Roadglide stated it worked
Roadglide stated it worked with the ut4, so it is not an address problem. I related a similar story a few weeks back regards to the battery contact shorting inside the case. Here it is:
For several months now my Digitrax DT400 throttle had been acting up. I would start to lose loconet communications, the screens would go blank yet I still had control, the reverse did not work all the time without several pushes of the direction or the potentiometer, or the units would reverse on their own. There was a whole plethora of annoying issues. I tried fresh batteries (even though you don't need them), cleaning the track, resetting decoders, and so on. It even affected "visiting" DT controllers. Based on that I thought I had a defective loconet connection. I eliminated that potential cause by connecting directly to the DB150 power unit and it showed it was not likely the UP5 panels or cables as the issue was still there. So I thought maybe the DB150 was defective. I was told it might be a dying battery in the DB150 that stores the memory. A quick opening of the case shows there is no battery. Hmmm, now what? And the situation got to the point all ops have been halted. I searched the internet high and low and it seemed that this may be a fairly common issue. So before I sent any units to Digitrax for repair I thought, what the heck, open up the DT400 and see what makes it tick.
First, remove the battery casing. In there you will find two screws. Remove them and then slide the top and bottoms about a ¼” in opposite directions from top to bottom. There are several "L" shaped tabs that lock the two pieces together. Now you get to see the circuit board and all the other electronic marvels. There I discovered an obvious problem. One of the wires that go to the battery terminals was frayed and barely soldered to the circuit board. The frayed wires were long enough to be able to make contact with the other terminal. This I assumed would cause intermittent shorts while handling the DT400. I lightly touched the wire and it came loose from the circuit board. In the battery compartment you can clearly see exposed wires attached to the spring battery terminals which are routed into the case and circuit board. I assume that by replacing batteries for the last 4 years (of which I did not need) worked the wire loose. There was probably enough stress to loosen the solder joint and create the frayed wire. I cut the frayed end off and stuffed everything back together without making the battery connection, because as you already know, you don't really need it. However, if the method of your operations requires you to use a battery, you can of course solder it back properly to the circuit board.
After the assembly and plugging the unit in, much to my relief everything worked! The DT400 is behaving as it did brand new. All operations are happily back to normal. I hope that this experience will encourage others to take a second look and dig deeper for answers on any issues or problems, be they electronic, drive trains, operations, carpentry or whatever else before raising arms up in surrender and frustration. You just never know what you will learn and may discover.
Steve
