Eureka, we got sound

Kevin, your tip to directly connect the speaker helped me solve the problem! When I connected the speakers directly, I got full sound. So I checked the original wiring provided in the tender of the locomotive. The culprit was one of the connections I had soldiered to the speaker. It looked good (that is why it did not occur to me that the connection was bad) but was not connecting properly. Applying a little more tin solved the problem.

I am absolutely happy that everything is now working as expected even if I had to spent a whole day trying to solve the problem by programming the decoder. Stupid ey? At least I am now comfortable with programming.  

Now with sound programming is even easier as you can turn on the "talk back" feature. The decoder repeats the value of the CV you programmed which helps to avoid mistakes.

Thanks again to the Bachmann forum. You guys are really great!

Hello Kevin,

Thank you for your reply. My Titan board has the socket for the speaker, too. That's what I used to connect the speaker. I will try directly wiring the speaker to the screw terminal.

Thanks

Jan

Hello,

In the mean time I tried my Bachmann K-27 with my new Digitrax DCC system. I can get the locomotive to run in DCC; I can turn the various lights on and off and I can program CVs. So the decoder works in principle. However, I do not get any sound. I installed a 3'' speaker from Soundtraxx. I cheked the voltage when the locomotive is on. I cannot detect any voltage on the Pins which lead to the speaker. So I do not think that the speaker is the problem. I also tried to program the CVs which turn the sound on and off at start up as described in the manual. The programming seems to work but it has no effect on the sound. Has anyone had a similar problem? I am not sure if I missed anything or if the decoder has a problem.

Best regards

Krinor

Thanks a lot for your replies,

This is what I suspected, but it is always good to get confirmation from the experts. I plan on buying  a Digitrax Superchief 8 A Duplex (radio controlled) DCC system for my garden railroad. I hope this will solve the problem. Any experience with this DCC system?

Best regards

Krinor

Hi,

I recently bought a Bachman K27. I tested it with DC and the Dummy PC board installed. In this mode the engine runs fine, changes direction, head lights, marker light and cabin lights work. Only the smoke unit does not work (smoke set to smoke DC on, fan under smoke stack does not run, no smoke).

I now installed a Quantum Titan DCC Sound Decoder and tried to run it in DC mode. The lights work, the fire box flicker and the smoke unit are working fine (I can also hear the fan). However the engine does not move and I do not hear any sounds. The Quantum Titan should also work in DC (with limited functionality).

I have to say that I currently only have an old DC transformer which generates 17 V 7VAC maximum. This transformer works if I run the engine with the Dummy PC board installed. Is the transformer output too low for the engine to run with a Quantum Titan or is this a faulty decoder?

Best regards

Krinor

Hello!

I run MTH engines on my DCC system with your Easy Command DCC controller. The engines work fine, but I cannot change the locomotive address using the Easy Command controller. I follow the desribed programming steps to change the address which works fine with my Bachmann engines, but not with the MTH engines. The always stay on address 3.

Are there any special steps I need to follow?

Best regards

Krinor62

Hello!

How do I reset the decoder to its factory settings using the EZ command DCC system? I have a Bachmann 2-10-2 DCC locomotive with DCC and sound.

Best regards

Krinor62

Thanks Bob,

I did some more experiments. It seems the loss of power is time related. The locomotive loses power every 90 to 120 sec whether it is moving or just sitting on the track.

Best regards

Krinor62

Hello Bob,

I tried yopur recommendations. As far as I can judge both cables are firmly set in their sockets. I lifted the tender or the lococomotive from the track but could not reproduce the loss of power effect. I also had a look at the power pick ups under the tender. They all seems to have a good connection to the wheels.

Best regards

Kribnor62

Hi,

I recently bought a Bachmann 2-10-2 steam locomotive with Sound and DCC, article number 83801. After some intital problems with derailing on 18 inch curves the locomotive runs fine with one remaining problem:

Every second or third round on my layout the lcocomotive loses power and stops. It can be reactivated by pressing the stop botton twice on my EZ commond console. I checked power to all segments of the track, power is there. If I switch my layout to DC mode the locomotive runs fine without any loss of power. The problem only occurs in DCC mode mostly in 18 inch curves but also on straights and when it is just sitting on a stright piece of track.

I use Atlas code 100 nickel track.

Any recommendations on how to fix the problem?

Best regards

krinor62