I reckon you'll hold that record for ever.
Longest ever decoder recovery time?
I have bored on about this before, but excellent advice from retailer in Koln early in my DCC adventure was that in the event of a decoder going non-responsive, with no obvious sign of failed components (visual, smell) or a broken connection; then do not discard, but keep trying decoder resets at intervals until the reset 'takes'. Been doing this ever since, sometimes needs a month or more of weekly resets, but if they do 'come around' they are fine afterwards, yet to have a subsequent failure.
Back in the day when they were the smallest decoder with a good drive - that was both available and at a sensible price - I bought some Lenz Silver minis. This would be about 2006. One of these went in a (now sadly late) friend's teeny HO loco and gave up after a couple of years for no apparent reason, and refused to reset. But I kept it, and chancing on it late last year, tried a reset and BEHOLD! it restored to Address 03 and was programmable. It has now completed six months service hardwired into a Bach 03, so is 'good'. I reckon it at 12 years from originally going unresponsive to finally resetting, 2009 - 2021. Any advance on that?
Back in the day when they were the smallest decoder with a good drive - that was both available and at a sensible price - I bought some Lenz Silver minis. This would be about 2006. One of these went in a (now sadly late) friend's teeny HO loco and gave up after a couple of years for no apparent reason, and refused to reset. But I kept it, and chancing on it late last year, tried a reset and BEHOLD! it restored to Address 03 and was programmable. It has now completed six months service hardwired into a Bach 03, so is 'good'. I reckon it at 12 years from originally going unresponsive to finally resetting, 2009 - 2021. Any advance on that?
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
Some years ago, there were issues with capacitors on microchips. I have a few old computer motherboards where it is quite clearly marked 'All Japanese capacitors' because these were good. I recall we had a couple of VCR machines fail due to failed capacitors in the past too.
On a more serious scale, we had a main power capacitor in a dishwasher blow up and the dish washer caught fire in our kitchen. Fortunately, I was there when it happened (heard a big 'pop' sound) and I am a 'Ninja' for having fire extinguishers around so I put the fire out pretty quick.
Could DCC decoders have been afflicted with the same capacitor quality problems, hence the strange behaviour being observed ?
On a more serious scale, we had a main power capacitor in a dishwasher blow up and the dish washer caught fire in our kitchen. Fortunately, I was there when it happened (heard a big 'pop' sound) and I am a 'Ninja' for having fire extinguishers around so I put the fire out pretty quick.
Could DCC decoders have been afflicted with the same capacitor quality problems, hence the strange behaviour being observed ?
My understanding was that the 'capacitor plague' problems only affected electrolytic capacitors, whereas I believe decoders only generally have ceramic caps (outside of stay alive modules).<SNIP>
Could DCC decoders have been afflicted with the same capacitor quality problems, hence the strange behaviour being observed ?
Agreed.My understanding was that the 'capacitor plague' problems only affected electrolytic capacitors, whereas I believe decoders only generally have ceramic caps (outside of stay alive modules).
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
- This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Model Railway Forum
A forum community dedicated to Model train and railway owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about collections, displays, models, styles, scales, motors, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Recommended Communities
