Carrera 26732 chip

[Perrotoro]

Anybody else having trouble with the carrera 26732 chip lately? I've outfitted at least 2 dozen cars with the 26732 in the last two years - maybe I've gotten sloppy with my soldering techniques, but I've lost 4 in the last 3 weeks.

[fourshipp]

Are you running a variable power supply and if so, what voltage? I’ve lost two running 15.5v. I’m going to go back to 13.8V at the power supply as all my cars are running reduced speed settings/voltages anyway.

[Cincyslots]

13.8 at the power supply is like 12v at the track. I would think this would cause functionality issues with your accessories. We run D132 cars at 14.5 at the track and D124 cars at 18.5 at the track. No issues yet.

Bruce

[Perrotoro]

I've been running the same D132 power supply that came with the original set from January 2017 - can't remember the voltage off-hand- can check tonight after work - but since this is the same since Jan'17, I think I can eliminate this as the source of the chip burnouts.

I'm guessing I've gotten sloppy with my soldering. In one case, I saw minor sparks and minor plume across the rear-light leads - not the power leads. This apparently caused total chip failure because after resoldering in a new chip, the car ran again.

Is there a way to check the functionality of the 26732 chip with an inexpensive multi-meter? When I check resistance of an new chip - before soldering, I see minor ohms across the red/black front braid leads and minor resistance across the front and back light leads. I see a little more ohms across the rear gray/purple leads to the motor. After burning the chip and removing/cleaning all wire leads, I think I remember seeing the same resistances on this failed chip, but would need to confirm what I think I saw.

It's gotta be my faulty soldering unless there might have been a rash of faulty chips lately.