Digitrax DS64 Issue

[dclyde]

Here's a status:

1)  Drawing the DS64 power from the brown line took care of the operational issues I was having.

2)  I tried defining routes to the DS64s so that at power-up I could set all the mainline switches to their proper setting.  This worked great until I turned off the system.  According to Digitrax, the routes are stored in a buffer.  Apparently this buffer is voletile and gets deleted when the DS64 is turned off.  I'll have to take a look at scripting the routes.  I believe I can trigger them when the system is powered up.

I'm more than open to suggestions.

Dave

[DocGeoff]

I am having similar problems. I have three Ds64's and the will not retain the addresses assigned from one session to the next. The older DS54 does not have a problem.
I called Digitrax tech support and was told that they had not heard of this before and I could return the offend unit. The problem is I have three and they all do it, but not every time, or all needing the addresses re-entered. Mine are powered by 12 volt packs each separate. Loconetted together. Maybe if I unplug the power each time? I've tried everything else.

[dclyde]

Connecting the DS64s to the brown line as the primary power source cured the issues for me.  The only thing I did that was extraordinate was that the brown line leads were connected to the trk-a and trk-b connectors on the DS4 rather than the aux power connectors.

I did, however, come to realize that I also had a bad DS64.  My nose led me to the offending unit (smell of overheated electronics).  This happened to be the same unit that I had the routes stored.  Once it was replaced, all my issues went away.

Hope this helps.

Dave

[Skip]

Okay, I'll bite. What is the brown line?  I have 5 DS64 using wall warts for power and have had no problems.

[dclyde]

Sorry, the Brown Line is 12VAC.  As part of BANTRAK NTrak, we use a red, yellow, blue, white and brown lines for electrical purposes.  The red, yellow and blue are for the rails.  The white line is 12VDC used for powering track devices only.  The brown line is 12VAC that can be used for whatever reason may be necessary.

The result of this is that 12VAC (or in my case a Digitrax PS515 connected directly to the brown line) is powering the DS64 via TrkA and TrkB instead of actually drawing off of the physical track.

I hope that helps.

Dave

[mmyers]

Don't ever connect AC to the aux terminals. There is no bridge diode connected to the aux A and aux B terminals so they get DC only. BANTRAK has 15VAC on the brown line. Works fine on my DS64's.

AC can be connected to either the track A and B terminals or the coax jack. Both of those are connected to the internal bridge rectifier.

Martin Myers

[Skip]

Dave,

Thanks.  I am with an NTrak club  and we have red, yellow, blue, white and green, but no brown.  Is that your club, or Bantrak spec?

[dclyde]

To tell you the truth, I couldn't tell you why brown was selected beyond the fact that brown isn't used used by NTrak standard.  I guessing that our Brown is pretty much the same as your Green.  Green is actually for the mountain line per NTrak standard.

There others on the this forum that are much more in the know than I am.

Perhaps Martin could chime in on this one?

Dave

[Skip]

Dave,

We actually have the mountain on our modules and so that is what it is used for.  We normally run a short train, often steam, up there just for looks.

[mmyers]

The NTRAK Brown line is intended to be a low voltage replacement for the 110AC line power strips. FreMo uses a similar line. Though many NTRAK clubs have not chosen to remove the power strips, NTRAK no longer includes them in the standard. UL and national Fire codes outlaw daisy chaining extension cords and power strips. While most Fire marshalls do not choose to enforce this, all that I have talked to are aware of it and say that it won't be allowed. NTRAK will not knowingly recommend a practice that is illegal.

A low voltage line to power accessories was our solution. It pretty much "flys under the radar" at less than 45 volts. AC was chosen so it can be used as is or easily rectified to DC on module. Brown was actually our second choice, gray being our first choice to match FreMo's low voltage accessory bus. We switched to brown when it became apparent that gray electrical tape was not a readily available color at the big box stores. Gray is also a NEC neutral color and since they already carry white tape, they don't bother to stock gray.


Martin Myers
NTRAK Wiring and Connectors Working Group

[DocGeoff]

One of my three DS64's is always down and needs to be reinstalled every time I power up the layout. The other two maintain their programming, but the offending one need to be re-set and re-programmed. I use auxiliary  power on all three. I have discussed this with Digitrax and have had NO ANSWERS as to why it looses the program, except that it is defective. Duh!!!!

[John]

One of my three DS64's is always down and needs to be reinstalled every time I power up the layout. The other two maintain their programming, but the offending one need to be re-set and re-programmed. I use auxiliary  power on all three. I have discussed this with Digitrax and have had NO ANSWERS as to why it looses the program, except that it is defective. Duh!!!!

It's probably the memory chip not retaining the setup ..