Did I fry my decoder by doing this?

[acm23]

I'm new to DCC and believe I just destroyed my Digitrax DH163 decoder by trying to program it while I was running the loco. Is this a major "no-no" with DCC? It had been doing fine until I decided to be a little adventurous by changing the acceleration and decel rates while I was running the loco. About 5 minutes into this, the locomotive stopped and all I can see now is the rear light on when I power on. I seem to still be able to read my CVs and tried resetting the decoder multiple times with no results. Nothing seemed warm to touch, but I can't think of any other explanation. Please advise. Thank you!

 

[diburning]

umm, you should only program your loco on the programming track unless you were programming in Operations (ops) mode. With the Digitrax throttle, it should say Po in the middle (for the DT400)

Leave it off the layout for a while and try resetting again. The decoder might be in thermal shutdown mode (it shuts itself off if it overheats to prevent damage to the decoder)

Also, while programming in ops mode, make sure that it's the only loco on the layout (derail your other ones) or else they will get programmed too.

 

[acm23]

Thanks for the response. I was using OPS mode, but I'm not 100% sure I didn't accidentally enter "Page" mode during my muddling around. Part of the problem is that I am using a DCS50 unit, but my manual primarily refers to command entry on the DT300 and DT400 models. It was not entirely clear to me until now that Programming should be done on a programming track - basic as this sounds. I haven't really had a good primer to consult for DCC, so I'm learning by trial and error. Luckily, this is a low cost decoder that is easily replaced. Thanks again.