Is my Zephyr dead?

[randgust]

My 'tinkering and testing' unit has been a secondhand Digitrax DCS50 Zephyr.

Took it out for some decoder rigging and huh.   Nothing.   The track power light is on but with a meter I'm not getting anything off of the pins on Rail A and Rail B, despite the track power light being on.  It looks normal on the display.   

I should be getting a DC voltage reading on those track pins of something, right?  Anything else I can test here?

[Jim Starbuck]

Testing the rail outputs won’t show up as DC voltage.
Have you tried running a decoder equipped engine on it?

[randgust]

Yes, nothing on two different locomotives.

Really?  I thought there was a constant voltage on the rails that was measurable......?

[turbowhiz]

Check for AC voltage across the output not DC.

[randgust]

OK, I always thought it was DC because you had to have a reverser if you had a reverse loop.....

I'll try that test tonight.   

Not mission critical, it's just been handy to have a second old unit for testing, it's got 'issues' anyway with random stuff like launching power wide open, never put it on an actual layout.

[John]

Check for AC voltage across the output not DC.

@turbowhiz is spot on .. I use my VOM in AC Mode all the time @20V setting .. you should read somewhere around 10-12volts +/-

[peteski]

DCC track power is a DC signal which switches polarity many times a second, so AC range of your multimeter should show some voltage. But because is is not a typical sinewave AC, the voltage reading can be off (depending on the meter itself).  Some are more accurate than others.. But it will show at least that there is voltage.

Also connecting a 12V light bulb should light it up (as the bulbs don't care what type of power is applied.

[randgust]

Thanks, found the problem - address reset to defaults (how did that happen?) on one locomotive and a wire break in the track pickup wire on the second, so I had two nonresponsive decoders that was beginning to look like a Zephyr fail. 

All good now.....   

[peteski]

I'm glad you've  figured it out.  Since decoders are complete microcomputers, they do sometimes lose their minds. It is not unheard of. And the other one was obviously a hardware issue. 

I'm not familiar with the Zephyr, but my NCE Power Cab DCC system has a red status LED which is powered directly from the track voltage, so it lets me know that the booster is supplying power to the track (which  means I have a problem other than dead track).