Joined: 03/11/2015(UTC)
Posts: 12
Location: New York, Huntington
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I have had the following problem twice. When my lok derails and caused a shutdown I loose any forward or reverse motion.
Initially I have some functions like sounds but eventually they stop and all I have is a paper weight.
Do decoders blow from a simple derailment?
Bill
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 Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC) Posts: 14,875 Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
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Originally Posted by: drnodk  I have had the following problem twice. When my lok derails and caused a shutdown I loose any forward or reverse motion.
Initially I have some functions like sounds but eventually they stop and all I have is a paper weight.
Do decoders blow from a simple derailment?
Bill Bill, where does the paper weight come into it ? a decoder shouldn't fail completely because of a derailment, I think there is another reason for it and it could be coincidental. some help would be if you can let us know what type of decoder and loco you're referring to I have had sounds failing thanks John |
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 Joined: 28/11/2007(UTC) Posts: 8,225 Location: Montreal, QC
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Bill,
which locomotive are you referring to? Was the problem with the same locomotive twice?
A decoder can blow from a short circuit. Many times, a decoder will fry because live power is fed into the outputs.
Was this an OEM factory digital lok or is it a lok that you converted or had converted?
The more details you provide, the more detailed answer that we can provide.
What locomotive?
Factory Digital or Aftermarket Converted?
Type of Controller? (6021/MS1/2/3, CS1/2/3?)
If you have a derailment and after the derailment (I presume you mean after you replace the locomotive on the tracks) you still have sound, but that eventually stops working too and the lok is dead, this sounds like there may be some kind of short somewhere.
Once we have more information, I will be able to make a better assessment, and I think that this would help John or Jacques Vuyes provide help too.
Regards
Mike C
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 Joined: 22/08/2017(UTC) Posts: 73 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
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I had two Locomotives with Delta Decoders fry because of a faulty Mobile Station recently.
My questions is, do new decoders have some sort of fuse or overload protection?
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 Joined: 05/12/2008(UTC) Posts: 1,801 Location: Crozet, Virginia
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Last year I blew up the decoder in my Württemberg C loco with just a brief short, so it is definitely possible for this to happen. The plus side was that I replaced the very old, original decoder with an ESU V4 decoder and it now runs better than it ever did before. |
Regards,
Jim
I have almost all Märklin and mostly HO, although I do have a small number of Z gauge trains!
So many trains and so little time. |
 1 user liked this useful post by dickinsonj
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 Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC) Posts: 15,870 Location: Gibraltar, Europe
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Usually it won't be the short circuit that damages the decoder, but the spark that comes with it. Sparks generate high voltage spikes at high frequencies and these travel through the tracks as well as radiating in the air.
The controller should shut down the instant a short circuit is detected, but if the problem occurs far from the power feed the resistance in the tracks and the feeder cables might delay the cut-off, allowing sparking to go on for longer. |
Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
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1 user liked this useful post by RayF
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 Joined: 23/07/2014(UTC) Posts: 8,468 Location: ENGLAND, Didcot
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Originally Posted by: river6109 Originally Posted by: drnodk I have had the following problem twice. When my lok derails and caused a shutdown I loose any forward or reverse motion.
Initially I have some functions like sounds but eventually they stop and all I have is a paper weight.
Do decoders blow from a simple derailment?
Bill Bill, where does the paper weight come into it ? a decoder shouldn't fail completely because of a derailment, I think there is another reason for it and it could be coincidental. some help would be if you can let us know what type of decoder and loco you're referring to I have had sounds failing thanks John It sounds stupid I know, but the ESU Loksound yahoo mail group periodically has people complaining about this happening. My personal opinion is that it is an effect due to things that would take too long to explain here, but involves generation of power spikes due to characteristics of non-obvious electronic components and the resulting high voltage spikes they generate when things get shorted. The immediate reaction is that 'it shouldn't happen' , but unfortunately it does. In the case of ESU decoders some people have success by doing multiple resets of the decoder, and/or reloading the software using a Lokprogrammer, but this is not guaranteed.
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Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC) Posts: 14,875 Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
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Originally Posted by: kiwiAlan Originally Posted by: river6109 Originally Posted by: drnodk I have had the following problem twice. When my lok derails and caused a shutdown I loose any forward or reverse motion.
Initially I have some functions like sounds but eventually they stop and all I have is a paper weight.
Do decoders blow from a simple derailment?
Bill Bill, where does the paper weight come into it ? a decoder shouldn't fail completely because of a derailment, I think there is another reason for it and it could be coincidental. some help would be if you can let us know what type of decoder and loco you're referring to I have had sounds failing thanks John It sounds stupid I know, but the ESU Loksound yahoo mail group periodically has people complaining about this happening. My personal opinion is that it is an effect due to things that would take too long to explain here, but involves generation of power spikes due to characteristics of non-obvious electronic components and the resulting high voltage spikes they generate when things get shorted. The immediate reaction is that 'it shouldn't happen' , but unfortunately it does. In the case of ESU decoders some people have success by doing multiple resets of the decoder, and/or reloading the software using a Lokprogrammer, but this is not guaranteed. I've had many sound decoders (sound) failing and lately sent 5 back to ESU for repair but never had a decoder fail due to a derailment and yes I had decoders fail and than reset them and they worked fine afterwards which to me is a bit of a mystery., and one of these occurrences happened when ESU informed me the decoder I've sent back to them there was nothing wrong with it. I also had a few Märklin decoders from clients who bought the loco in for conversions and failed do to a faulty motor., my latest repair (which I can't fulfill) is a overhead maintenance car with various functions, e.g. raising pantograph, movable working bridge, raising and lowering of working bridge and the rail car itself doesn't move at all, all I get out of it is the auxiliary sound functions. I'll get in contact with Märklin and see if they can repair the rail car (39970)., my friend said don't worry about it but I think it's worth the repair depending how much if anything Märklin will charge. I've had my share of derailments but mainly with carriages and not with locos, when cleaning the pukos with a fine diamond plate (own design) and I forget to turn of my ECoS there are coming substantial sparks from it and most the time it shuts itself down. So far I'm aware ESU decoders are protected from shorts but how far this protection goes I've got no idea nor am I qualified to make any technical or electronic assumptions. John |
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1 user liked this useful post by river6109
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