mikeg

I have a Zimo sound decoder with a southern Q1 sound file, is it possible to change an individual sound as all the function sound is OK but the exhaust chuffs have gone quiet, about half volume, I have checked CV266 and that has a value of 70 which the sheet that comes with the decoder says is the recommended setting. The sound file is one of Paul Chetters who’s helped me before but I can’t find his email or contact details hence my question here. regards mike

Matt that’s exactly what I was doing and I accidentally moved F6 off the top of the frame, not sure how I did it but can’t put it back. regards mike

I have accidentally moved F6 from the square it was in upto the top control one position so that the F6 is above frame of the border of the function boxes. Can anyone tell me how to move it back to its correct position? I can move any function to any other function positions but the one I accidentally moved does not move but still works and is visible in front of the “Control One’ but looks wrong! Hope that somebody knows how to replace, or do I have to re input the loco. regards mike

RAF96 thanks for your reply, I tried another loco without sound to check the NCE was working and it was so knew that it was OKAY and didn’t need resetting. Although I had asked my friend to try the class 5 on Monday he hadn’t so yesterday I tried it and it was working, so I think that it had got to hot and the chip automatically cut out, which I read could happen on one of the other forums but had forgotten! Thanks again for your help, regards Mike

A friend has a factory fitted Hornby class5, it’s been running ok but the last time it was run it did 5 laps of his layout and then stopped dead the sound was still working but it would not run. I thought it might have cutout so we left it for about 10 minutes and tried to get it to run but it still had the sound working. Has anybody had this happen to a Hornby TTS fitted loco, my friends loco is about 9 months old and has only been run 3 or 4 times with no problem, I thought it best not to take the body off as it is still under warranty. If I get no answer to this problem my friends going to send it back to Hornby if he can find the receipt. Thanks for any help you can provide, regards mike

Thanks Keith, is there a good uk supplier that I could use to purchase the Buck converters, I don’t use online shopping I prefer to deal direct and pay cash (it’s an age thing). I have decided that I am not going to convert any of the other coaches and will run a supply from the one I have already done, I have the miniature 2 pin plugs & sockets that can go under the couplings as they will be out of sight, that’s one advantage of O gauge. Thanks again for your help and time. regards

Keith I have had to drop the output voltage of the Z21 as half the points on my layout did not work when set at 16 volts but set at 13 the accessory bus measurement is 12 volts and all the points now work and the loco’s still operate OKAY. There is plenty of room for large components in 4 out of the 5 coaches there is a space approximately 60x40x40 the odd one is the size of two AA batteries stood on end (a toilet compartment). I am starting to think that my best option is a medium size chip with a small resistance to allow programming then run two wires through the coaches to work the rest. Fixing pickups to 1 coach was not easy but to do 4 more life is to short! Regards mike

Thanks Richard, I have put in a bridge rectifier across track supply and it’s output voltage is 12.5 so I can workout what I need from you answer. Having now checked all the coaches I have been wondering if it would be possible to connect them all together from the one set of pickups, I think I can get small 2 pin plug & socket connectors for between the coaches and as I can now get to the copper strips in each coach I could easily join them all together. Can you see any problem with this approach and can I just add all the amps together and use one resister to the supply in the pickup coach? Hope I am not being a pest but electrics is not something that I fully understand so thanks for your help and time. Regards mike

If the 33 is one of the original the noise might be due to cracked gears, this is a known problem and to find out you need to remove the bogie base plates and closely inspect the gears being driven by the worm if they are cracked a black line will be seen in the bottom of one of the teeth. Hope this helps and you don’t have any cracked but I have several of the diesels and have repaired several but still have some that don’t make a lot of noise and run them slowly so they are quiet. regards mike

An update, I have managed to find the end of the connections between the batteries and the copper strips and have unsoldered it and have been able to measure the amps for the lights. A coach with 10 LEDs measured 0.2 amps, another with 14 LEDs was 0.33 amps. I have 3 others that have 8, 12 & 13 but have not been able to measure the amps as the batteries are flat and I thought that as they are all wired up the same the amps will be between the 0.2 & 0.33, so can a solution be given. The track voltage is 12.9v DCC which I have checked and the batteries are 2 AA in series and measure 2.7 to 2.9 volts they are approximately 20 years old but have not been used for long periods, I have used them 5 to 7 times in the 6 years I have had them. I hope that you now have all the information you require, the lock down period has been very useful for sorting out my models and layout. regards mike

Iain, an update I found that the track power was at 19.8 volts although the rampmeter was showing 13 and the Z21 was showing 13 so I reset the Z21 then checked the track my multimeter gave a track voltage of 12.8. I then found that all the points worked correctly. I have no idea how that the Z21 came to be set at 19.8 volts but I did know that you need to have 9 - 12 volts for cobalts to work correctly, I think that the Z21 may have been reset as a result of a short shortly after I built the layout but never thought to check the voltage, will know in future to check if I get any problems. regards mike

