Bricktrix Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 As the title suggests, can anyone knowledgable shed some light for me please? Trying to keep this as short as possible. Its a LOKsound V4 soundchip, opperated via an NCE system, withDB5 booster and Powercab and Procab handsets. Had the chip about a week now from Biffo, (Deltic soundchip). I also have a LOK programmer so have been setting everything up as usual, to all the settings I know work for all my motor bogies (they are all the same / performance wise, etc, so the same settings always work) Re-wrote the soundfiles last night (new file provided by Biff) and all working well. Test running was all good with all sounds working correctly. Did more testing tonight not even for 5 minutes (did not have the engine sounds playing), had a de-railment at low speed so stopped the chip, lifted loco off track, adjusted bogie and replaced on track. Chip DEAD! There was no pop sound, the chip wasnt hotter than usual and certainly no smoke. I thought everything was okay until I tried to move it again with the throttle. I've swapped the chip over into other locos, and its dead on all of them, no sounds, no movement. (I've not checked the lights).......I've put other chips into the loco that killed this one and they all work with it. I've checked all the wiring, all appears well along with checking the chip for any obvious signs of something overheating (can take large hi-res pics if needed) So after doing all that about 6 times, I've connected the chip back upto a motor bogie and speaker and put it on my programmer. With the chip disconnected, the programmer read nothing (obviously). With the chip connected the programmer did a read, but the motor wasnt doing its usual multiclick thing that it usually does when being read or written to. Its read all the settings that were on the chip which has baffled me. However, if I try to do an indivdual cv read .i.e cv29, it says it cant read the cv and thats the same across the board with all seperate cv's I've tried to read. Trying to play sounds or operate motor control via the programmer results in nothing. So I'm clueless now as to whats happened? Presumably if the chip was fried it wouldnt do a read, and if its re-set itself would the read not be all the initial settings before my adjustments? Can anyone help please?....I was loving this soundchip and the way everything was working with it. Its frightened me that something as simple as a derailment has somehow killed it, which for one minute I dont think was the cause. The only thing I can think of thats different with this model is the fact I'm using 2 speakers soldered together, and this happened when they werent playing. They are 8ohm's, soldered with red to red, black to black (so I think taking them down to 4ohm?) Heatshrink is around the 2 pin connectors so there are no bare wires exposed anywhere, again pics can be taken if needed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowlander Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Hi My advise would be to contact Charlie at Dc kits. Both Charlie and Bif are very helpful when it comes to things like this. They both read this forum, so chances are one of them will post an answer for you. Hope that helps Stephen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
legomanbiffo Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Gary, Strange one that, probably just an unlucky / coincidental failure with the derailment. The failure profile of most electronic components (and indeed most manufactured products) follow a 'bath tub curve' where there are some early failures as a result of manufacturing defects and the like, then a plateau with very few or no failures, then they start to rise again as a result of age. As you've got the programmer, you could try Tools > Update Decoder Firmware, then reload the file I sent you. It might be an idea to make sure you're using the latest version of the Lokprogrammer software (4.4.8 beforehand though. If that doesn't fix it, please return the chip to me and I'll check / fix / replace it as necessary. As you may have read elsewhere on this forum, Charlie and I take customer service very seriously so please don't hesitate to come to us. Bif Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Just a thought (and only if it is a wire harness decoder, not 21-pin), could one of the track pickup wires or brush feed wires have come adrift? If there is no read, I'd check the track wires first, either at the decoder end or at the plug end. If it is a 21-pin decoder then those possibilities are precluded because other decoders worked in that loco. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bricktrix Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Thanks guys / Biff. (Btw, its Carl) I didnt want to trouble you or Charlie until I found out if there was anything I could try to do myself to fix it. I will try your suggestion tonight and see how that goes, but I'm fairly sure I'm running all the latest versions of software and firmware. One of my friends has said its almost like the chips lost its address. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold pheaton Posted January 10, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2014 Ive had a Bachmann issued class 45 chip do the same as yours, read but not play sounds or move, but would read....until I tried to change the address described by ESU on return to them as motor output defective..... Derailment shouldn't cause a problem like that my Hornby stuff always derails, and so far touchwood ive only had 1 chip fail on me but that was more down to volume overdriving the amplifier circuit. If a reflash doesent solve it then I would say its gone.....most likely just one of those things rather than a defect with your model.....have you removed all of the caps? reading the chip in the lokprogrammer is "address independent" when you test it using the "drivers cab" if it doesn't play through there then I would say its fairly terminal. But biff has said he will sort you out so all isn't lost. I seem to recall in the early days a lot of people were killing chips by shorting the purple wire any experts able to shed any light on that? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelp Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Gary, Strange one that, probably just an unlucky / coincidental failure with the derailment. The failure profile of most electronic components (and indeed most manufactured products) follow a 'bath tub curve' where there are some early failures as a result of manufacturing defects and the like, then a plateau with very few or no failures, then they start to rise again as a result of age. As you've got the programmer, you could try Tools > Update Decoder Firmware, then reload the file I sent you. It might be an idea to make sure you're using the latest version of the Lokprogrammer software (4.4.8 beforehand though. If that doesn't fix it, please return the chip to me and I'll check / fix / replace it as necessary. As you may have read elsewhere on this forum, Charlie and I take customer service very seriously so please don't hesitate to come to us. Bif Isn't it a pity that some retailers and traders don't always follow the above excellent example of customer care and satisfaction! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bricktrix Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Quick update, as suspected I've just tried the Update decoder firmware option and it was upto date. So I then clicked the re-set to factory option which it did and it auto re-installed my settings, or at least appears to have, but I'm still getting no response from the Drivers cab section of the programmer. Biff I'll email you regarding getting this sent back to you, thank you very much Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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