I gotta quit smoking... decoders, that is...

[k27463]

I ended up hardwiring the two I have without the stock board -- both had a dead short in the board out of the box and I didn't bother troubleshooting with the lower cost of a cheapo decoder.

[C855B]

I ended up hardwiring the two I have without the stock board -- both had a dead short in the board out of the box and I didn't bother troubleshooting with the lower cost of a cheapo decoder.

Interesting to know, Robbie. Thanks.

[wvgca]

in the picture in the previous post, the two wires that i'm holding the decoder by are the keep alive wires  .. shrink tube protection was removed for the photo ..
it's a regular 1.5 amp rated decoder, fully supports bemf, and has a size of  0.6 inches long by 0.4 inches wide  , i also added firebox flicker to the function list, giving a total of five functions ... they cost $12 US [complete and stuffed including shipping, each in a ten lot]..
again, this is a fully featured but non sound decoder using current [as of build time] components

[Lemosteam]

Here's the problem area:

(Attachment Link)

Notice the very small gap between the decoder connector and pickup tab. This happens on both sides, obviously. IF the tab gets slightly squashed or otherwise deformed, it can contact the exposed pins from the socket to the board. Also... that I'm noticing from this picture, especially, I may very well have contributed to the failure conditions by trimming off the unneeded AUX wires, exposing the trimmed end of three of them to the tab IF the socket droops to where they contact the tab. The socket was in fact drooping due to multiple plug/unplug operations trying to get this all straightened out. In this realization I think I can leave the other two U-boats alone because if they haven't failed by now, they're unlikely to. Hard-wiring the third eliminates the socket, so problem solved there.

The frame has no electrical contribution. The truck contacts reach up to the tabs on the motherboard, a lot like what Kato does with their passenger car lighting system.

In the picture above it sure seems like the contact tab from the truck is really tall.  Could you drill a small hole in it just above the frame (or whatever the curved part is) trim off the excess, and hardwire it, maybe adding some small shrink tubing in the center near the components?:

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[C855B]

That's an interesting idea, John. I may just do that. Very simple task relative to the total rewire I'm having to do with the BLI RSD-15s.

Frankly, the pickup tabs on the board are especially vulnerable to bending inward when handling, with the non-zero possibility of shorting across the rails. Clipping them off altogether is a mighty tempting thought since I'm already in there. I'll see what it's going to take to solder to the truck tabs.

[Lemosteam]

That's an interesting idea, John. I may just do that. Very simple task relative to the total rewire I'm having to do with the BLI RSD-15s.

Frankly, the pickup tabs on the board are especially vulnerable to bending inward when handling, with the non-zero possibility of shorting across the rails. Clipping them off altogether is a mighty tempting thought since I'm already in there. I'll see what it's going to take to solder to the truck tabs.

If you can drill that hole a drop of flux there is an instant joint, even with just a 0.5mm length of insulation removed.  I would do that first, with the wire on the inside of the tab, and the raw wire poking through the hole.  This would help the wire follow a tucked path up to the board, hopefully preventing a pinch when the shell is reinstalled.

PS you should write this up if you do it for the decoder install thread here.

[drgw0579]

While this is an ESU product, I believe all decoder vendors have a similar product.

[Jbub]

While this is an ESU product, I believe all decoder vendors have a similar product.

I heard that it's on backorder due to a chemical compound shortage. Expect the product to arrive 18 months after initial delivery expectations.