Kato DCC problems

[Richie Kynaston]

Chaps,

 

HEEEELLLLPPPP! 

 

I do not know if anyone can help me here. I have a Kato N Gauge General Electric AC4400CW model.  It was acquired second hand from Rails and worked fine on DCC (motor only, these are not sound decoders), no problems at all.  When trying to double-head it with another Kato model (a GE ES44AC) the two were always fighting.  The AC4400CW was faster on the same speed step than the ES44.  Now i do not know whose decoder is in these, they were purchased second hand with the decoders fitted.

 

I attempted to try changing some CVs, but it appeared to have no effect at all.  So as I trial, I changed the address by adding 100 to the number.  I use a Digitrax system, the box beeped as it does, the loco shuffled a couple of millimeters, but strangely was still on the old address. Various other settings were tried, each time it responded as if it should have set correctly, but nothing had actually changed.  Reaching a point of frustration, I wondered if it was the Digitrax system so as i owned a RR-Cirkits USB connector, I downloaded Decoder Pro.  This is where I failed miserably!  I cannot read any settings into Decoder Pro from the loco, I have tried setting different CVs, to no effect, half the time the software says its lost connectivity with the DCC system.  Somehow (I haven't a clue how) I managed to reset the decoder to address 3 - but now its acceleration is not smooth, but almost does full power between speed steps 0-15, until you hit 16, when it just drops to a crawl - 16-99 is a gradual increase in acceleration.  Slow down to 16, your crawling, 15 flys off and then has visual changes in speed as you drop back to 0.

 

Nothing i do seems to be able to change anything. I wondered if my Digitrax system was at fault, so took it to a friends, connected it to a OO gauge metre length, put a loco with a zimo decoder and everything works fine - change the address ... loco itches forwards a mm or two, select the new address and it smoothly sets off. So the DCC system must be fine, its the decoder that is at fault - but how, what, why and how to resolve it I have no idea.

 

Can anyone offer any advice, support or thoughts?  I cannot even find a help manual as there is nothing on the DCC circuit board in the loco to say what make, brand or model the decoder is.  I have come to the conclusion it is either a bespoke Kato board, or it is a drop-in board by a third party manufacturer, as it includes the diodes for the forward/rev lights.

 

As a last ditch attempt, I am toying with just replacing the entire decoder and trying to see if i can get a Soundtraxx Tsunami2 decoder that i can hardwire in ... could be a challenge in N - but one aim was to try and get sound onboard.  Has anyone done this?  Otherwise, I just do not know what to do next!

 

Richie

Edited July 11, 2019 by Richie Kynaston
Spelling

[Wacol]

TCS do drop in decoders for Kato N gauge models. Looks like a K1D4 would be the appropriate decoder.

Also if the existing decoder is a TCS one, they will repair it, possibly at no charge.

 

Wacol

 

 

[jpendle]

The vast majority of US manufactured decoders for US outline loco's are drop in replacement PCBs that are swapped with the manufacturer's DC PCB.

You should still be able to read back the manufacturer ID from CV8.

 

Regards,

 

John P

[Richie Kynaston]

 

 

1

5 hours ago, Wacol said:

TCS do drop in decoders for Kato N gauge models. Looks like a K1D4 would be the appropriate decoder.

Also if the existing decoder is a TCS one, they will repair it, possibly at no charge.

 

Wacol

 

Thanks Wacol - yes that would be an option. If I'm going to have to buy a new decoder then I am suspecting it is the ideal time to try and put sound it in.  Not sure its a TCS one in already, as there are no TCS markings, and i've bought a TCS decoder for one of the other locos.

 

 

 

 

2

11 minutes ago, jpendle said:

The vast majority of US manufactured decoders for US outline loco's are drop in replacement PCBs that are swapped with the manufacturer's DC PCB.

You should still be able to read back the manufacturer ID from CV8.

 

Thanks John,

Yes that was my thought, but when you try and read it back .. its just blank.

 

Richie

[sunbeam.20]

A few brands are confident enough to have the make and sometimes  the model on the chip. If you remove the shells you may be able to identify them that way. I have also used image search to identify by checking against the common brands when they don't read properly.

A common reset is cv8 to 8, or try cv30 to 2, or perhaps cv8 to 33 for Lenz.

However if they won't program it is probably time to replace.

Matthew

https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201489365-Master-list-of-Decoder-Resets-by-Manufacturer-?mobile_site=true

 

Edited July 13, 2019 by sunbeam.20
wanted to tidy

[Nigelcliffe]

If its a US diesel, in N, with a complete-PCB-decoder - ie. something which totally replaces the DC running PCB, then there are only a handful of contenders.  My list would be:  Digitrax, MRC, NCE, Soundtraxx, TCS, and after that I can't think of any.   From that you might be able to search for images of relevant decoders from those makers and see if you can make a visual match.   

Not reading back, my suspect list would put MRC at top of the list, then NCE, and the others equal third.  

 

The behaviour might be as simple as CV29.  Manually calculate the value you need in CV29, and then write that into CV29. 

CV29 calculator that I wrote years ago:    http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29 calculator.htm