911....Burned up loco need help.

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F

fire28

Member
Need some help here.

I have several Athearn RTR/KATO DCC equipped(with NCE decoders) locos. It was my impression that even with dcc decoders in they should run on DC? Well I went to test one and it ran fine for 3ft I stopped it ran it back the other way and it started puffing smoke!:mad: I quickly removed the couplers and shell and didnt see anything. I ran it while holding the shell in the air it ran 3ft one way fine, coming the other way again smoke puffed off of the decoder.:eek:

What did I do? Any suggestions. I can pull the dcc decoders out and still run them?

Thanks
Tim....DCC Rookie
 
There is a bit value you enter as part of CV29 that tells the decoder what to do when it encounters a DC voltage. One option makes the train behave as a regular DC engine (once it detects that a DCC signal is not present, there may be a slight pause here), the other tells it to completely ignore DC voltages and the train will just sit there. This will help you find out the value you need to enter for desired operation.

Now, have you run these trains on DCC at all prior to this happening? It sounds to me like something is wired wrong. DC doesn't have the error checking capabilities of a DCC system so if something is wired incorrectly some smoke followed shortly by a pop will be your first (and likely your last) warning about it.

First thing I would do is get it onto a DCC programming track and see what the system says.
 


TrinityJayOne said:
There is a bit value you enter as part of CV29 that tells the decoder what to do when it encounters a DC voltage. One option makes the train behave as a regular DC engine (once it detects that a DCC signal is not present, there may be a slight pause here), the other tells it to completely ignore DC voltages and the train will just sit there. This will help you find out the value you need to enter for desired operation.

Now, have you run these trains on DCC at all prior to this happening? It sounds to me like something is wired wrong. DC doesn't have the error checking capabilities of a DCC system so if something is wired incorrectly some smoke followed shortly by a pop will be your first (and likely your last) warning about it.

First thing I would do is get it onto a DCC programming track and see what the system says.
Click to expand...

Ok I dont have a DCC Set up. Is their away to reset is without one?
 
CV29 will have nothing to do with smoke. Some decoders dont like pulsed DC
I would check for wiring issues. Also verify that the motor is totally isolated from the rail voltage
 
The Power is Power Pack to 1 section of track direct. The Power pack is not in pulse mode.(Has switch option). 50% of the locomotives run the others don't. I'm leaning for the CV29 option. Just trying to figure out how I'm gonna rectify it!
 
I've smoked an Atlas (Lenz) decoder once that way. Some decoders just don't like DC pulsed or not (I was using an el-cheapo Bachmann power pack with that one)
 
hamltnblue said:
CV29 will have nothing to do with smoke.
Click to expand...
I know, but he asked about DCC decoders working with DC so I explained how it works. Perhaps I should have been clearer explaining that changing CV29 won't make the smoke go away! :p That said I still recommend trying to get it on a programming track because the system should tell you if there's a wiring problem. Maybe call your local hobby shop to see if they have a DCC test track? I'm sure they wouldn't mind you stopping by - you might buy something at the same time.
 
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