New True Blast II Sound Board

[GovB]

Recently upgraded my old Williams GG-1 with the new reverse board. Works great. Then I installed a new True Blast II sound board. Works great (I am impressed with the quality sound) ..... sitting still. It only plays sounds in neutral. Not while it's running. Have I done something wrong?

Is there a way to get my GG-1 to run and chew gum at the same time. 
Or is it just made that way? 

Thanks, John

[trainyardjp]

JP, of Acton MA, USA writes:
check the polarity of the wires connected between the controller, and the track. Other than that, inspect the wiring of the E-Unit (reverse board), and the wiring of the sound board. Make sure there are no loose or disconnected wires.
If a wiring diagram was included with your electronics, check that the correct wires were connected to the correct terminals.
If this does not solve the issue in question, I would suggest sending the loco to Williams by Bachmann.
Chances are, that the sound board might be faulty, if the sounds only play, while the loco is in neutral, and not while the loco is is in motion.
Hope this helps.
-JP 

[Joe Satnik]

Dear GovB,

This is probably another case of the DC Can motors being too efficient,

which forces you to maintain a low throttle setting when running so as not to fly off the tracks on a curve.

When in neutral, you can run up the throttle as high as it takes to get the sound triggered and running properly.

To solve, you can either

1.) re-wire the motors in series instead of parallel to slow down the motors, or

2.) add a diode bridge and extra diodes as needed to slow down the motors.

Here is a variation on 1 above:

3.) Add a DPDT switch to the locomotive to choose between series (modified) motor configuration

and parallel (stock) motor configuration.

With a single motor loco (steam engines, e.g.) you would need to add a diode bridge and extra diodes.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik 

[GovB]

Thanks JP and Joe for your replies,

I tried all I could with what little I know and then sent the loco to Service Dep. last week. I hope to know something soon. I checked everything from the transformer to the speaker several times. I suspect it's either a faulty sound unit, maybe the reverse board, or maybe I need to upgrade my operating equipment...... I'm betting it's me.

Will let you know as soon as I do.

Thanks, John

[GovB]

This is embarrassing. I forgot about this post. It was all my fault. Guess I'm not the genius I thought I was. They traced it down to my poor wiring and a faulty sound card I guess. They didn't explain what or why the did what they did on the work order. But I'm grateful they fixed my problem. They did more than the $55 dollar fee. That was cheap for what they did. I think they are the greatest.

JohnB