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I recently bought a new Bachmann Hall class loco - I now regret that the salesperson persuaded me to put down the DCC fitted option and pick up the £19 cheaper DCC ready version. Why? well because the only chip I could get to fit the small space provided was about £30!
Having bought my first very small Gaugemaster chip I fitted it and ran it at the club test track. It sort of responded in reverse but once set going would not stop when moving forward. We assumed it may have been running on DC but no all was well with the controller.
I fitted a larger Hornby chip to test it and all was well. The next step was read the box and it advised contact Gaugemaster first, so after a quick email explaining the problem they gave me the code for resetting the chip - no change!
I then sent it back and received a new chip from Gaugemaster. After fitting the chip to the loco I was set to see what it could really do on my newly laid home layout. Same problem!!!
Another email to Gaugemaster suggesting they may have a design problem led them to carry out some tests. I have a reply that asks me to cut the leg of one of the onboard capacitors but have yet to do this - I will report back later.
My guess is that the small size of the chip means they have compromised on protecting the chip from capacitors which are on its DC motor drive output so what is wrong here? A Gaugemaster chip that does not fit a DCC ready loco or Bachmann for fitting bad capacitors? My suggestion is that it is Gaugemaster who is at fault.
Anyone else had problems with small chips from Gaugemaster or any other manufacturer?
Paul Howes
Communications Officer
Yeovil Model Railway Group
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