I have a LokSound Select Micro (not v4) attached to a Powerpack in a Walthers N scale 2-8-4 Berkshire. I soldered the red, white, and black wires to the decoder as indicated in the instructions. I also set CV 113 to its maximum of 255. However, the Berkshire will skip every once in a while. The sound will cut out very quickly and then come back on, and the motor will 'skip.' I thought the POwerpack was supposed to prevent this? Does anyone know why it's doing this? Whenever I take the Berkshire off the track the noises continue for another 2-3 seconds. This is very frustrating.
Decoder Sounds like intermittent pickup. The slightest interruption will cause the decoder to hiccup. The microprocessor has to have constant power. Where did you read that the power pack was suppose to prevent this? Rich
I read it directly from the instruction manual. http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/instruction-manuals/digital-decoders/ Scroll down to "LokSound Select, LokSound V4.0", and on pages 16-17 of that Adobe manual is where it says to connect the Powerpack. The Powerpack instruction manual says I should have 2-4 seconds of uninterrupted power, lights, and sounds.
Yes, that is exactly what the power pack is supposed to do. The only thing I can think of is that the power pack is somehow draining its power quicker than it can be recharged. I have heard that it takes between one and two minutes for the capacitor to charge up fully. Maybe try letting it idle for a minute or two before running? Other than that, unless you have extremely dirty track and wheels, I don't know.
I did read that the Power Pack is for the v4 if I read the manual correctly but that Power Pack is just a Stay Alive which should work with any decoder if connected to the proper spot. All Stay Alive I have installed are connected to the output of the full wave bridge rectifier. When you said Power Pack, I did not realize it is ESU's version of Stay Alive that is why I asked for a reference. More info in a question is usually helpful. Different decoder manufactures are using different terms for Stay Alive. Rich
I was told by an e-tailer (who sells these Select Micros) that the ESU Loksound Select Micro " does not play well with keep alives". Carl
These responses are interesting. These hiccups occur when there are no switches, and they occur on flat, level terrain. They're intermittent, but they are there. As for not playing well, makes me wonder what the guy meant. I mean, why design something to go with another item when they don't play well with each other.
gatr, I know what you mean when stated "why design something that does not play well with another of your items". It happens. The dealer that I eluded to shall remain nameless but I had contacted him regarding a problem with an ESU Loksound Select Micro (that I purchased from him) that was having a power problem. The decoder went to ESU USA for testing. It turns out that the power problem was my bad pickups. I feel real stupid admitting that ESU was correct in this case. Eat crow, I have. I looked at the pages you mentioned in the link you posted and yes I see where the Powerpack is mentioned as being attached to a select micro. However, I went to ESU web page and looked up the Powerpack and it only mentions being for the V4 versions. I certainly hope you solve your problem. BTW, I had another Select Micro about 2 years ago that I ended up tossing into the garbage. It had a "power" problem according to ESU. With sound muted it ran perfectly, but with sound on it farted, hoped, skipped, and jumped down the tracks. Real cool prototypical operation.
I have not tried a powerpack, but I've added a simple 220uf 16v tantalum cap to several of my diesel installations, and they all work perfectly. Make sure the wiring is correct (positive lead of the Powerpack connected to the blue wire; negative to the pad with solder on it that is directly opposite the blue wire pad). You also might try making sure you have DC conversion mode turned OFF (this will require a change in CV29). Finally, are you sure you don't have a defective PowerPak? Go down to Radio Shack, get a big 16v electrolytic cap, take your tender shell off, solder the cap in place of the Powerpak, and see if the behavior changes at all. John C.
John, I will have to change CV29 when I get home. But it was still skipping when I brought the Berkshire to my work layout. As far as DC conversion mode, that would only work if it was on DC, which I don't have.
I checked CV 29, and it was set at 34, which meant I was using extended address with 28 speed steps. Analog mode was turned off.
