# Its not the switch...



## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

Digitrax zephyr.

everything is BRAND NEW. everything worked fine yesterday....

now my loco's are stalling every foot or so.

nothing is dirty.

loco stalls, stays stopped for like 5 secconds, then starts moving, for a foot or so, then stops again....


im about ready to chuck everything in a box and just be done with trains.

I spend a thousand dollars on **** that doesnt work...


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

Sounds like you may have a short. It shuts down the command station then after a short delay the command station applies power and tries again.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

santafealltheway said:


> Digitrax zephyr.
> 
> everything is BRAND NEW. everything worked fine yesterday....
> 
> ...


Don't give up, man. We'll solve it.

Start with the basics. Do you have a reversing loop, and if so, is it properly wired?

Did you install a separate set of feeders to the turnout, and connect them backwards?

Lets start there and see what happens.


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

I added some more wiring today, but seeing as it didn't seem to work properly, i cut all the new stuff with some cutter, figuring i'd go back to normal... but now all my other track work that as already laid and confirmed working is affected.


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

Im gonna hook up my zephyr to a plain jane circle of life-loc and confirm if its the controller or or not.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Did you "dispatch" your loco(s) after use?Every locos should be erased from the command station's memory so that it doesn' send more than one set of commands to the loco.That usually results in problems like what you described.


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

Okay, so EVEN on a small circle of track totally separate from the layout, the loco stalls every foot or so, waits about 5 seconds, then continues.

So the zephyr is to blame?


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

Brakeman Jake said:


> Did you "dispatch" your loco(s) after use?Every locos should be erased from the command station's memory so that it doesn' send more than one set of commands to the loco.That usually results in problems like what you described.


I don't think i did.

I'm still figuring out how to use this damn thing.

DO you know How i dispatch a loco? I guess i'll go google it


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

Okay, so i did a factory reset "option switch" as it calls it in the manual. seems to be working normaly now on the simple cirlce... i'll hook it back up to the big one and see what i get...


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Zephyr...dial the loco's address...select it by pressing "loco" then press "loco" again so screen starts blinking the address...then press "exit".This should erase the loco from memory.Do it twice to be sure.

Then erase every time you stop using a loco.


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

okay i think i get it now... my stalling seems to have mostly stopped..

Although one of two turnouts causes a short just as soon as the wheels touch the frog.

swap out that turnout, and it doesnt short...

is that a defective switch?


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

That seems to have done the trick.. thanks guys... I feel really dumb now.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

santafealltheway said:


> That seems to have done the trick.. thanks guys... I feel really dumb now.


Why? We've all done it. I once spent about 2 hours checking my trackwork and my loco, trying to find out why my Pacific kept derailing at a crossing. Turned out that the foam pin I had dropped earlier was sitting in the flangeway... but of course, I never actually looked at the crossing where the derailment was occurring.:smilie_auslachen:


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## beepjuice (Sep 17, 2014)

santafealltheway said:


> Okay, so i did a factory reset "option switch" as it calls it in the manual. seems to be working normaly now on the simple cirlce... i'll hook it back up to the big one and see what i get...


If all else fails, then read the directions! We all do this, too!  I have the Zephyr and I love it and yes I've been stumped and then reading the manual clears things up. If all else fails, Digitrax has awesome customer service and always helps!


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

He's probably figured it out after four years.


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## beepjuice (Sep 17, 2014)

MichaelE said:


> He's probably figured it out after four years.


Ya just never know!!


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## highvoltage (Apr 6, 2014)

beepjuice said:


> Ya just never know!!


But since he hasn't been on the board for almost 3 years, you'll never know if he did.


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## beepjuice (Sep 17, 2014)

I hope so.......


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