK , the decoder is fried. Not my weekend and I am reluctant to try and register anymore older digital decoders with Mobile Station even when I get a replacement.
Expensive to have and get two new decoders for the HAG and 3422 and have someone install them. Also, my older Pioneer Plasma TV also failed to work last week do to software upgrade by my cable provider, so have the buy a new TV. Don't want to watch Premier League Football on my PC monitor.
Analog Marklin are built like tanks, never have issues that I can't fix myself.

The original MM used DC power. It could be used with AC transformers, but used internal rectifiers.
The Mobile and Central Stations use DC power. Some can be used with AC transformers with rectifiers in the Central Station or in the track box.

The MM digital system is the same with 6021, 6604, and Mobile Station.


I don't understand this. Can you elaborate on this? Are there sources that explain the carrier wave in detail?

The detailed description here only shows bipolar pulsed DC without AC:
http://www.drkoenig.de/digital/motorola.htm

Sounds like strong fertiliser.

The controller produces bipolar DC pulses only, not regular AC - nothing super-imposed or piggybacked. Applies to old and new Märklin digital controllers. Old decoders get the same signal from a Mobile Station or Central Station as they get from old Märklin controllers (6020, 6021, 6604, ...).
With Märklin digital the motors always worked with DC power. And the oldest decoders (6080, 6603) continue to work with the latest controllers.

When relaying hear-say from the early '80s it is worth noting that it is only old hearsay. Maybe that chap was talking about Trix EMS, not Märklin digital?

Today we use Powerline LAN - this has nothing in common with digital MRR operation with Märklin controllers.