Soul Survivor

Initially my deltic would not move off until throttle position 3 was reached on my Loksound programmer. When it did start to move there was some slight stuttering until it reached a higher speed. I decided to check CV2 (start voltage), found it was set to 1. I changed this to 2, on retesting the loco and I found it would now start moving off on throttle position 1, but the slight stuttering remained at lower speed. Revisited CV2 and rewrote the value to 3, on retesting the loco I was pleased to see it move off in a beautifully smooth manner with no stuttering whatsoever. I tested it running with sound off and sound on - perfect result in both cases! As I only run my locos on DCC I also took the opportunity to reduce CV29 from 30 to 26 to switch off DC.

Hi Rich, Which function key controls the cab lights depends on whose sound project you have. South Western Digital use F13, Legomanbiffo use F19 (others may differ). In both cases they are mapped to the Aux 1 output. You will need to leave the switch underneath the loco set to ON, so you can always control the cab lights via the allocated function key. On most of the recent Legomanbiffo sound projects the cab lights are set so they will switch off automatically when the loco moves off and then automatically come back on when the loco stops. Hope this helps.

Hi, the sound output of the sugar cube speaker is relatively quiet and lacking in bass reproduction. I would advice removing it and only installing the double iPhone speaker. You could attach the iPhone speaker using the speaker wires of the decoder or if speaker + & - pads exist on the loco PCB, solder the wires of the iPhone speaker to these pads (remove or insulate the speaker wires of the decoder if you use the second method). Hope this helps.

I have one of the V2’s with factory fitted sound. To date I’ve not experienced any running issues with it. If you are able to run it on DC I suggest swapping the installed sound decoder with the DC blanking plug which comes with the loco. If the problem still persists while running on DC then I suspect you are correct in your assumption that the motor is at fault.

Totally agree - but they’ll never rock my yellow submarine!

Depending on which sound project you have fitted you may be able to slow down and then stop the loco by braking via one of the function keys.

Thanks to your excellent YouTube video showing how to modify and improve the lighting on a Bachmann Class 37 I’m aware Aux 3&4 are logic level only and that I need to attach a booster board. The difference being I don’t wish to wire to the 21 pin socket direct as it is particularly difficult on the Bachmann Class 20. In this case it will be easier to wire to the decoder once I find out which of the solder pads is Aux 3&4 respectively. Cheers for the reply though!

I’m trying to locate the solder pads for Aux 3 & 4 on my LS4 decoder. The manual only shows the position of them (on page 23) for the Rev 41 type, not for the Rev 40 type (which I appear to have). Please see attached photo. I’ve ascertained which pads are for U+ & GND from the power pack diagram, however I cannot find out which of the pads I have numbered 1,2 & 4 are for Aux 3 & Aux 4 respectively. I’m hopeful someone can provide the answer for me. Thanks,

The reason I asked the question is because on DC Kits website it says ‘If using two speakers with a ESU Decoder they should be wired in Series’. Therefore I (incorrectly) assumed the speakers to be rated at 4ohms each. If they are rated at 8ohms each then that is good to know as I prefer to fit twin speakers in my locos wired in parallel.

Are these speakers rated at 4ohm or 8ohm?

Not a silly question at all...I’d say given Hornby’s scale of price increases over the past few years that is a wholly pertinent question. In the current RTR marketplace Oxford Rail appear to offer good value products, in particular their current and planned wagon range. I doubt Hornby will allowing retailers to be selling open wagons at £10, vans at £13 and tank wagons as low as £16. As for proposed new releases such as Pilchard wagons circa £13 and CS cranes circa £17, I don’t believe these price estimates will hold firm under Hornby ownership. I predict we will see an initial price increase of something like 25% across the wagon range, whether sold by Hornby through their main range, railroad range or newly acquired Oxford Rail range.

I had a similar problem with the new Bachmann 24 when I fitted it with an ESU Loksound 5 decoder. After checking wipers, wires, etc. and cleaning everything the problem remained. So I decided to remove the capacitors (RF suppressors) from the motor casing and that resolved the problem. You will have to remove the PCB to get to them, but thanks to all wiring being fitted with micro plugs it’s a straightforward job. While I had the PCB out I also removed the factory fitted speaker and enclosure, replacing them with two ESU sugar cube speakers wired in parallel (4 ohm), this certainly improves the sound quality and volume. (Not sure if that particular Zimo decoder needs a 4 or 8 ohm speaker though). Hope this helps, Peter

I purchased the loco from Richard. Thankfully he had milled out the chassis block above each of the bogies, this allows enough space for the fitting of two 24 x 30 x 5 speakers wired in parallel. As you can see from the photos I’ve mounted them in the roof firing the sound downwards, this seems to suit the Kestrel model as none of the fan grilles or exhausts are open. Hope this helps