[Sandman]

Hi,
I have a Lenz Set 100 with a mix of basic Lenz and Hornby (R8249) loco decoders.
If I accidently create a short circuit, eg putting a loco on the track, all decoders default to address 3.
Is this normal? It is a pain having to re program the locos!
I now know to switch off track power when placing a loco - I am just curious as to how data is actually stored in the decoders.
Can anyone offer some info on this?

 

[Edwin]

QUOTE (Sandman @ 3 Nov 2008, 20:55) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi,
I have a Lenz Set 100 with a mix of basic Lenz and Hornby (R8249) loco decoders.
If I accidently create a short circuit, eg putting a loco on the track, all decoders default to address 3.
Is this normal? It is a pain having to re program the locos!
I now know to switch off track power when placing a loco - I am just curious as to how data is actually stored in the decoders.
Can anyone offer some info on this?

The older Hornby decoders seem to be very prone to this. Search on this forum and you'll find many similar incidents. I don't recall any related to Lenz decoders though.

 

[Sandman]

QUOTE (Edwin @ 3 Nov 2008, 21:07) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The older Hornby decoders seem to be very prone to this. Search on this forum and you'll find many similar incidents. I don't recall any related to Lenz decoders though.

Hi
I am led to believe that these are the latest Horby decoders - I could not read the address from the older Hornby R8215 decoders but no reading problem with these

regards
Sandman

 

[Doug]

Perhaps another reason not to use them. I never had any success with any Hornby decoder on my Lenz system (I have the same system that you have). I now use the Bachmann (ESU) decoders on most of my new locos. Cheap, reliable and very configurable.

 

[Brian Considine]

This certainly seems to be a problem with the earlier H decoders. I've had the problem of early Lenz (1024/5 series) decoders forgetting settings if not used for a while.

As a tempory measure, if you are getting too many shorts one way of finding them without the system shutting down would be to wire a car indicator bulb in series with one of the track wires - under normal running the filiment may just glow & with a short it will be bright !

The Bachsu decoders are excellent - we have fitted quite a few & have a couple of locomotives on SL fitted with them.

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (Sandman @ 4 Nov 2008, 04:55) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi,
I have a Lenz Set 100 with a mix of basic Lenz and Hornby (R8249) loco decoders.
If I accidently create a short circuit, eg putting a loco on the track, all decoders default to address 3.
Is this normal? It is a pain having to re program the locos!
I now know to switch off track power when placing a loco - I am just curious as to how data is actually stored in the decoders.
Can anyone offer some info on this?

*** You shouldn't have to turn off track power to add or remove a loco at all!

It is a trait of the Hornby decoders. Basically they have a weakness in their design that allows it to happen, and while they have changed the software to fix earlier significant problems, this cannot prevent the reset - it needs hardware changes as well!

Basically the fundamental decoder circuit needs a small change to better protect the processor where data is stored. This same problem exists with some models of digitrax and earlier Lenz.

Try either TCS or bachmann for excellent running reliability at a reasonable price.

Richard