# Diesal problems



## majral (Jan 13, 2008)

I have been operating DCC out in the garden now for over six months and have had no problems with my LGB & Bachmann steam outline locos, but my Bachmann 44 tonner is languishing in the back of the shed having blown 2 decoders to date. 

Testing testing the loco the stall current at 4amps is well within the capacity of the Digitrax large scale decoder used, and the original circuit boards stripped out and the loco has been completly re-wired to avoid electronic intereference. i have installed a power shield circuit breaker between the command station and the track. 

In both cases the overload/short occurred when the loco de-railed but did not trip the circuit breaker while trailing through a wrongly set point while I wasnt watching the road. 

I wonder if it is feasble to fit some form of shut down device between the decoder and motor to protect the decoder or whether fitting a DCC circuit breaker between the pick-up and decoder would make any difference in case of shorting or overload. 

At this stage rather than tempt faith I am not sure whether to leave the loco in an analog set up, replace the decoder or convert to on board radio control. 

John


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## SlateCreek (Jan 2, 2008)

Certainly, converting to battery would fix it. I have a 45 that runs on battery, and I love it. 

But, there may be an intermediate step, if you want to try to keep running it with your DCC system, and if you later convert to radio/battery it'll be one less step you have to take. Try eliminating the problematic "plunger contacts" between the trucks and the body of the locomotive by hardwiring them between the pads on the truck (where the plungers touch) to the wires that feed the upper parts of the plunger, or better yet, to the board that feeds those wires. It may be that when you're hitting your misalligned switch that the plungers are making/breaking contact and causing a spike, or allowing unloaded power supply voltage to hit the decoder (ie decoder is connected but motor isn't) and depending on the unloaded voltage of your supply, this may be more than the deocder can handle. 

By simply replacing the four sliding pickup "pins" on each truck with hard wires to the board (or to the decoder if, like most, you've already removed the boards) you will eliminate the possibility that the decoder is connected but the motor is not.... and the locomotive will probably run better in any case. If you then find this doesn't work and you're going to convert to something else, this is the first step you're going to want to take anyway. 

Matthew (OV) 
Slate Creek Railway 
Home of the "45 Tonner Orphanage"


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