I recently acquired a DCC (ESU LokPilot, I believe) equipped Walthers Plymouth ML-8 switcher from the newest production. The model runs very smoothly but stalls on switch frogs, etc. It is supposed to be equipped with a keep alive circuit that will keep the engine running over short dead spots. I can see through the cab window that there is indeed a capacitor as advertised, but for whatever reason it doesn’t seem to be working. I have tested it by cutting the power in various situations and the motor and lights seem to turn off immediately even after some time to charge on the track. Other engines with capacitors in my fleet have none of these issues and could keep the lights on for at least a second or two.
Any suggestions on how to fix this? Is there anything programming related that I could change? Is the capacitor itself likely to be faulty? With such a short wheelbase, it would be helpful to have it working.
Sometimes there is a bit set in the decoder to turn off the capacitor. This is so you can program the decoder because a charge in the capacitor will prevent you from doing that with most systems. It depends on the decoder, but look in the manual to see if there’s a CV that turns off the keep alive circuit.
I’ve had a couple of decoders where I added a keep alive capacitor system, couldn’t make it work, then found out that the decoder had that CV set to off.
This would make sense. Does anyone know what CVs might be relevant?
I am seeing CV113, the “timeout” control, mentioned elsewhere, but also things about auxiliary outputs and other controls which I am not familiar with.
p. 52 in the “51211_LokPilot_5_ESUKG_EN …” manual (the title goes on for a while):
Item 10.10
Set CV 31 = 16, CV 32 = 0 FIRST.
Then Set CV339 = 31 for LokPilot (AUX9)
OR Then Set CV323 = 31 for LokPilot Micro (AUX7)
(You might have a Micro inside that Plymouth switcher.)
NOTE: Their German culture refers to it as a “PowerPack,” which is confusing with our typical definition of a power pack. It makes you think these are changes to be made on a transformer or a DCC command station, but it’s the capacitor keep-alive, current keeper, etc.
I had this problem recently on a new ESU LokSound install. Look at Nix Trains website for their Power Bridge 2 instructions. It helped (me) having a programmer.
I had the same problem with my Plymouth switcher. I contacted Walthers and they told me to reset the ESU decoder back to factory settings by setting CV8 to 8. Problem solved, My capacitor is working correctly!