Ez-command epic fail...


Ok, so the other day I'm tinkering with my ez-command system, putting some spectrum coaches on the rails. One of them lit up and I didn't want to try to run locomotives until I knew how much amperage the lights drew, just in case I would overtax the system. I get out my ammeter, unhook one of the wires at the tie-in point, and set the ammeter to read amps. I proceeded to place the leads on one wire coming out of the system and then on one wire going to the layout, you know, read the amperage on the line. Well, all I can say is, with a bachmann ez-command system, NEVER, EVER use an ammeter set to amps DC to read the amperage running through the line. I mean, I knew that DCC wasn't DC amperage but when I set the stupid thing I had a MAJOR brainfart... All of a sudden I smelled burning plastic and my system has not turned back on ever since. I contacted bachmann customer service though and they said if it is less than a year old they will replace it, so here's hoping! It's going back today, along with the K4 that I have from them, to hopefully be repaired or replaced.
 
I don't think it was a normal short that caused it because I had several shorts with the system over turnouts that I solved. None of them overloaded the system, just tripped the internal overload sensor. I think it was because the tester was set to a DC mode on AC current but I am not sure about that. Either way, it is dead lol.
 
The point is that if you were to drop a screwdriver across the rails it would cause a larger short than any tester would but the unit should trip out rather than burn out. That has to be a fault with the E-Z command unit .
 
I didn't say that the power supply was burned out. The transformer still works just fine. It isn't the supply that went out, it was the control unit, the handheld, that went bad. And DCC is AC current, and the power that the motor receives is pulsed DC current from what I know, otherwise an analog locomotive would have little to no trouble on the tracks. I work with electronics quite a bit as well and I have no other explanation for why this happened. I know there are no other shorts because I have tested the track repeatedly. The ammeter was the only variable in this situation. I have been using the system for months with no issue and all of a sudden a short circuit burns it out? Not likely. I have been using the system for months with no issue and I hook up an ammeter and it burns out? I rather think that is the more likely explanation ;) I mean, I could be wrong, it just seems that this is the most likely explanation.
 



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