lwnameplates Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 hello all im looking for some advice please. i have the Dapol western prince and on DC works great i have installed dcc sound from legoman and all great but all of a sudden now and again it would stop lights flickering and sound goes off and sounds like it plays about half a second then stutters. i tonight put the western chip in my class 68 to try it and works like a dream i try the western with a normal 21 pin decoder for it to stop and lights start to flicker and well im banging my head against a wall not had this for a few months but never get anywhere trying to solve the issue. if there is anything i can help with here please ask away cos im not quiet sure what else i need to try. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davy crockett Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Try cleaning the track and wheels on the Western, Class 68s will run on dirty track but not 52s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwnameplates Posted December 3, 2020 Author Share Posted December 3, 2020 thanks davy, i have had a clean of the track and wheels but it hasnt helped, iv been told to try the pickups as they are on the bearing? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted December 3, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 3, 2020 Ha ha ....! Forgive me for chuckling.... I have had the same issue here with Western Lord. Which has been a pain.... but no longer, sorted last night Remove the motor suppressors. There are two to do.... as you have been in already to fit sound then it shouldn’t be a problem. They are both orange blobs... capacitors... one on the PCB next to the chip, the other across the motor brushes. The one on the circuit board needs replacing across the pads with a bit of wire, the one across the motor brushes can just be carefully snipped off. 10 minute job! Fixed mine which had the same problems as you describe. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwnameplates Posted December 3, 2020 Author Share Posted December 3, 2020 hi phil. iv been trolling the internet and the person with a answer found out last night talk about timing. i will get my soldering iron out tonight and attack this one, thank you very much for the advice. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted December 3, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 3, 2020 42 minutes ago, lwnameplates said: hi phil. iv been trolling the internet and the person with a answer found out last night talk about timing. i will get my soldering iron out tonight and attack this one, thank you very much for the advice. Hope the answer is the same! Let us know how you get on.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwnameplates Posted December 3, 2020 Author Share Posted December 3, 2020 hiya phil. just spent a while soldering (shakey hands takes me a while haha ) and well i have lovely Maybach music playing uninterrupted its music to my ears thank you very much for the advice 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted December 3, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 3, 2020 Ah that’s great..... what could be better! Glad I could help Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pteremy Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Out of curiosity...what were the capacitors supposed to do and why are they expendable? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwnameplates Posted December 3, 2020 Author Share Posted December 3, 2020 well after a few hours running in tests on simpleton jct test track all seem to wirk well although the horns do have different tones each end never noticed that before. in this image you can see the prince of clag stood next to a cat waiting to reive the next token haha Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Pteremy said: Out of curiosity...what were the capacitors supposed to do and why are they expendable? They are there to suppress interference & smooth out voltage spikes. The decoder does all this. Many decoders can also provide smoother running by detecting the spikes. This is more difficult if the suppressor is smoothing them anyway. Some steam sound decoders (ESU & Zimo ones) also use these spikes to read the motor speed in order to synchronise the exhaust beat. Ideally the capacitors should be on the blanking plugs so they are removed with the plug. They can be a bit big for this though. Hornby's 8 pin blanks have an extra component on them. I assume this is a suppression capacitor but I've never felt the need to investigate. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwnameplates Posted December 4, 2020 Author Share Posted December 4, 2020 i guess my next question about these is how do you turn the lights down on the cab and headcode cos they are waaaaayyyyyyy too bright i know it will be a c.v change but no idea which ones. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 I was thinking that when I saw the photo - like something from Close Encounters ... !! Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 1 hour ago, lwnameplates said: i guess my next question about these is how do you turn the lights down on the cab and headcode cos they are waaaaayyyyyyy too bright i know it will be a c.v change but no idea which ones. Having consulted the manual, that doesn't look like something which I have an easy answer for (If I had fiddled with lighting myself I may be in a better position to answer. p.79 & 80 of the manual explains this but it looks a bit fiddly. Standard disclaimer - always back up/record your CVs before making any changes. I could upload a copy of the manual but it is much better to give you a link to it: http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/instruction-manuals/digital-decoders/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwnameplates Posted December 4, 2020 Author Share Posted December 4, 2020 thank you will have a look tonight and get them changed, and first time i turned lights on i thought i was gunna get 3rd degree burns 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwnameplates Posted December 4, 2020 Author Share Posted December 4, 2020 ok after reading that i still have no idea only want to turn the cab lights down haha Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 (edited) I've fitted a few cab lighting kits into some of my diesels and thought the white too bright and bright (white) - if you understand what I mean. Being right on the roof (inside) they're out of sight, so I simply cut a piece of clear plastic - part of the 'ice cube packaging' for example - and painted amber .... amount of paint used helps as well at times. Colour tint is perfect - dullish, amber, not brilliant white. Al. Edited December 5, 2020 by atom3624 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwnameplates Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 thats a good idea maybe have to look into that 16 hours ago, atom3624 said: I've fitted a few cab lighting kits into some of my diesels and thought the white to bright and bright (white) - if you understand what I mean. Being right on the roof (inside) they're out of sight, so I simply cut a piece of clear plastic - part of the 'ice cube packaging' for example - and painted amber .... amount of paint used helps as well at times. Colour tint is perfect - dullish, amber, not brilliant white. Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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