Author Topic: upgrading sound decoder on K4  (Read 2963 times)

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Mike C

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Re: upgrading sound decoder on K4
« Reply #15 on: April 15, 2016, 10:17:18 PM »
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 Just one problem ..... The headlight worked fine until this morning . Now it only comes on very dimly . ( only way to see it is if the room lights are off ) I checked that the wiring is right , nothing nicked or pinched . Went over the lighting options and nothing seems out of place . Would CV 215 have any effect on the voltage sent to the light ?

woodone

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Re: upgrading sound decoder on K4
« Reply #16 on: April 16, 2016, 12:01:30 PM »
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Mike, I guess that is why I remove the original light board and hard wire the decoder. I then know where all to wires and resistors are and how they are used. I would have soldered  wires to the truck pick contacts and then to the decoder.
Not sure what is going on with your light- Bad connection?

Woodone

Mike C

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Re: upgrading sound decoder on K4
« Reply #17 on: April 16, 2016, 06:01:30 PM »
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 Yea , but I was trying for a simple drop in that anyone could do . The connections are all good , it's like somehow there is an extra resistor that's drawing more power .  It worked fine all the time that I was programming it , but I can't figure what I could have done to make it dimmer .  Maybe I'll try to do a reset , I just hate to do all the reprogramming again  :( .

Mike C

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Re: upgrading sound decoder on K4
« Reply #18 on: April 16, 2016, 10:07:25 PM »
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Did a reset and got the headlight back again , for about 15 minutes . After I changed the CV's to what I wanted and started to run the loco it stalled on a dirty spot . The light went dim again and I just can't get it back to working right again .  I think it's possible that the decoder is defective .

Mike C

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Re: upgrading sound decoder on K4
« Reply #19 on: April 17, 2016, 06:25:18 PM »
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  I think I figured out the problem .  I went ahead and totally gutted the tender and then hardwired the decoder to the tender pick-ups and the loco wires . I still had a problem with the headlight .  But while probing around on the sticky uppies on the tender trucks to cure a small derailing problem the light came back on . I think that one of the sticky uppies was making intermitant contact with the tender frame . That was causing the loco to short out and not loose power as I thought . Anyway I adjusted the contacts and it now seems to be working fine .  I guess I won't be trying to shortcut decoder installs anymore .... :facepalm:


But hey the concept was good  :trollface:

Cajonpassfan

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Re: upgrading sound decoder on K4
« Reply #20 on: April 18, 2016, 10:26:50 AM »
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  I think I figured out the problem .....  I guess I won't be trying to shortcut decoder installs anymore .... :facepalm:

But hey the concept was good  :trollface:

Lol, fine piece of advice to self 8)
Have fun, Otto