hi
so i got new athearn es44ac non sound and i pick up soundtraxx gevo decoder bored for it, and i hook up all the wires and when i was testing it out i burn out all the bulbs that came with engine. the light was really bright. so i orded soundtraxx repleacement bulbs and once i got them i tested few out and 5 mins later 2 them burn out. question is there cv setting for lowing the brightness? i was doing research the resistens is i think high or something. the other engines on my layout lights are fine that the thing. also new soundtraxx decoder i got had the horn at k5hla like in the athearn gensises manual for default horn sound.
Did you plug the decoder into the plug on the factory mother board, or did you get rid of the original DCC Ready board and hardwire everything ?
The bulbs are only rated for 1.5 volts. If you retain the original mother board and just plug the decoder into it, that board has regulators on the bottom to control the 1.5 volt bulbs.
If you hardwired the decoder directly, you are applying too much voltage to the bulbs and need to add a resistor to each bulb to prevent blowing them out.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
ah ok. ya i repleace gensises bored that came with es44ac with tsu-gn1000 gevo decoder bored.
The GN1000 is designed specifically for the Athearn engines and their 1.5 volt bulbs.
What voltage are you running on the rails ? To get a close approximation, check the voltage on the rails with your meter set to AC volts. If your voltage is too high (should be close to 14 volts) it could be over-driving the regulators that feed the 1.5 volt bulbs.
yup my dcc layout runs at 21.1 volts. now it a dynamis command with pro box. so i found bulb with resister on it and i hook it up with resister wire to the +14 hold on bored and other wire to one of the taps and it works like it not so bright. i got to research on how i hook up all my lighting. i will have to buy resisters or maybe buy more of thouse lights with resisters wire in. now the bulbs i bought was
21.1 volts is WAY too high ! Your track voltage should be around 14 volts. I'm surprised you're not frying decoders. Your Soundtraxx decoder will also run hot which is not good for it.
Are there settings on your system for different voltages ? That voltage would be for large scale engines / decoders. You really should get that voltage turned down.
(Edit) - Do you have the Dynamis or Dynamis Ultima ? If you have the Ultima, you can set the track voltage lower. If you have the Dynamis, you MUST use the supplied power supply. What is this Pro Box ?
Out of the box the Dynamis provides stabilised voltage at 15.5v ± 5%, with 2.3 amps of power. You should not be getting 21.1 volts.
The ProBox is the expansion add on for Dynamis. The whole thing is an ESU Navigator minus a few things like the ECOSLink.
Definitely should not have over 21 volts on the rails for HO locos. How are you measuring this? Even the cheap Harbor Freight multimeter doesn't read that high just because it can't deal with the square wave DCC.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
ok here a pic. i donno if i was testing it right.
So is there a brightness CV? I skimmed through and I don't recall seeing a straight up answer.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761 So is there a brightness CV? I skimmed through and I don't recall seeing a straight up answer.
Rich
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Check the voltage of your power supply. something is wrong here. Dynamis should not be putting out 22 volts to the track.
Is there a "scale" setting on the sytsem. E.G. adjustable output voltage for differentscale. 22 volts is high even for O scale.
Martin Myers
The documentation for the Pro Box is rather sparse, and makes no mention of any track voltage configuration.
How about if you disconnect the Pro Box and use just the ooriginal Dynamis unit to power the track, what voltage do you get then? The Dynamis manual indicates the track voltage is about 15V. The Pro Box manual has no information on track voltage.
Instead of incandescent bulbs, consider replacing each headlight with LEDs, with a 1K resistor on each LED. 1K keeps the LED current below the limit even with 22 volts on the rails, so they won't blow out. But 22V is way too high.
ya the dynamis command with out probox give same reading.
I kind of thought it would give the same reading. From the little bit of documentation the Pro Box seems to extend the command station capabilities rather then booster.
I would check the power supply. possible that it is putting out too much voltage. Some systems simply step down (or up) the supplied voltage with little or no regulation. Proper output voltage depends on proper input voltage. Barring input voltage issues, you might want to contact Bachmann's tech support. The Dynamis or its power supply may need service.
I thought there might be a potential difference since it seems that according to the manual, when you hook up the ProBox, the track output comes from a connector on the ProBox, not where it connected on the base Dynamis unit.
I see that since ESU has discontinued the Navigator, Bachmann is offering (at least in the UK) the Dynamis Ultima, which seems to be effectively a full Navigator, not the stripped down version that was Dynamis.
ya there no switch to turn down the volts. i saw that Dynamis Ultima and i might be upgrding to that down the road when they start shipping in the us or canada. the probox let you read and right cvs.
If you are going to spend the money, I'd strongly suggest going with one of the more mainstream systems. Dynamis was build for Bachmann by ESU. ESU has themselves discontinued this system, which makes me wonder about the future of Dynamis Ultima - also this is MRC all over again, EZ Command to Dynamis to Dynamis Ultima - each a whole new system and not a simple upgrade, rendering previous investments nearly worthless (it appears that the Dynamis handset can be used with Dynamis Ultima). I don't know why companies do this. Had you started with NCE or Digitrax, you could just add on as you went, nothing wasted, nothing obsolete. MRC learned, after 4 or 5 tries, and now has an upgrade path between their various systems. Bachmann is still learning.
Do NOT put any more trains on the tracks until we get this resolved. You could permenantly damage them.
Put your volt meter on DC volts. You can't use AC because DCC is square wave AC power, not sinusoidal AC your voltmeter is calibrated to. So the AC setting on the volt meter won't work.
With one probe, measure one track rail. With the other measure the ground.
Then repeat with the other track rail. (One to the rail, one to ground).
You then add these positive voltages together. This is not the most accurate way. But because you don't have a bridge rectifier, or DCC voltage tool, it's the best way available to you.
