I'm considering replacing my Lenz DCC system

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
21

[quote user=“John-NYBW”]

MisterBeasley

If you unplug the LH100 completely, can you run the system from a different throttle? Does it behave any differently? That would at least tell you if the problem is in that throttle.

At one point my LH100 dropped and I discovered the cable had lost one connection. I opened it up and fixed it, and everything worked fine again.

My layout has a long control bus running around the benchwork, with multiple jacks for moving throttles around. I would also suggest unplugging any such control bus and plugging the throttle directly into the command station. If the wiring of the DCC system has been disturbed, that will eliminate most of the potential problems.

Good luck.

I don’t have any jacks around the layout. I am completely wireless except for the throttle tehthered to the command unit. I get a different error code on the LH100 than when I plug in the LH90. The LH100 gives me ER97 which I have seen often but the LH90 gives me an ER43 which I have never seen before and it tells me I have a compatibility issue with the command station which makes no sense since I have used both throttles with the command station in the past. It’s head scratching time which is why I’m going to disconnect everything this weekend and rewire all the components using the various manuals as a guide to make sure everything is wired as it was originally. If that doesn’t work, I’m out of ideas and will probably opt for a new system.

I found a 5 amp NCE system on ebay for about a hundred dollars less than the 10 amp system from Trainz although that savings will be partially offset by a higher shipping cost. The 5 amp system will probably be sufficient for my current need

22

Suppose you remove all the throttles and power up the system. Does an error message show up anywhere, or is it a message that only shows up on the throttle display?

If you have no Lenz throttles plugged in, can you run anything from the wireless throttles? Alternatively, can you just disconnect the wireless box and what effect does that have? I would also try disconnecting the main connection to the track, and any connection to the programming track.

My approach here is to simplify the system to hopefully get it back to where it at least doesn’t throw error messages, and then put stuff back until it fails. You have no control bus, so that greatly simplifies your job.

I like my Lenz system. I like having an active stack of 32 locomotives so all of mine are instantly available. Mostly, I like the large buttons on the throttles. Some DCC throttles seem to think people like tiny throttles with lots of little cell phone buttons. That’s not for me. I’m an old guy with big fingers, and I often run trains in very reduced light, so a throttle the size of a modern candy bar is kind of impractical.

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