First of all i would like to say thanks and that i appreciate any help in advance.
Something has happend with my sound on my mike. I was running two locomotives with sound on,when the sound on my mike started cutting out then sounded very distorted and then died completely very shortly after. The motor controls still functioned, but any changed in throttle was more abrupt and not as slow smooth and easy as before. My mike was on a jump throttle wired to my zephyr at the time.
I tried a complete decoder reset and the motor controls and light function was back to normal but i have no sound. Any suggestions?
Again, any help is very appreciated
Thanks, Andy
While it's possible that you have fried your decoder, the first thing I would suggest is that you open it up and check all your connections, and if that reveals nothing, look for a broken wire, or damaged insulation that could be allowing a short circuit somewhere.
There are moving parts in your engine. If a wire is touching a moving part it will eventually melt or wear a hole in the wire insulation. If you have used electrician's tape to insulate the decoder and installation, it may have overheated, in which case the decoder may be toast.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
I have opened up the tender and that revealed nothing, all wires and decoder in there looked fine. I have not opened the engine up itself. So does the sound decoder in the tender control both the sound and the motor function or is there another decoder in the engine that controls the motor and that is why the motor and lights function just fine.
NO i have not used electrical tape on anything in there. I have done no modifications to it.
It is possible, but very unlikely that there is a second decoder.
If you are POSITIVE that all wiring is undamaged (a broken wire is not always obvious to the eye) and the motor and lights work, then the problem has to be either the speaker or the decoder. Speakers are easy enough to test. Disconnect it and put a 1 1/2 volt battery across it momentarily. DON'T LEAVE THE BATTERY ATTACHED. It should "pop". Or put a multimeter across it. It should show a small amount of resistance. If it is open, it is bad.
Is it possible that the decoder has lost or damaged it's sound files? Have you checked with tech support at the decoder manufacturer? Sound files can be reloaded.
Well I hooked up a different speaker to the leads and it turns out i have a bad speaker so problem solved.
Now i just have to figure out where to get one. I've researched thier website but i can't located their parts on the site. The stupid manual "which for the most part is in German" doesn't tell me what kind of sound system is in there and the description on the website doesn't metion it. I guess i never got the memo on what electronics it has.
Thanks again Phoebe for the suggestions i really appreciated it. I guess sometimes when u spend a fair amount of money on something and then for it to break u expect the worse and forget the obvious plus the fear of frying something when your not quite sure what your doing makes me leary of poking around in there.
http://www.tonystrains.com/products/tteexclusive_spkr.htm
I encountered exactly the same problem with one of my two, replaced the speaker, and invested in a few spares too (all purchased from a UK Loksound dealer), should it happen again. Make sure, when you buy spares, that they are "Loksound-compatible" ie 100 ohm, as those used for Soundtraxx etc are 8 ohm. You can also download English-version manuals very easily.
Brian
Great info, looks like i need to keep a spare around. Again thanks for all the valuable info guyz.
I had a different problem with my Mikado. The thing developed a condition where it would not work properly in a block protected by a PSX circuit breaker. It would not respond to commands unless there was at least one other DCC engine in the same block.
I sent the decoder back to Marklin USA for a replacement. However, since I didn't like the original sound anyway, I put a Tsunami in the Mikado while waiting - much better.
When the new decoder came, I checked it out on my LS programmer. It was a 4 mbit LSV2. Made a good decoder for an older diesel I had, tho not enough memory for notching. I reworked the "project" with the correct engine sound to have the chime I wanted. Reports that the Trix Loksounds cannot be reprogrammed are not correct.
Hal