Help/ confirmation needed on a Rugen

Tanker man

Tanker man

G scale and 5 inch ride on
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I have a very old Rugen that I bought a couple of years ago, second hand, it has factory sound and decoder fitted , it has run fine , stored indoors over the winter but on a recent attempt to run it, it just took off like a scalded cat, as I am currently trying to run on my old MTS 3 system, ( My Massoth is hopefully being repaired) I tried it on DC , no matter which way I turn the control, it only goes in one direction……..so I guess, it’s the decoder that is ‘shot’, now my dilemma is, I think that somewhere, I have an LGB decoder from a loco that had two decoders , one of which was faulty.
Q . Do I strip it down and try the old LGB decoder or ‘splash the cash ‘ and buy a new Massoth one??
Decisions, Decisions!
Any advise really welcome
Thanks
Dave
 
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Tanker man said:
I have a very old Rugen that I bought a couple of years ago, second hand, it has factory sound and decoder fitted , it has run fine , stored indoors over the winter but on a recent attempt to run it, it just took off like a scalded cat, as I am currently trying to run on my old MTS 3 system, ( My Massoth is hopefully being repaired) I tried it on DC , no matter which way I turn the control, it only goes in one direction……..so I guess, it’s the decoder that is ‘shot’, now my dilemma is, I think that somewhere, I have an LGB decoder from a loco that had two decoders , one of which was faulty.
Q . Do I strip it down and try the old LGB decoder or ‘splash the cash ‘ and buy a new Massoth one??
Decisions, Decisions!
Any advise really welcome
Thanks
Dave
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I think before you make any big decisions wait till your Massoth is back.
 
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Thanks John, the only thing is, it should work as a normal loco on DC but it will only go in one direction, whichever way the power is applied, in fact it only goes backwards, so I’m sure there is something wrong with the decoder.
Dave
 
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One direction on DC, does sound like a short-circuit output transistor?

You could put it on blocks / rollers, and remove one decoder at a time.
This will show which one is faulty.

PhilP.
 
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IMG_2207.jpeg
Well after I finished all of my ‘domestic god’ activities ( wife is getting better from her fall but still a little fragile) I managed to fine a half of an hour to take the Rugen apart, the 55021 decoder does not have the usual ‘magic smoke fragrance that I have seen before but the 3 chips in the centre look a bit suspect to me……….any opinion?
So the dilemma is still there, find the old ‘good ‘ chip from the Mayer or splash out on a new one?
Decisions decisions!
Dave
 
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Paul M said:
The problem to solve first, is what caused the melt-down in the first place
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That’s the strange thing, it ran perfectly last autumn when used last, recently, put it on the track ( with the power to the track off) it ran a short distance and jumped the track, I then found it had lost a traction tyres so ordered a new one fitted it and from then on it just did not work, racing off in one direction , not able to control it, it wasn’t on the track, when it jumped, long enough to do any damage, I would have thought, as I have said, it’s a very old loco , date 1994 on the base so maybe the decoder has just ‘aged’ and died. I do know the previous owner, he used to use it with the Bachman system ( can’t remember what it is called) don’t know if that had any effect on the decoder.
Nothing obvious on the mother board, it is very packed , big capacitors to keep the sound running, it will have to be a similar decoder replacement as there is no space for anything else, the sound is good so I don’t want to replace that by stripping it all out, it all fits into a round boiler on a large weight, very tight fit.
Cheers
Dave
 
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Tanker man said:
That’s the strange thing, it ran perfectly last autumn when used last, recently, put it on the track ( with the power to the track off) it ran a short distance and jumped the track, I then found it had lost a traction tyres so ordered a new one fitted it and from then on it just did not work, racing off in one direction , not able to control it, it wasn’t on the track, when it jumped, long enough to do any damage, I would have thought, as I have said, it’s a very old loco , date 1994 on the base so maybe the decoder has just ‘aged’ and died. I do know the previous owner, he used to use it with the Bachman system ( can’t remember what it is called) don’t know if that had any effect on the decoder.
Nothing obvious on the mother board, it is very packed , big capacitors to keep the sound running, it will have to be a similar decoder replacement as there is no space for anything else, the sound is good so I don’t want to replace that by stripping it all out, it all fits into a round boiler on a large weight, very tight fit.
Cheers
Dave
Click to expand...
Possibly shorted itself out when jumping the tracks?
 
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Electronics ages, and many failures happen at power-up.
Inductors instantaneously appear as a short-circuit, inrush current to capacitors can be fairly large for a very short time. You can get short-durations 'spikes' of current / voltage, which can cause a tired component to fail.

If stored in an unoccupied outbuilding, the item can have got very hot in the summer, then cold and possibly damp in the winter.
Even stored in a loft, you may not get any damp, but even if the UK, you can get a 40°C range in temperature over the course of a year.

PhilP.
 
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Tanker man said:
I have a very old Rugen that I bought a couple of years ago, second hand, it has factory sound and decoder fitted , it has run fine , stored indoors over the winter but on a recent attempt to run it, it just took off like a scalded cat, as I am currently trying to run on my old MTS 3 system, ( My Massoth is hopefully being repaired) I tried it on DC , no matter which way I turn the control, it only goes in one direction……..so I guess, it’s the decoder that is ‘shot’, now my dilemma is, I think that somewhere, I have an LGB decoder from a loco that had two decoders , one of which was faulty.
Q . Do I strip it down and try the old LGB decoder or ‘splash the cash ‘ and buy a new Massoth one??
Decisions, Decisions!
Any advise really welcome
Thanks
Dave
Click to expand...
The chips on the board look shot. I would confirm the decoder is no good if possible and having confirmed that buy a Massoth decoder (most of my locos has Massoth as well). As someone has already mentioned, you will also want to check over your wiring carefully to make sure you have resolved the root cause. It is unlikely in my experience that chips will melt like that without a defect somewhere else.
 
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