How long until board powers down?

Should be in the neighborhood of 10 seconds.

Sound goes off in about 7, but the board stays powered for up to 30 seconds.  If you listen carefully, you can hear a very low hiss from the speaker.  And if you didn't shut down, but cut power, usually restoring power within 30 seconds will cause loco to resume what it was doing.

I just timed the VO1000 with 3V boards, 8 seconds to the end of the sound, and 15 seconds to the last "click".

John,

I just timed the VO1000 with 3V boards, 8 seconds to the end of the sound, and 15 seconds to the last "click".

I'm with RJ. That's close enough to 30 seconds for government work.  

15 seconds is close to 30 seconds?

Well, the way our government has been working lately, I guess one could argue that's true.

John,

No, however, 23 (8 + 15) seconds is close enough to 30 seconds.

Before you guys argue over the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin, let me suggest that the tolerance of the electronics is such that it can vary.

Let me also make a confession:  I didn't use a stopwatch.  Just a WAG, a guesstimate.

How many Angels is that?

 Actually, the 15 seconds was the total elapsed time from the start.  The sound dropped out at 8 seconds, and the "final" click came at 15 seconds.

John,

My experience is the same as RJR's. 25-30 seconds before the board "forgets" that it's in a DCS environment.

We'll agree to agree to disagree, at least for the two I have here now.

I put both on the track for an hour with power to insure a decent charge on the battery, probably not necessary as they should be fine. 

I started both at 5 MPH and after they were rolling I killed the track power.  After 15 seconds I heard the VO1000 final click and at 17 seconds the SW1500.  I immediately turned on the power and they both stayed dark and motionless.

It's only a sample of two, but there it is.

John,

A better test is to turn off power to the track by toggling off a siding.  Then after 23 seconds, turn on the toggle. If the engine comes up in conventional mode, then 23 seconds is about right. If it stays dark and silent, the board still "remembers' that it's on a DCS layout.

Typically, I need to wait 30 seconds between power-on's to ensure that the engine forgets its previous mode of operation.

Good point about the siding, I was turning off the main power.  The TIU was still powered, but it got the WD signal, don't know if that affected my test.