ORE,
After 8 months of aggravation with one Loco, I would be inclined to go with #1, but that decision,should be yours. Good Luck, in Your choice.
Frank
If only it was as simple as resetting the decoder. I tried it again, just in case I had forgotten to try that, and it doesn't help. Also turning off Marklin compatability and RailCom doesn't help either ...
www.oakhurstrailroad.com
"Oakhurst Railroad" on Facebook
It seems to me that we have exhausted all the possibilities, so it is time to throw in the towel and suggest that you try a different decoder. My suggestion would be to try a straight motor and light control only decoder such as a TCS T-1 and see if the locomotive runs better with it. If so, then the LokSound is definitely at fault and should be sent to ESU USA for replacement.
If you send an email to ESU USA, they will probably ask you to send the flaky decoder to them and they will send a free replacement.
If you tell them the type of locomotive into which it is installed and the desired cab number, they will probably also program the new decoder for you.
No decoder manufacturer is 100% fail-proof 100% of the time, and ESU USA, as well as other brands, have been very good about replacing defective products.
Here's a link to ESU's web site. Good luck!
http://www.esu.eu/en/start/
Good suggestion to contact ESU. I will do that. However, it looks like they have a very long Christmas break so it might be a while ...
I did get an e-mail back from LOKSOUND. They suggested I check the track voltage. I checked it with my multimeter and it reads 13 volts. Their response is below:
"Hi Marty, If the voltage /pickup is low or questionable there may not be enough power provide to power up the amp the and run the motor and lights. 13volts would be borderline… especially on a big layout were the amperage draw from a lot of track or other engines may be high. Best Regards, General Manager ESU LLC"
Unfortunately, I can't really check this out. I could flip the toggle on the Digitrax unit from "HO" to the larger scale as I think this ups the voltage. Sounds dangerous to my locos. Anyway, since I have already removed the LOKSOUND decoder and replaced it with a non-sound decoder, I don't think I'll be testing this out anytime soon. Maybe if I have a reason to take the loco apart I will pop back the LOKSOUND decoder and give it a try on the higher voltage setting. To be safe, I'll remove all of my other locomotives from the track or turn off the power to the loco tracks.
Anyone else run into this or try this with a decoder response problem?
Have you done the quarter test to verify you have proper power to all areas of the layout? This is sitting a quarter across the rails and verifying that the booster trips (or other circuit breakers if you have your layout so divided). No pressing on the quarter.
ALso what settings did you use on your meter to read the voltage? Using the AC volts on the cheap Harbor Freight meter, with my DB150 on the HO setting, I get a bit over 14 volts. Innaccurate, as the meter is designed for 60 Hz sine-wave AC. Digitrax has an alternate method, measuring from oen rail to the ground connection, and then the other rail to ground. These should be the same. If not, then you've selected address 00 and it is not at stop. In fact, if this is true, this can cause issues with delayed commands. If address 00 is stopped and the voltage varies - you may have a problem with the booster or command station.
Even though direct reading of the track voltage with an ordinary meter is not completely accurate - it WILL be consistent. So check the voltage at several places around the layout. It should all be the same.
Finally, what is your power source for the system? If the power supply is less than 15V AC or about 17V DC, you aren't going to get the nominal 15V track power on the HO setting.
I know Loksound decoders work below 15V, I got my first one when all I had was my Zephyr, and that has a fixed track voltage of around 13.5 actual (not what I get with a cheap meter), somewhere between the N and HO settings of the DB150/DCS100. They ran fine with that.
You should be OK with the voltage, assuming there's not an issue with address 00. A common meter will read a bit lower than actual. But if address 00 was selected and speed set to maximum one way or the other, the effective voltage on one half of the signal could be well below 13V.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I have a stretch of track that acts like this also, so this is a very interesting issue. I don't have a response issue in this section of track, unless it is occurring all over the layout. And that does happen. But at a certain time of day (early into late evening) my locos will take several seconds to respond to a throttle command. It is especially true with the Walthers Proto E sound units. I think they soak up huge amounts of current and I don't have a high amp system. So I think I may have an expansion-contraction issue with the metal track pieces. That wouldn't matter at the soldered joints, but not all the joints are soldered to (wait for it) allow for epansion and contraction. I have more work to do.
Have you tried heavier bus wires?
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow