Lenz Silver decoder difficulty

nadnerb_2000 · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:27 pm

I have an Austrains C36 fitted with a Lenz silver series decoder.

Unfortunately, it has recently taken to running extremely slowly unless I press the "4" function (override momentum) - even when I have the momentum set to 0 it is still a problem.

I suspect its likely to do with dirty wheels/track and the lack of pickups on my unmodified latest run 36. But I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on other possible reasons?

Thanks

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crk · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:33 am

do you have a test track to try it on ? i always keep my locos wheels clean with cotton bud and and a little thinners , i had a problem with a nce decoder and it was dirty pickups also make sure the loco motor is free running it might need a lub Very Happy

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Wee_pierre · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:37 am

Have a quick read of your documentation that came with the decoder one of the CV's sets all the settings on the chip back to factory settings including the address if you have inadvertantly changed something somewhere and not realised it then this action should set things right and all you need to do is change the address again. Dirty wheels are a huge problem with DCC track and loco wheels must be clean and everyone has their own method. I use whal hair clipper oil available from hair saloons and I read recently an article from the US that advocates the use of Auto Transmission oil but I have not personally tried that. I do however have a track cleaning vehicle that I push in front of a loco all over my layout BEFORE I start running proper. The majority of crud that stopps DCC running is dust and crap that falls on the railhead overnight and during running sessions. I live in Broken Hill (dust central) and by doing the above I have no trouble at all.
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roy66 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:48 am

These decoders have a "shunting speed " function on F3. If it runs ok when F4 is on ,your pickups maybe ok ,and the decoder may require resetting back to factory settings.
regards Steve

nadnerb_2000 · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:39 am

resetting to factory settings unfortunately hasnt worked. I generally use a combination of wahl oil or railzip oil and a track rubber to keep rails clean, every other locomotive in the fleet - including 4 others with the same chip - have no dramas. Those other four locomotives have double the pickups though.

The only explanation I can think of is that the low number of contacts dont provide a reliable current even with everything clean - when I do use F4 I find the loco runs much better but the headlight flickers fairly frequently.

I think I'll have to look up how to add extra contacts to the tender (and if possible the front pony bogie but that might be just a tad ambitious).

Thanks for the replies though.

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Aaron · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:41 pm

I would not be so quick to blame the pickups and dirt.

Did you correctly install the decoder? I am particularly concerned that you may not have all of the wires in the correct places, the Lenz Silver is quite grunty and you will not let the smoke out quite like you might expect for a wrong connection. The light flickering with the increased motor pulse has me thinking that this might be a trivial error.

nadnerb_2000, what did you do to reset the decoder? The Lenz Silvers reset slightly different to some, a value of 33 needs to be set in CV 8, if this is not what you did, don't do it yet.

Now if you've reset the decoder this is probably not going to tell me much but what value is in CV 30? Let us know what it is and if it is not 0 set it to this.

Now you can reset again if you didn't do it before.

Next, what values do you have in CVs 50, 51 and 52? And just to humour me because you have some strange lighting behavior what values do you have in CVs 55, 60 and 62? And because they are always worth a look that are CVs 58, 59, 113 and 114 set to? These I hope are going to be 4, 8, 40 and 10. These will vary with CVs 50 and 51 though so do not panic for now if they don't line up.

Aaron
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brosonch1 · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:29 pm

I have some Silver mini w decoders and one goes through the steps ok until I get to step 28 and it gets to full speed and then I lose control until I break the power to it and it will reset.I have checked and it is wired ok.I have done a default reset.Between step 27 and 28 it seems to change speed aggressively.
Cheers Bronte

David Peters · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:20 am

One other thing could be wrong, is the chip faulty, have you tried it in another loco, if it does the same, then this could be the trouble. Anything massed produced today, you are bound to get something sooner or later that is faulty! No DCC expert here, but just a thought! Cool

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Aaron · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:19 am

brosonch1 · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:05 pm

Its At a friends place so hopefully I will get it this weekend and check values
cheers Bronte

brosonch1 · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:18 pm

Ok Here is the cv.s
2-r
5-255
6-48
9-15
29-38
30-0
50-0
67-1
68-10
69-19
thru to 94-252
113-40
114-10
but I had to push chassis when checking cv to take load off motor
or it would error 02 some times
It is a tomytec tm04 motor

brosonch1 · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:33 am

Seems lack of weight and poorly designed pick ups is the cause of my problems with the silvers running erratically as a spot of 2-26 crc and a 30g fishing sinker has improved it