Hey guys. I just got a new Rivarossi Allegheny with a loksound v4 decoder in it. I ran it for the first time last night, and everything works fine, except the bell isn't working.
When I press the Bell button or F1 the bell sound doesn't come on.
Any ideas? I haven't tried a decoder reset yet, I can try that. But I've never had this problem before, weird?
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Two possibilities:
1. The bell has been mapped to a different function key -- have you tried other keys to see what happens?
2. The decoder's bell volume CV has been set to zero.
I suggest that you download the V4.0 LokSound manual from ESU's web site and try resetting the bell volume CV.
You should find what you're looking for in Chapter 13, paragraph 13.1.2 of that manual. LokSound uses Indexed CVs, so note in particular the procedure for resetting individual sound volume. The manual indicates that the bell volume default setting is 128, which is max volume, but Rivarossi may have programmed it wrong.
V4.0 decoders come from the factory with no sound files loaded, so someone at the Rivarossi factory programmed it and their computer program may have gotten corrupted.
Here's a link to the manual download page: http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/instruction-manuals/digital-decoders/
This would be quite unusual and a first for me. Does the F1 function work the bell for other locos? IOW, could it be that your button has packed it in? Otherwise, it must somehow be a defective decoder, but it beats me how this one function could be amiss and no other.
Crandell
I got it working!!!
I just programmed it using JMRI. F1 was set to SND 17, so I disabled that, wrote decoder, then enabled it again and wrote the decoder. Then I went to the sound volume and adjusted that.
That seemed to do the trick. Working perfect now.
Not sure I like how they identify sounds in JMRI though. It doesn't have the individual sounds named, all it says is Master volume, sound slot #1, sound slot #2, etc. So I have no idea what each of these are.
Anyways, I must say holy heck batman, the motor control on this thing is incredilble. The slow speed speed step 1 crawls very slowly, I love it.
OK how do put this thing in silence mode? I only want the sounds to start up, only after addressing the loco. Like all my other locos.
I read through the entire manual and can't find anything?
F8 mutes the decoder and keeps it muted until you press F8 again.
cacole F8 mutes the decoder and keeps it muted until you press F8 again.
Thats it? Thats the only way? I don't want to have to select the loco every time, and mute it, every time when I power on my system.
All my other locos with QSI, Tsunami, all don't start engine sounds until I select the loco and run it.
Motley cacole F8 mutes the decoder and keeps it muted until you press F8 again. Thats it? Thats the only way? I don't want to have to select the loco every time, and mute it, every time when I power on my system. All my other locos with QSI, Tsunami, all don't start engine sounds until I select the loco and run it.
It doesn't stay muted. When I power it off, then on again the engine sounds start again.
Do you know how maddening it would be, if you had 20 loksound decoders all starting up, and having to separately select each loco and mute it?
Download the manual from the Loksound web site. CV122 is the status storage CV. Setting it to =1 would when powering up it would be the same as when shut off.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
locoi1sa Download the manual from the Loksound web site. CV122 is the status storage CV. Setting it to =1 would when powering up it would be the same as when shut off. Pete
OK I set CV 122 = 1 and it didn't change anything. Still starting up on power up.
I scowered the entire manual and didn't find that.
Very strange, my Loksounds are quiet even on selection until I hit F8. On the diesel I then get the startup and all the sounds work. On the steamers, after hitting F8 I get the hiss and the air pump starts cycling, etc. The diesel one is still straight out of the box, I didn;t even give it an address yet, it's a Bowser power chassis. It's a full Loksound decoder, not a stripped down model. The steam locos are Loksound 3.5, but I'm pretty sure they haven't removed this feature.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Was it muted before you shut the power off?
locoi1sa Michael Was it muted before you shut the power off? Pete
Pete,
I tried every combination. Muted with power off, then not muted with power off. I set CV 122 programming on the main. I did not use JMRI for this setting.
I'm so frustrated right now. I emailed ESU tech support.
Wait a second. In the manual for CV 122 it says:
"CV 122 is responsible for this. Storing of the status of functions is turned on with bit 0, speed with bit 1."
So I think I need to first use F8 to mute it, then set CV 122 = 0. That should save the function status, so when powered on it will turn F8 on to mute it.
I'll try this tonight, and report back.
Motley Wait a second. In the manual for CV 122 it says: "CV 122 is responsible for this. Storing of the status of functions is turned on with bit 0, speed with bit 1." So I think I need to first use F8 to mute it, then set CV 122 = 0. That should save the function status, so when powered on it will turn F8 on to mute it. I'll try this tonight, and report back.
You're confusing bits with their binary representation ....
Bit 0 has a value of 1 and Bit 1 has a value of 2. If you want to just preserve the status of only the functions, CV122 should be 1. If you want to preserve only the speed during a power interruption, then set CV122 to 2. If you want to preserve both speed and functions during a power interruption, CV122 needs to be set to 3.
You will want to set this to 3. Otherwise, even a momentary loss of power like a dead frog will cause all your functions to turn off and the sound to back through it's start-up sequence.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Mark R. Motley Wait a second. In the manual for CV 122 it says: "CV 122 is responsible for this. Storing of the status of functions is turned on with bit 0, speed with bit 1." So I think I need to first use F8 to mute it, then set CV 122 = 0. That should save the function status, so when powered on it will turn F8 on to mute it. I'll try this tonight, and report back. You're confusing bits with their binary representation .... Bit 0 has a value of 1 and Bit 1 has a value of 2. If you want to just preserve the status of only the functions, CV122 should be 1. If you want to preserve only the speed during a power interruption, then set CV122 to 2. If you want to preserve both speed and functions during a power interruption, CV122 needs to be set to 3. You will want to set this to 3. Otherwise, even a momentary loss of power like a dead frog will cause all your functions to turn off and the sound to back through it's start-up sequence. Mark.
