Loksound 5 issue

[bart2day]

Hi everyone,

 

I bought two Loksound 5 decoders for my Bachmann S stock. They both work fine in one of the end cars but in the other it shorts out my whole DCC system when moving off in reverse and going forwards isn’t great either. All sound functions work fine. I also tried a Loksound 4 with a different sound file but with the same result. Sounds work, motor doesn’t.

 

I therefore assumed it was the train which was the issue, but it runs flawlessly on DC and with a Hornby 8pin Chip with 21pin adaptor works fine on DCC too so I’m struggling to work out if the issue is the decoder, train or if the train just doesn’t like the Loksound family.

 

Any help appreciated.

[pheaton]

So  I think you can rule an issue with decoders...because as you said the same issue present on a v4, I take it, it doesn't run with the sounds off?

 

DCC shorts may not be true shorts they are a large current draw and triggers a short circuit protection depending on the system, it sounds to me like a fault with the loco. Is it new have you run it in? also is it an electronic coupling? certain Bachmann units with electric couplings must be connected in a specific order, is this this case?

 

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by pheaton
grammar

[bart2day]

18 minutes ago, pheaton said:

So you I think you can rule an issue with decoders...because as you said the same issue present on a v4, I take it, it doesn't run with the sounds off?

 

DCC shorts may not be true shorts they are a large current draw and triggers a short circuit protection depending on the system, it sounds to me like a fault with the loco. Is it new have you run it in? also is it an electronic coupling? certain Bachmann units with electric couplings must be connected in a specific order, is this this case?

 

 

 

Hi Pheaton,

 

Thanks for your reply. Yes it doesn’t run with the sounds off either. The loco has been run in and I have been running it in DC with no problems. I recently converted my layout to DCC so this is the first time I have put a decoder in it. 

 

No the couplings on the S stock are not electric.

[pheaton]

see here bart2day in andy's post I notice the S stock has an open core motor...have you tried running it with the body off in case something is fouling the armature?

 

 

 

[wiggy1]

20 hours ago, bart2day said:

Hi everyone,

 

I bought two Loksound 5 decoders for my Bachmann S stock. They both work fine in one of the end cars but in the other it shorts out my whole DCC system when moving off in reverse and going forwards isn’t great either. All sound functions work fine. I also tried a Loksound 4 with a different sound file but with the same result. Sounds work, motor doesn’t.

 

I therefore assumed it was the train which was the issue, but it runs flawlessly on DC and with a Hornby 8pin Chip with 21pin adaptor works fine on DCC too so I’m struggling to work out if the issue is the decoder, train or if the train just doesn’t like the Loksound family.

 

Any help appreciated.

 

Are you running it with 2x 21 pin sound decoders or an 8 pin with the 21 pin adaptor?

Does it still fail in the faulty car with both the loksound decoders if you swap them over?

Dose sound like a faulty drive car as you say it's failing in reverse and forward not good either.

 

Wiggy.

[bart2day]

2 hours ago, wiggy1 said:

 

Are you running it with 2x 21 pin sound decoders or an 8 pin with the 21 pin adaptor?

Does it still fail in the faulty car with both the loksound decoders if you swap them over?

Dose sound like a faulty drive car as you say it's failing in reverse and forward not good either.

 

Wiggy.

 

They are both Loksound 5 21 pin decoders. No adaptor.

Yes tried swapping them over and they both fail in it.

Thats what I thought but it does run (albeit sluggishly) with a Hornby 8pin and 21 pin adaptor. It’s almost as if it has something against Loksound decoders. 

Edited February 18, 2020 by bart2day

[55020]

One simple option that sometimes produces great results if a Loksound decoder is acting up is to disable DC running.  Maybe give it a try.  Lokprogrammer shows the following CV changes:

 

CV29  =  26
CV50  =   0

 

Before you change the CVs make a note of what they are at the moment, in case you want to reset them back again.

 

 

 

Steve

[Hamburger]

Maybe think about the following:

 

If you put a 21pin decoder into a 21pin interface, all 21 pins are live and all connections on the circuit board in the car might be live, too.

If you put an 8pin decoder via adaptor into the inteface, just 8 pins on the interface and just 8 connections on the circuit board are live.

 

Maybe the problem happens on one of the remaining 13 connections on the circuit board which are not live when using the 8pin decoder?

 

Does the car have rear lights on Aux2 ? 

This is not connected on the 8pin and could be direction dependent, so maybe the problem is there?

Edited February 20, 2020 by Hamburger

[pheaton]

22 hours ago, Hamburger said:

Maybe think about the following:

 

If you put a 21pin decoder into a 21pin interface, all 21 pins are life and all connections on the circuit board in the car might be life, too.

If you put an 8pin decoder via adaptor into the inteface, just 8 pins on the interface and just 8 connections on the circuit board are life.

 

Maybe the problem happens on one of the remaining 13 connections on the circuit board which are not life when using the 8pin decoder?

 

Sometimes the simplest things lead you to the answer!

[bart2day]

On 19/02/2020 at 14:19, Hamburger said:

Maybe think about the following:

 

If you put a 21pin decoder into a 21pin interface, all 21 pins are live and all connections on the circuit board in the car might be live, too.

If you put an 8pin decoder via adaptor into the inteface, just 8 pins on the interface and just 8 connections on the circuit board are live.

 

Maybe the problem happens on one of the remaining 13 connections on the circuit board which are not live when using the 8pin decoder?

 

Does the car have rear lights on Aux2 ? 

This is not connected on the 8pin and could be direction dependent, so maybe the problem is there?

 

This is interesting and I think you might be almost certainly right about it being one of the other 13 connections. Im not sure if it’s the rear lights though as the short only happens when moving off so whatever is malfunctioning must surely have something to do with the motor?

Edited February 22, 2020 by bart2day