I have an ESU LokSound Select Direct Micro (the board type) in my N Scale Athearn SD-70, and I just unplugged the PowerCab DCC controller from the 6-conductor phone wire I have in there. That's how I turn it off. I had two locomotives running a the same time when I turned it off (aka I did not slow them). The other one works fine. However, the ESU LokSound decoder just stopped. DCC cannot read CV. No sounds, no motor movement, nothing. What the hell happened?
Are there keep alive caps in there? Did one blow? Any visually blown components on the board itself? It sounds suspiciously like a failure I had on a wired Select Micro last year, where an on-board cap blew out for no apparent reason. Matt replaced it.
I'm looking at the cap bank on top and one appears to be a less shade of yellow than the others. It's more of a light sand color. If the capacitor is bad, would it just have exploded? Using a DMM, how can I test a capacitor? I think I only have settings for AC and DC volts, ohms, 9V battery, and LEDs.
You use the ohms scale. With the red lead to the + side of the cap, black to the -, you should see the resistance go from 0 ohms and grow to what looks like an open. There are two colors of caps on the boards, a sort of dull brown, and a tan with darker strip. What about other components, anything visible?
WEIRDEST THING. The right rail connection, even when I added a little solder to the solder pad, did not make contact with the right frame chassis. So once I soldered a small wire from the pad to the copper pickup strips above the right side front truck, it worked. Not sure why taking out the DCC throttle from the 6-conductor wire would cause that problem.