Aha geeez. Ok I'll set it to 3 then. And let ya know.
Ahhhhh come on now man. I set CV 122 =3 while I had it muted with F8. Power cycled my system and it does the same danm thing!
Unbelievable. I feel like ripping this POS out and get a Tsunami.
I'd like to verify ....
You are saying "mute". So when you hit F8 does the sound just turn off, or does it go through a shut-down sequence. If it hasn't gone through a shut down sequence, it's not truly off, just silenced by turning the function on. After a power cyle of sufficient time, the CV122 memory lapses, and upon restart, all functions are turned off .... which turns the sound back on because it hasn't been shut down, but merely silenced through a function that by default is now turned back off.
Something else that has crossed my mind - this engine is by a European manufacturer with a German decoder. Not sure if this is the case or not, but European function standards are different than ours.
In Europe, F1 is the sound on/off and F3 is the bell by default. By your reprogramming to get the bell on F1, possibly you disabled the shut-down sequence ? Do you have any documentation that can verify this or not ?
CV122 has nothing to do with the shut off. It applies when power is lost like hitting a dead section of track.
The default on V4 is to use F1 as the master sound on/off - which is probaboly why the bell didn't work since US standard is to use F1 for the bell. Euro locos often don't have bells.
JMRI is of no help here, since the entry for selecting which F key controls what output is just basically a copy of the table from the manual, which is rather confusing because of all the indexed CVs. What you need to do is get the default option for F1 and assign it to F8.
Yes by saying being muted, when I press F8 is goes into a shutdown mode. When I press F8 again, it goes through engine startup. (just like when I power the system up).
All the functions work fine. When I press the Horn button, the horn blows. When I press the Bell button, the bell sounds.
The CV documentation of the functions that came with the packaging, indicates F1 Bell, and F2 is whistle.
rrinker CV122 has nothing to do with the shut off. It applies when power is lost like hitting a dead section of track. The default on V4 is to use F1 as the master sound on/off - which is probaboly why the bell didn't work since US standard is to use F1 for the bell. Euro locos often don't have bells. JMRI is of no help here, since the entry for selecting which F key controls what output is just basically a copy of the table from the manual, which is rather confusing because of all the indexed CVs. What you need to do is get the default option for F1 and assign it to F8. --Randy
Randy that doesn't make any sense? When I press F8 it goes through shutdown sequence. When I press the Bell botton, or F1 the bell sounds.
Why doesn't mine work exaclty like yours, when shutting down with F8, it should stay that way until I press F8 again, regardless of powering my NCE system.
Based on your description, your engine is a current release and not an earlier version with the European standards. I have of my own, and installed for others, many of these decoders that have not exhibited this behavior.
Hang in there for just a bit, I'll be talking to Matt at ESU tonight and I'll run your problem by him during our conversation.
Oh really? Thanks Mark, I really appreciate all the help with this!!!
The Rivarossi model # is: HR2356
I'm going to have to say that one of the assignments is still messed up - after all, the bell did not originally work because F1 was assigned to a different sound slot. I can't check in the Lokprogrammer software, since I don;t have my Lokprogrammer hooked up to this computer and unlike JMRI there's no 'simulator' mode where you can fully operate the program with no connection. Only one I can think of is the Delayed Start setting but what that's supposed to do is keep the loco from moving until the sounds start up, not keep the sounds from starting up until F8 is changed. Elminates that Tsunami Diesel issue of the loco rolling while playing the engine start sounds.
---Randy
Randy, the F1 was not assigned to a different slot. What I did in JMRI, was disable it, by unkchecking the box, then enable it again.
I'll look to see if I can find the delayed start setting.
Michael - I just got off the phone with Matt. The problem is not the decoder, but rather the way Hornby (Rivarossi) wanted the decoder programmed. Like other sound decoders, Hornby WANTED the sound to turn on automatically on power-up. Matt tried to convince them otherwise, but that is what they wanted. Loksound is the only sound decoder that prefers to have the sound off on power up, but since the other companies don't, Hornby wanted to maintain that "standard". So don't blame the decoder - blame Hornby. Matt even went as far as to suggest contacting Hornby about this to voice your concern as this may sway their decision as to how it SHOULD be programmed.
The good news is that it can be changed by inverting the logic of F8 to equal OFF instead of ON. The bad news (for you) is that this is very simple to do with the LokProgrammer, which myself and Matt (and Randy here) all use and are familiar with. It CAN be done by changing CV's manually, we just have to figure it out.
Bear with us, we'll get this figured out for you.
Looking at the V4.0 manual, the process for this change is explained starting on page 50 under function mapping. Page 53 shows that Control CV-C is the one you need to be working with. The chart on page 52 shows the column of associated CV's for Control CV-C, but I'm not quite wrapping my head around the Mapping Line concept yet.
Randy - Can you get a handle on that ?
Ok - I think I might have it .... or at least I'm down to an "either / or" situation, But I'm pretty sure this is the one ....
First set CV31 to a value of 16. Next set CV32 to a value of 2 (these are the index register CV's that must be set first before changing any upper register CVs). After you have done this, set CV403 to a value of 16.
Now, cross your fingers and give it a try.
Mark R. ... Loksound is the only sound decoder that prefers to have the sound off on power up,.. Mark.
... Loksound is the only sound decoder that prefers to have the sound off on power up,..
Mark, both he Paragon 2 and QSI decoders are silent on power-up.