Iain the Roco one is way above my budget, I have a rampmeter in the wiring before both bus’s which shows 0.18amps total and 0.02amps with the track switched off, I have 12 cobalt point motors so I am not sure what the problem is but I have many times read that people have had power problems and a booster solves the problem. I asked for any thoughts about the TV booster as it is in budget but if it’s not compatible with the Z21 I did not want to waste my limited cash. Hope this makes my post more understandable. Regards mike

Has anyone used one with a Z21 and if so what power supply did you use. I have a problem with the accessory bus on my layout some points work and others don’t unless I switch off the track bus so think that it’s a power problem. I have points that are wired from the same place on the bus 1 works the other only when the track is switched off, there are 4 connections in total that do this so I think it must be the power so thought that a separate booster will be the best option and the Tam Valley one is the cheapest. Your thoughts please. regards mike

Norman, I have rechecked CV29 and it now reads 50 which is what I have recorded it set to on purchase, also I have been able to download the English version of the manual but find it confusing as it says that aux4&5 can’t be used for anything requiring power but on other chips all aux outputs are generally used for lights and accessories. When the chip was originally installed the fans worked but the wiring for them and one bogie has become loose and I have no record other than the motor supply where the wires should go. I had hoped that ESU users would be able to help but it appears that they don’t know the answer. regards mike

I had hoped that somebody could answer my question, I am not a fan of ESU chips and normally use Zimo which I find easy to program and wire up where required. I only have 3 loksound and have had problems with each one, hence why I use Zimo now. Mike

PS Blvrace, it’s definitely not aux 1, aux 1&2 are for the lights as the wiring diagram is clearly showing that aux 1 to 3 are for lights. Thanks for your reply I think that I will see if I can find out if aux 4 has any power and how to allocate a function to switch it on and off. I am sure that somebody will know what is the best way to do it. regards mike PS also CV29 is set at 54 which to me does not appear to be correct but it is the setting that the supplier had set, I don’t want to change it in case it needs to be for the sound control.

I have an O gauge Deltic with a locsound V4/7 chip can anyone tell me which contacts the fans should be attached to? The handbook that came with the chip is in German so I am not sure what goes where, I got the chip from the BRM Peterborough show some time ago and I can’t find the instructions that came with it. The loco has been working until just before lockdown and one bogie stopped working so I thought it was due to split gears, on investigation I found that one of the motor wires had come out of the chip but also one of the fan supply was also loose but I have no idea where it should go, I know that I have had them working as the PCB has an adjustable pot that is marked with the setting when I installed the chip. I found that the gears are working OK but on both bogies the worm wheel is split on the boss but not the gear itself. Thanks for any help you can give. regards mike

Hi Matt I have exactly what you have suggested, but the total loco roster I wanted in numerical order to make it easier to find the loco that I wished to adjust. I often use my 0-4-0 sentinal that’s got the original decoder as bought that I use to test any layout changes as I know that if it runs OK I have every thing working as it should. I have been using both android and apple apps which although work the same have different ways of editing the app and is sometimes confusing but I think I am now fairly sure I have got it right! regards mike

Wacol, thanks for your reply I have tried it and it works so I will now edit my phone and iPad to get the 30+ loco’s in numerical order it will make finding the one that I want much easier. regards mike

Hi Matt, I do not have the symbols that you describe, I have the + sign and the word edit and if I press the edit I get a red circle with a white bar across which allows you to delete the loco, the + sign gets a drop down menu to add wagons, loco’s etc and I think you have the update app that I don’t like, but thanks for your quick reply, I think I will have to use roster as it is for now and limit the number of loco’s active on the layout. regards mike

Is there a way to sort the loco roster into numerical order for loco’s. I think that I have seen a post about this subject soon after the Z21 was introduced but can’t find anything using the search engine. I am using the original version as I don’t like the colours of the new app, but think it might have a sort as one of the earlier updates. Any help would be much appreciated. regards mike

I have been trying to find a photo for the above but have drawn a blank, I think the one that I wish to model was demolished when the link road was built, I think it was a pair of arched gates with ornate brick pillars either side and there might have been a small side gate? The last time I saw the gateway was in 1966 but I think it was still there around 1980 as I visited the in-laws and it was the last time that I remember using West Street to get to their house. Hoping that somebody might have a photo if they used that gate on an open day. regards mike

Geoff, I have been using a Z21 for O gauge for 4 years and I have run Heljan double motor diesels with no problem although they are supposed to be current hungry I have found that the max amps mine draw is 1.7 and the new RTR Dapol loco’s draw less than 0.5 amps even with a heavy train. So you can run what ever you want with the Z21. regards mike