Here are 2 audio files - 1 with the shell, and another one without the shell I put my phone flat on the table, near a curve, and I ran the engine back and forth "around it" The "noise" is easy to identify with the shell on (again, noise is in reverse) Much less noticeable without the shell.... https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JoNz6m8O6FnhzGRZAdgmyHC-ItHFBSUy?usp=sharing
ooops.................it should work now. Anyone with the link should be able to access the folder and its 2 files
Hmmm....I got to say, I don't hear anything too unusual. It sounds like the sample sounds were taken with the loco running at pretty high speeds, no? While perhaps on the noisier end of normal, what I hear is typical N scale loco sounds when running at high speeds, which may become quieter as the loco breaks-in more. How does it sound when running it at, say, half throttle?
EDIT: I saw the commercial on TV tonight again and it was actually a Progressive Insurance commercial. How we all eventually become our parents.
One other thing that might help is trying different truck arrangements. Front to back, turned around, etc. (take note of original arrangement first, so you can return it if necessary). It would be worth noting if the buzzing changed from reverse to forward, for example.
I did try different truck arrangements....and it works MUCH better now But before it ran smooth both ways, I heard a pronounced "buzz" sound as if the pinions were slipping....I thought some teeth must have been missing somehow But I did a couple of back and forth, and it ran smooth again So don't know what happened, but it's ok for now. Hope it stays that way
VERY STRANGE...............I haven't used this engine since the last post, but it was running just fine: no more noise, lights working depending on direction I tried it again, but it couldn't start. I had the light (forward and reverse) but it was running extremely slow and could not go over 5% maybe !!! I finally reprogrammed it...now it works in both directions, but the lights don't work !!!!! What should I look for?
There are two copper strips that come up from the motor, one from each side, and both of these must make contact to the bottom of the pc board for the lights to work. In the past when I have had this issue, one of the tabs was not tucked under the pc board, or some how got bent and was not making contact in the right place. I would start buy checking those. Ralph
But if the motor runs fine in both direction, doesn't that mean the contact on the bottom of the board is good?
It's very frustrating.....It seems I "randomly" have the 308 error from JMRI I tinned the pads on the bottom of the decoder, tinned the motor contacts, added some Kapton where I thought something bad could happen Continuity test from tracks to half shells is good The engine ran on the tracks for 30 sec, then stopped. And again not able to read the decoder, and received error 308...And when it ran, no lights I was ready to take it apart 1 more time, but instead I blew some air from a can of compressed air.....Well, I was able to read it, program it and run if several laps on the layout, going thru double the cross-over, turnouts, reverse loop, etc....and it ran well However, still no light !!! Is there anything else I should look at? In Decoder Pro, I looked at the Light tab, and replaced "30-40 ma with lamp" by "LED with limiting resistor".....But same thing, no lights Could it be possible both LEDs died?
Seems more likely to me that the programming changed vs. the LEDs failing. I don't have Decoder Pro, but perhaps the lights got remapped to a different function key when you reprogrammed it? Beyond that, it sounds like the decoder may be experiencing an intermittent problem. Could be an intermittent short I suppose, but my experience is that shorts are quite often fatal to the decoder. Maybe the decoder is faulty? One other thing that comes to mind is, I had a loco with what I believe was a bad motor pole and it was really wreaking havoc with the decoder before I finally figured out what was happening. As I understand it, with a bad motor pole (on DC anyway), if the pole is situated just so when the loco is stopped, it won't start again until the motor poles are manually turned slightly. If I recall correctly, the decoder I was using was seemingly doing it's best to overcome this issue but problems manifested in other ways, including erratic behavior. This may be a longshot, but motor pole failures do seem to occasionally happen.
Some basic thoughts: When I get the 308 error it usually boils down with not good contact between the decoder and the track. Recently I hadn't used the program track in a few months and tried to program and got 308. Wiped the track down with contact cleaner and then no problem Same can happen with the wheels being dirty or the contact between the trucks and contact strip or the strip and frame or decoder contacts. I wouldn't take any of these for granted just because the loco runs. The contact is much more critical when programming so bad contact problems that don't show up while running the loco will when programming it. I'd for sure wipe the wheels and program track down. On the lights how do you turn them on and off? I guess there is no chance that the problem is that they have been turned off? Are you running DCC++ with a phone throttle or your other DCC system? Sorry to ask but you can't believe how many times when I had the computer store and someone couldn't get there computer to respond that a co-worker had turned it off at lunch because the screen was on. I'd think with the shell off and the loco on the track with power to it and using a VOM you should see voltage on one side of the LED at all times. The other side should go to ground when the decoder turns the LED on. Maybe someone else knows which CV to check for sure for the lights but I found one source that said CV49 but didn't give the value that it is suppose to be set at. I'd try and find out which CV for sure controlled the lights and then check that CV with decoderpro. Good luck, Sumner
I cleaned the wheels yesterday by having 1 truck running on a piece of cloth with 90% alcohol, then same for the 2nd truck I always turn lights ON and OFF on my engines with the key "Light" from the remote (from a throttle in JMRI or a phone with Engine Driver) How could they be turned off and the Light key would not work anymore?\ I found this (I think my decoder is NCE N12A0): https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us...iguration-Variable-CV-Lists-NCE-decoders-only
When I was looking before I found that normally CV 49 and 50 control the lights but then couldn't find that to be the case with NCE decoders. Just found this link... https://kootenaymodelrailway.wordpr...ing-effects-on-tcs-and-digitrax-123-decoders/ ... where the author does a good job of explaining what NCE does by using CVs 128 and 129 instead and gives examples using those. I'd look at the values you have there and compare them to what he is doing and see if there is a clue there to what is going on. I'd also check CV's 33, 34 and 35 that he also talks about to make sure none of those have changed. Maybe at this time do a reset on the decoder? If that doesn't work then I'd go to checking the LED voltage as I mentioned and see if there is voltage to them. I'd think it should always be there. Problem is to check that you also need to know where to put the VOM's negative lead and the only place I know for sure would be on the negative side of the bridge rectifier circuit like I mention at the bottom of this page.... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Decoder-1/page-10.html I have a hard time believing that both LED's would of gone bad at the same time. I'm thinking it is something else. Maybe move this to the DCC section where there are more knowledgeable people than I that might see it, Sumner
