tractor_37260 Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Anyone know if Bachmann are using V4 Loksounds in their latest sound fitted locos, and future releases ? TIA Ken Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevpeo Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Just changed the cv's for a friend on his brand new Hornby 31, still a v3.5. Mr Bachman told me at Ally Pally that all future Bachman's are v4 and that they'd already shipped 4 thousand to China! I'll confirm this when I get my 37 049. kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Logically, they and Hornby will use up existing stocks of v3.5 LokSounds before switching production over to the v4s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakydoke Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Just changed the cv's for a friend on his brand new Hornby 31, still a v3.5. That " brand new" model (generically speaking) could have been produced 6 months, a year, or two years ago, depending on when that particular model was released. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliebanger Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 It pays not to assume anything, especially from dates of production/sale. I was surprised to find a recently purchased Schools Class, St Paul's, was equiped by Hornby with a Lok V3.0. Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Short of hooking the loco up to a Lokprogrammer and checking, I doubt that the majority of purchasers will really notice. The problem starts when the dealer becomes aware that there are purchasers expecting V4 and all the stock is V3.5. Do you own up and lose a sale or ship it and hope? I wonder whether Bachmann and indeed Hornby will offer an upgrade service. I also wonder about those dealers who stock pre recorded chips and are currently holding stocks of V3.5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Short of hooking the loco up to a Lokprogrammer and checking, I doubt that the majority of purchasers will really notice. I think an expert user could tell with a handful of CV checks via any command station with a programming track, LokProgrammer not required! eg. explore the RailCom CV's (don't need Railcom to set and read them, though RailCom would make it trivial to inspect on an up-to-date ESU ECoS), or the range of volume settings which actually alters the sound emerging, or some of the other new features. I agree that the vast majority of purchasers won't notice - they probably wouldn't notice if it was a different make of sound decoder. The problem starts when the dealer becomes aware that there are purchasers expecting V4 and all the stock is V3.5. Do you own up and lose a sale or ship it and hope? I wonder whether Bachmann and indeed Hornby will offer an upgrade service. I doubt it - essentially you would be asking the makers to throw away a v3.5 chip to install a v4.0 chip. Not cost effective, better to let the handful of customers who really care do it themselves on the aftermarket. I also wonder about those dealers who stock pre recorded chips and are currently holding stocks of V3.5 I think most of the bigger names in pre-recorded sounds have been running with fairly low stock levels, particularly after the problems caused by wild swings in currencies a few years ago. The problem will be the very small general train dealers who shift a handful of chips now and then, perhaps with the stock SWD recordings on them. They have to decide whether to sell quick at a discount, or hold stock which might never sell. - Nigel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Garry D100 Posted April 26, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 26, 2011 I'll confirm this when I get my 37 049. kev. Just had the chip out of my 37049 and on the main chip its engraved LSV35 (LokSound V3.5?) which i assume answers the question as i cannot see anything else on the other chips that indicates a version number. HTH.. Garry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brittannia Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 An easy way to check whether a Loksound Chip is V4 is that cvs are double that of V3.5 .eg sound range goes upto 128 against the 64 of a 3.5 Decoder Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor_37260 Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 Short of hooking the loco up to a Lokprogrammer and checking, I doubt that the majority of purchasers will really notice. The problem starts when the dealer becomes aware that there are purchasers expecting V4 and all the stock is V3.5. Do you own up and lose a sale or ship it and hope? I wonder whether Bachmann and indeed Hornby will offer an upgrade service. I also wonder about those dealers who stock pre recorded chips and are currently holding stocks of V3.5 I would have thought, taking off the body and checking the speaker impedance, provided it's marked ? would be one quick and easy way - if 100ohms = V3.5 ESU recommend a 4ohm speaker or 2x8ohms in parallel for the V4 . The V4 chip has also a different IC layout to the V3.5. simples -) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevpeo Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 As Brittannia alludes to above the quickest (but not foolproof!) way to tell them apart is to read back cv63. If its value is above 64 its a v4! Ps, the 31 was the latest red stripe railfreight one so the loco's not old stock. Chip obviously is! Kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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