Zephyr Issue

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

I have a Zephyr DCS 50 that I run my track with, I’ve had it almost a year now. It’s worked fine up until recently when I noticed a delay when pushing #3 (horn). After holding it down the sound would then come on, sometimes it may take even longer. The strangest thing is that a few times when pressing #3 it will throw the train into reverse, very bizarre. It’s happened to more then one of my trains so the problem wouldn’t seem to be the train. I’ve thought maybe the track was dirty but ran the track cleaner and have not had any changes for the better. Has anyone experienced anything like this and if so can you please provide some advise on what you did to address the issue. Thanks in advance. Ray

2

What brand and type of decoder do you have? What scale? Your symptoms sound like a possibly bad decoder, especially if it’s an MRC.

3

Are you running an analog engine on address 00 at the same time? That will slow down the system response time.

4

I’m not running an analog engine only engines with DCC decoders an Athearn Challenger 4-6-6-4 an Athearn Santa Fe F7 Super Chief as well as the Rapido Turbo Train. I’m new to modelling trains and appreciate any help that can be offered.

5

Questions:

  1. Does the problem occur with all of your engines or just specific ones?

  2. You’ve mentioned the locomotives’ brands; Do they have factory supplied decoders? If not can you tell us the brand and model of each non-factory supplied decoder?

  3. Do you have issues with only one loco on the track, or when there is more than one?

  4. Are you using the recommended Digitrax power supply?

6

Which decoders do you have in the units?

Is your track clean?

Are your wheels clean?

F3? I thought Horn was F2.

David B

7

Thank you for the the help, as far as decoders they are all factory installed and yes it is F2 for the horn, sorry my mistake. As for the question on power supply I’m using the Zephyr DCS 50 on its own and no supplemental power. I’m new to all this so I hope I’m answering these question correctly and that I’m making sense, sorry if this is all a little confusing. For track cleaning I have a track cleaner box car that I run around the track a few times every now and then. Should I be using a different method in my cleaning approach? Lastly this is a problem that has occurred with all my locos leading me to believe the problem is not with the trains. Again any help is appreciated, especially by a newbie.

8

Have you tried a reset with the Zephyr? I believe it is Switch 3-9-c…if my memory is correct.

Beyond that, you are running MRC decoders and their reliability could be an issue as well.

David B

9

Thanks for the tip David. I’ll look in to that.