DCC Sound Value Stalling

[tomfro]

All;

I have Bachmann's Alco 2-6-0 with the Tsunami sound decoder installed. I have recently been encountering stalling problems with this loco. It seems to randomly stall, no sound, no functions, essentially DOA. After a few minutes it seems to take off again with the previous throttle settings, it also seems to randomly flash the head light. I also had to replace at least two speakers within the lifetime of the loco (I've finally found a speaker that seems to be hanging in there, my dealer thought that the sound CV's were too high for the speaker). I've seen discussions about CV 11 the DCC time out, does anybody know what this should be set to?

I'm running 6 locomotives on approximately 132 running feet of track, the other 5 don't seem to have the stalling problem (including an ancient Pacific 4-6-2 that was up graded to DCC).

Any suggestions?

Thx
Tomfro

[tiebreaker]

What DCC system are you using? Possible causes are not enough feeders, too many loco's running at one time drawing more than what's available. Are the other loco's sound loco's also?

[tomfro]

Hey Tiebreaker;

I am running MRC Advanced2 with an 8 amp booster. Track feeds are about every 6 feet of track. Each segment is insulated at both ends with the feed in the middle (or approximately so). But the issue is sort of random.

Thx

[ebtnut]

First order of business, make sure the wheels and track are clean.

[kewatin]

i had the same problem with my broadway  lmt  import e8. it would stall at a switch point ,sound went dead and headlite went out and then it would reset itself .upon taking the body off the frame and a closer inspection i found one of the pick up wire feeds to the left rear truck was barely soldered&hanging by a thread. stripped back and resoldered and unit is now running fine. i would suggest you should do the same.my system of choice on my layout is NCE dcc. hope you will be able to resolve your problem.
regards&later KEWATIN

[dutchbuilder]

Did you have a look at page 68 , trouble shooting of the Tsunami userguide?
It looks like you have a thermal overload problem.
The flashing lights represent which fault is occurring.

Ton

[tomfro]

EBTNUT; Thanks for the input. Cleaned all wheels last night. I noticed that the contact between the wheels and the pick ups appeared to be soiled. I cleaned those also, and adjusted the contact pressure, I'm not seeing any signs of wear on the axels or pick ups. I tried reprogramming the decoder and that didn't make any difference either. The engine stalls at random places on the track whether its over a switch or clear track. I'll definitely clean the tracks again, but dirty tracks don't seem to be the problem as all 5 other loco's do not stall.

tomfro

[tomfro]

Kewatin;

Thanks for the input. I'll have to check those connections, cold solder joints are a bear. Strange though that it would develop after such a long period of time, but its worth a shot anyway.

tomfro

[tomfro]

Dutchbuilder;

Thanks for the input. It could be thermal, I'll check CV68 and see what it says. Again it is strange that this would crop up over a long period of time.

Tomfro

[dutchbuilder]

Dutchbuilder;

Thanks for the input. It could be thermal, I'll check CV68 and see what it says. Again it is strange that this would crop up over a long period of time.

Tomfro

Not cv68 but page 68 of the official Soundtrax Tsunami steam user guide.
That is the start page for troubleshooting.

Ton

[tomfro]

Ton;

Yeah I figured that out ... LOL