Hmmm. Last night I installed my first ESU LokSound in a steam loco - a problematic Athearn Challenger, that originally came with an MRC board that was awful. I had converted it to a Tsunami long before Athearn switched, but the motor control was lacking. So I decided to try an ESU with the BigBoy file (until they get the Challenger file up). Per my usual practice, I used two 220uf 16v Tantalum caps in parallel as my "keeper" caps. It works like a charm - not a single dropout on my layout, and it will run for about a second after removing power. The Berks are notorious for poor power pickup, particularly after adding the tape traction tires like you have. So I'd start out by making sure you're getting the maximum electrical contact possible from the tender. This usually means taking off the trucks and wire-brushing the wiper assemblies that go around the wheel sets and up to contact the strips in the tender. Next, take off the drawbar, and bend the wires that contact the tender power strip "nubs" on the bottom of the tender frame outward to put more pressure between the wires and the contacts; I also wire brush both the contacts (be careful here - VERY lightly) and use a hobby knife to scrape the contact wires completely clean. This is a particularly important step - lots of times these wires just don't transfer power well. Then I wire brush the post on the engine that the drawbar fits over, and I also scrape the wires that contact the drawbar and bend them slightly inward to put more pressure on their contact with the post. After you've done all this, see how the engine runs WITHOUT any "keeper" system. If you've done this right, you shouldn't get any major dropouts once you get above crawl speed. Next, ditch the Powerpack, and go to Radio Shack and get a 35v 1000uf radial-lead electrolytic cap. It will be huge, but all we're going to do here is test the keep-alive capability. You'll need to remove the tender shell, wire the cap in place of the PowerPak (positive to the blue, negative to the pad on the underside of the decoder right across from the blue wire pad), and temporarily tape the cap in place somewhere on top of everything. Now run it again. If it's working correctly, you should get no dropouts whatsoever, and the thing should keep running for a couple of seconds after you remove power. If this works, then I'd ditch the PowerPak, order some 220uf, 16v tantalum chip caps from Digikey, and use two of them soldered back-to-back in a parallel pack as my keeper cap. Or use a TCS KA module, which I've also used successfully in HO diesel installations. John C.
John, when I first got the locomotive, I did all that you described, plus lubricated the tender wheel contact points with a conductive metal lube. I scraped the drawbar attach points under the cab and made sure the wires were making contact. In fact, in my conversion to DCC, there are now TWO ways for each frame half to be transferred to the tender: one through the drawbar and the other through an insulated wire. Weird thing is that I can run this without sound on it and it runs very well. The other thing is that I can run this on my home layout, which has switches and grades. It runs fine on my home layout. Even on my work layout, I checked the electrical continuity on the typical sections that it skips, and electrical condutivity is fine. When I had two 220uF caps wired in parallel instead of the ESU Powerpack, it still hiccupped and skipped. So the problem persists even with the Powerpack. If this keeps up, I'm going to sell this and get a TCS WowSound decoder.
OK. Well, you've done everything I know how to do. So no thoughts left here. It could be a decoder problem, though I've got to say that my only problems with ESU's decoders have been two that were DOA (a pretty high failure rate out of the 23 that I've installed). Ghosts in the machine? John
Well the weird thing is that I checked the continuity between the front and rear tender trucks. There is nothing solid there. So I took off the tender shell, and checked continuity on the copper strip along the bottom of the tender on each side. No continuity unless I press down hard. It's a single piece of copper that electrically connects each tender truck side. Not sure why I'm not getting continuity. I think I may solder a wire from the front part of the copper strip to the back to make a parallel path. I also have two Bachmann Vanderbilt six wheel trucks coming to me, so that should help the rolling resistance for this.
gatr, yours sounds like the one I mentioned in an earlier post to this thread. With sound muted it ran well, with sound on it farted, hoped, skipped, and jumped down the tracks. ESU told me that the layout had a "power" problem. Funny thing is that all of my Tsunami and non sound decoders run fine on this Digitrax 20amp system that puts 11.5 volts out on the "N" setting. They told me the decoder needed 12-13 volts to work properly. I looked on their website forum and there was another person having the same problem. I ended up letting my Scotch/Irish temper take control and tossed the thing into the garbage vowing to not purchase anymore ESU products. But alas, I did buy one more. Hope you solve your problem as I know it is rather disgusting. Carl
The NCE PowerCab system I have puts out 13.2V to the rails. So it can't be a power problem on my work layout. When I get the new six wheel tender trucks and install them, I'll let you know if the skipping problem changed. The problem is very intermittent, but it does happen say every 15 or so seconds around my L-shaped work layout.
Well this thing is ridiculous. The skipping sound has gotten worse. The funny thing is that I can put it on the track, and wait about five seconds, and the sound and lights stay on about 2-3 seconds after I remove the engine from the track. However, how the hell is this thing still skipping in sound? On my TCS WowSound decoder that thing will have motor, light, and sound functions still going on after about 5 seconds, AND it was $30 cheaper! I think I might have bought my last ESU product...