If you are over 14 volts, you have a real problem. I would contact the mfg.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
There doesn't appear to be a ground connection on the Dynamis. That method works great on Digitrax because they generate a true +/- swing around a common point (and then confuse everyone by labeling it 'ground' - despite there being a comprehensive document on the subject in the files section, it seems liek every month the whole thing comes up again on the Yahoo Digitrax group and the same people give the same bad advice until a few others step in). Not all DCC systems do this. And not all expose their common point for the DCC signal so that you can measure common to rail A and common to rail B. Someone with a bit of knowledge about how the track driver circuits work could probably find the appropriate point by looking at the board inside, but I wouldn't recommend that to an electronic novice.
It's doubly of concern because the most common result with a basic multimeter is to read a couple of volts LOWER than the actual track voltage - for meters that aren't designed to handle the square wave DCC signal.
Unknown what the internals of the Dynamis are, but most simpler systems just produce a track voltage based on the input voltage - I suggest measuring the power supply feeding the Dynamis, that will be either DC or standard sine wave AC which should be readable by even a lesser meter. This is a problem the old Atlas Commander system had, their power supply for it put out something like 22 volts. MRC also had this issue with at least one of their systems, promptimg them to sell a voltage reduction unit (just a series of high speed diodes anti-parallel to each other, every pair of anti-parallel diodes results in a .7V drop, string 10 pairs together and the voltage is reduced by 7 volts. Have to use high speed diodes to handle the the DCC frequency, ordinary 1N400x types are too slow and will distort the DCC signal. Plus the diodes need to have a current limit suitable for the output power of the DCC system - can't use 1 amp diodes for a 3 amp DCC system.
ah ok. well i repleace the battery on muitimeter and retested and on dc it give out no readings, but on ac i get 15.3 volts on my layout. also screen little brighter.
To get a reading on DC there has to ba an accessible Ground or Common terminal - I don't think the Dynamis has this, but if you know of one, that's where you take the DC reading, between one rail and that ground or common, and then the opposite rail and the same common.
15.3V is more like it. That's a proper HO DCC voltage, possibly a tad high given that the meter likely reads low, but certainly not excessively so like the 22+ V reading was.
Next step, take a DC voltage reading fromt he function output of the decoder. Be careful not to short anything with the probes, the functions will pretty much instantly blow if shorted. The blue is the +, although it doesn't really matter with that meter, it will simply display -<some voltage> if you hook it up backwards. This will be the voltage going to the light bulbs. It will likely be track voltage less a volt or so, which is why even 12V bulbs are no good. I still suggest LEDs with a 1K resistor on each LED.
ah ok well i don't want ot take the risk of destroing the decoder. so while ago i bought these model power 14v clear 1.2mm grains of sand bulbs and they have resisters wired to them. so i hook up one like you hook up LED and it worked. it wasn't so bright. so since i bought 3 bags of thouse (6) soundtraxx bulbs i going to take one bulb and solder resister to it and see if that would work same way as the other did. i know led last longer but soldering wire to them that small that skill.
Be careful with the 14 volt bulbs. Unlike the 1.5 volt bulbs, they can get hotter and could possibly damage a plastic shell. I've seen a couple where the bulb got hot enough to make a molten mess of the headlight casting ....
Mark R. Be careful with the 14 volt bulbs. Unlike the 1.5 volt bulbs, they can get hotter and could possibly damage a plastic shell. I've seen a couple where the bulb got hot enough to make a molten mess of the headlight casting .... Mark.
ah ok thank. ok i hook up a resister to the sountraxx light and it worked.
It's a good idea to use a resistor even if the bulb can take the full voltage - you don;t need a very high value one, but incandescent bulbs have an inrush current which can exceed the decoder function output limit if a resistor is not installed.
Plus the whole melting plastic thing. Just more reasons to NOT use incandescent bulbs. In an Athearn loco the bulbs are in direct contact with the plastic (on my RS3's they actually protrude through - which is why when I put sound decoders in them they will get LEDs and a proper lense). Incandescent bulbs work great on DC, where you don't (usually) run a full throttle all the time. But with DCC, they get the full voltage all the time they are on, so they run a maximum heat. Even my old Atlas/Kato RS3's with the single light bulb in the middle have a small metal heat shield directly above the bulb to keep from melting the shell, and there wasn no DCC when those things were produced - just some of the Kato attention to detail.
cool ok so i'm thinking about leds, just on the es44ac i have fusterating time with ditch lights. one bulb seem to go in easy on one ditch but the other i taken off and glue ditch light housing twice. btw will i have same heat problem your talking about with the soundtraxx 1.5v lights and how long did it take to heat up with 14v lights?
14V bulbs heat up pretty quick. 1.5V bulbs are better, but also be wary of the resistor used with them, they can get warm as well, depending on the current of the bulb. Don't just guess this, calculate it based on the bulb rating for voltage and current, and the voltage supplied by the decoder. LEDs, not at all (unless thre is a spectacular failure such as in another post, caused by the decoder instructions mislabeling which function connections were the ones with resistors on board for the LEDs). Ulrich Models has some Athearn LED retrofit kits, unfortunately not one for the ES44AC. For ditch lights you need small surface mount LEDs, but you can get these with the wires already attached so you don't have to try soldering something smaller than the tip of most people's basic soldering iron. To keep the wiring neat, Ulrich also has a small 'resistor board' which you can get witht he resistors already soldered on, so all you need to connect are the wires from the decoder and the wires to the LEDs, which keeps the wiring neat and keeps you from also soldering in resistors and insulating the connections.
They have some articles here on converting other Athearn models:
http://www.ulrichmodels.biz/led-articles/