ESU Loksound Select - what's wrong with it?

[Chrisr40]

<br>Sorry to butt in folks....<br>May I suggest it might be worth contacting their UK distributor, or premier dealer and alerting them to the potential interest, as well as making direct contact with Digitrax in the USA.<div><br></div><div>it might also be worth mentioning to Hornby and Bachmann, that there are cheaper alternatives available that could make sound fitted locos more appealing and affordable to a wider audience.<br><br><br>

 

</div>

 

yup good idea -

[craigwelsh]

Thanks Dave

 

shame that I thought we had a viable off the shelf alternative to the ESU monopoly.

Thanks again

Chris

Not sure what you mean here, you need a dedicated sound programmer for the ESU chips too.

 

I doubt we'll ever get a situation where you could load sound onto a decoder via the DCC track bus!

[Chrisr40]

Not sure what you mean here, you need a dedicated sound programmer for the ESU chips too.

 

I doubt we'll ever get a situation where you could load sound onto a decoder via the DCC track bus!

 

 

Hi - maybe a misunderstanding of what I meant - probably my fault. What I was asking was if the digitrax new unit could just be dropped into a loco and work in synch with the motion just like an ESU normally can. For example the super d chip I have fitted myself was just a case of plug it in and solder the speaker connections - all done

 

I was hoping that the new digitrax once programmed with a uk sound project by a third party such as the howes or swd's of this world would be as user friendly and not need tweaking with a suitable controller to alter cv's

 

I only have an ez command so Im looking for as simple a route as possible.

 

Thanks

 

Chris

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

Hi - maybe a misunderstanding of what I meant - probably my fault. What I was asking was if the digitrax new unit could just be dropped into a loco and work in synch with the motion

 

The short answer is no. See below.

 

For example the super d chip I have fitted myself was just a case of plug it in and solder the speaker connections - all done

 

Someone has spent many hours slaving over a Lokprogrammer for you to do just that.

 

I was hoping that the new digitrax once programmed with a uk sound project by a third party such as the howes or swd's of this world would be as user friendly and not need tweaking with a suitable controller to alter cv's

 

See above but substitute PR3 for Lokprogrammer.

 

I only have an ez command so Im looking for as simple a route as possible.

 

I am not sure that EZ command has function control. Good function control, preferably one which tells you which function is currently on or off, is vital for all sound chips and there is no such thing as an easy (or cheap) route to good sound.

[eldavo]

... Whats the motor control like ?

 

I may have spoken too soon! Having been very impressed with the fact I can program the sound projects on these chips I then took my 58 along for a blast round the club 00 gauge roundy roundy layout. Bang it on the track, connect up my controller, dial up the address and away goes the sounds. Turn the throttle and... ...absolutely nothing!

 

Eventaually I found that if I do a chip reset (CV8 = 8) the loco wakes up and I can drive it. Unfortunately it also randomly stops and resets. Not only that but eventually it will stop and I lose all motor control again. Another chip reset starts it up again! Arghhhh!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thinking maybe it is the current draw of the Heljan mechanism or a fault with the loco I tried it in one of my Hornby 08s. The loco runs beautifully with a cheapo Hornby 8215 chip but plug in the Digitrax and exactly the same, stop, reset, stop, dead! I've also tried the N gauge version of this chip and it randomly resets as well though at least it does still try to movo the loco!

 

It looks as though Digitrax are still trying hard to go bankrupt. I am absolutely amazed that they can screw up what has the potential to be a market leader. I am contacting the retailers of the chips to see what is to be done.

 

Cheers

Dave ( heartily frustrated)

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

It looks as though Digitrax are still trying hard to go bankrupt. I am absolutely amazed that they can screw up what has the potential to be a market leader. I am contacting the retailers of the chips to see what is to be done.

 

Cheers

Dave ( heartily frustrated)

 

This is not the first time that Digitrax have launched a decoder and indeed other gear that just doesn't work. I seems particularly prevalent in their sound decoder offerings but it seems that any upgrade of existing product also unleashes a torrent of problems which take some time to resolve.

 

I am a member of the Digitrax Sound Group on Yahoo. No apparent problems such as you describe on there when I last looked. It might be worth joining and posting. I have solved quite few problems on Digitrax Yahoo Groups over the years.

 

It is fortunate that their command station and other layout based gear works as well as it does and is nearly bombproof. Complaints mostly come from their decoders. I am fairly sure that they have bought in this sound decoder technology and the move to Florida lost them quite a few techies.