I have a Brawa engine with a LokSound 3.5 decoder. I noticed last time that I ran it, it had lost many of it's functions -- doewn to four and that those had been reconfigured and it seemed at times that some had two thing occuring when called on -- ALso noticed that headlights or tail lights flashed.
I'm new to DCC and am not sure what might have caused this or how to fix it!
THanks,
The first thing to try is a decoder reset to factory default values. Program CV8 = 8. Then tip the locomotive to one side to cut power off, wait a couple of seconds, and then put it back on the track and see if it will run on address 3, which is the factory default. If the functions are back to normal, you can then reset the address.
It's not normal for a LokSound or any other decoder to lose it's function settings unless there was a serious power interruption from a derailment or nearby thunderstorm or other electrical problem.
Is the loss temporary or permanent?
In other words, does a reset to factory defaults resolve the problem or are those function outputs fried?
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain Is the loss temporary or permanent? In other words, does a reset to factory defaults resolve the problem or are those function outputs fried? Rich
When you use the term 'functions' do you mean sound effects or light functions? The amount of 'functions' that the decoder supports for light effects is limited.
What DCC system are you using? The fact that the locomotive is a Brawa has no bearing on the loss of sounds unless too much load was being placed on the decoder.
Headlight and taillight flashing is usually an indication of an electrical or mechanical problem wihin the locomotive shorting out or overloading the decoder, which could have burned out some of the functions.
Is this a factory-installed decoder or one that was added? If it was added and a motor current measurement was not taken or the motor brushes were not properly electrically isolated from the frame, its possible that the decoder was overloaded and has failed.
A problem with getting advice from users on this forum is that few of us have any experience with Brawa products.
I have no experience with the Marklin mobile station, but seem to recall reading somewhere in the LokSound User Manual about some CVs that have to be set for Marklin compatibility, and performing a factory CV reset may have wiped out these values.
My advice would be to download the LokSound User's Guide from their web site and read through it, if you don't already have it.
Thanks for the suggestions. I have looked at the manual, but I can't claim to understand much of what it is saying. I'll look again to see if there is anything about the Marklin MS2. Still, it worked before and stopped before I did the reset. The reset was an attempt to get it to work again.
If you are using a Märklin MS2 you are probably using the Märklin MM2 format and not DCC, and on MM2 you only have 4 functions + light.
I'm not sure if you can use a Märklin MS2 with DCC as I have never used one myself.
/stefan
Good thought -- MS2 does search for both MM@ and DCC, but I wonder if it's finding the MM2 and not going further?? I'll check and see if that might be happening
Steve