[fabben]

I'm building this model railway for my two sons, for Christmas. Almost complete now (after many nights spent alone in a cold garage). Anyway I check things regularly by running my sons two presents, a Pendalino and a Eurostar. This is to make sure that these long wheelbase vehicles negotiate all curves, points and that station platforms are aligned correctly.

Well upto Wednesday evening, both DCC trains were running fine. Then last night the Eurostar has developed a "free will". It ignores the settings sent from the Hornby "Select". I don't know what's happened, could the DCC decoder have developed a fault? The Pendalino is running fine.

When I increase the speed from the controller, nothing happens, I have to give the loco a push, then of it goes. When I turn the speed back to zero, it just keeps going but it does slow down and stop after about two minutes. I've tried reprogramming it (several times) and change the acceleration/deceleration settings but nothing helps.

I'm thinking it must be that the decoder's gone a bit loopy. But is this a correct assumption? and what would cause a decoder to malfunction in the first place. I need help I've only got three days (before Christmas) to sort it out.

Fabben

 

[fabben]

Hi Andrew,

It might be a minute or slightly less, it seems take ages. Before it stops it does actually slow down, but it takes a few laps of an 8' by 5' circuit before it stops I think that when it does move it settles at the speed set on the controller, but I'll have to check this again tonight.

It could be dirt, I've been building, sawing and sanding and the dust gets everywhere (I should have been more careful). So hows the best way to clean the loco? is there a post somewhere on the forums?

thanks again

Fabben

 

[fabben]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I tried reseting the controller, giving the loco a different id number, all to no avail. Today I got a new Hornby decoder put it in and it works.

I did notice that the loco had a capacitor in it an this is a dcc fitted loco when I bought it. But it could have been fitted by the dealer and not by Hornby.

I realise that I've landed myself with a Hornby controller, which might not be the best dcc in the world. But my son choose the Hornby trainset in the shop for his Christmas present and at the time I knew almost nothing about dcc. But I'm learning fast.

I've got two boys, 6 and 4, and if they take a keen interest in their trainset then a replacement for the Hornby select is definitely on the cards.

Once again, thanks and Merry Christmas

Fabben

 

[fabben]

QUOTE (Brian @ 21 Dec 2007, 13:56) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Extract from my web site which may help with wheel cleaning etc... My Website Remove any deposits of dirt from the tyres of the wheels, that all so easily builds up during running.

Hi Brian, I actually visited your web site in the early days (this is about six weeks ago) and I based my DCC installation on the information you provided there.

I must thank you for taking the time for putting all this information on your site and sharing this info with others like me. It saved me a lot of time and frustration from learning things the hard way.

Fabben

 

[fabben]

QUOTE (fabben @ 22 Dec 2007, 17:59) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I did notice that the loco had a capacitor in it an this is a dcc fitted loco when I bought it. But it could have been fitted by the dealer and not by Hornby.

The Eurostar, with it's new decoder, ran fine for a few hours and then started behaving erratically.
Cut the capacitor off and it immediately started behaving itself again.