QUOTE (Richard Johnson @ 14 Jun 2008, 16:42) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>***Hello Geoff
Normally this front/rear light flashing is supposed to indicate that the decoder has detected a motor short.
to quote Lenz: "When you first turn on your system a blinking front and rear headlight indicates that the gold decoder has identified a motor short. CV30 is set and the motor outputs are deactivated. If this condition occurs the fault should be corrected before you try to operate the decoder."
PERHAPS: Its reacting to the voltage peak that happens after a short. If it is CV 30 will have a value other than zero in it - reset it to zero.
To stop it the easiest way will be no more Lenz Gold decoders.... but as a "patch" type fix, you could try adding a suppression / terminating filter to your track bus as this will "damp" the offending peaks. The parts cost is pennies only so its worth doing anyway as it will give long term protection to ALL decoders.
It is a 0.1micro Farad ceramic disc capacitor in series with a 150 ohm (2~3 watt) resistor connected across the bus
ie:
left rail bus > resistor > capacitor > right rail bus
ALSO - you should lower the Lenz rail voltage for N scale - it is far too high. Try to reset to about 11~12 volts - ex factory is over 15.
The latest Lenz command stations/boosters will, I think, let you do this via a software command in their setup instructions - this MAY also help your problem - and will certainly help overall long term reliability too.
Regards
Richard
DCCconcepts
Thanks Richard I have dropped the track voltage to 12v (I seem to be missing my LZV100 manual though...) but easily done once checked on line and so far that seems to be better all round. I will look at the other add in filter idc.
As zmil says your knowledge on this topic is quite exceptional!
Regards
Geoff
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Normally this front/rear light flashing is supposed to indicate that the decoder has detected a motor short.
to quote Lenz: "When you first turn on your system a blinking front and rear headlight indicates that the gold decoder has identified a motor short. CV30 is set and the motor outputs are deactivated. If this condition occurs the fault should be corrected before you try to operate the decoder."
PERHAPS: Its reacting to the voltage peak that happens after a short. If it is CV 30 will have a value other than zero in it - reset it to zero.
To stop it the easiest way will be no more Lenz Gold decoders.... but as a "patch" type fix, you could try adding a suppression / terminating filter to your track bus as this will "damp" the offending peaks. The parts cost is pennies only so its worth doing anyway as it will give long term protection to ALL decoders.
It is a 0.1micro Farad ceramic disc capacitor in series with a 150 ohm (2~3 watt) resistor connected across the bus
ie:
left rail bus > resistor > capacitor > right rail bus
ALSO - you should lower the Lenz rail voltage for N scale - it is far too high. Try to reset to about 11~12 volts - ex factory is over 15.
The latest Lenz command stations/boosters will, I think, let you do this via a software command in their setup instructions - this MAY also help your problem - and will certainly help overall long term reliability too.
Regards
Richard
DCCconcepts
Thanks Richard I have dropped the track voltage to 12v (I seem to be missing my LZV100 manual though...) but easily done once checked on line and so far that seems to be better all round. I will look at the other add in filter idc.
As zmil says your knowledge on this topic is quite exceptional!
Regards
Geoff
