Loksound 73100 in an N Atlas MP15DC

[Steveruger45]

That zimo decoder is 23 x 9 x 4mm.  Pretty close, size wise, to the esu v5 micro but narrower so I’m guessing shell thinning would also be needed as the v5 is reported to be 10 -10.3mm wide and like John said that next18 connector and the plug in adapter harness may cause some headaches getting it squeezed in too.

Chris, nice install too. 

Waiting on the v5 micro is going to refocus my attention too, I have three locos waiting on it.

Still, good news on the 73100/73199 v5.

[Steveruger45]

Although nobody has said specifically, I think the "KW 10/2019" means the 10th week of 2019.  If you look at the V5 LokSound they all say "KW 4/2019" or "KW 8/2019" and some have been delivered to Mfg and stores (Tony's Train Exchange is rumored to have stock).

KW is a common German acronym for "Calendar (Kalenderwoche) Week".
      https://www.acronymfinder.com/Kalenderwoche-(German%3A-calendar-week)-(KW).html

Yep I can confirm that.  I worked for a German company that would love to use German acronyms in English text messages.

[cbroughton67]

Although nobody has said specifically, I think the "KW 10/2019" means the 10th week of 2019.  If you look at the V5 LokSound they all say "KW 4/2019" or "KW 8/2019" and some have been delivered to Mfg and stores (Tony's Train Exchange is rumored to have stock).

KW is a common German acronym for "Calendar (Kalenderwoche) Week".
      https://www.acronymfinder.com/Kalenderwoche-(German%3A-calendar-week)-(KW).html

That's great news, and I stand corrected! I remember enough high school German from 30+ years ago to ask for a beer, and that's about it.

[Steveruger45]

That's great news, and I stand corrected! I remember enough high school German from 30+ years ago to ask for a beer, and that's about it.

Ich hätte gern ein Bier, bitter.   And make that four more because there are five of us. 😊

[cbroughton67]

I did some more tinkering tonight, and I was able to fit a 9x16 speaker in the cab in place of the 8x12. The sound is so much better... and louder! I'll have to tinker with the volume settings, next. Anyway, it seemed like a good time to shoot a quick video, so here it is!

[Steveruger45]

Looks and sounds really good Chris, nice.
 Now you’ve inspired me to do one of these locos too but like you say the shell thinning is not for the faint hearted.
Is it just the video or did I detect a little jerking at the low speed steps?
I think these have a three pole motor so maybe an auto tune would help if indeed it is the loco.

[cbroughton67]

Looks and sounds really good Chris, nice.
 Now you’ve inspired me to do one of these locos too but like you say the shell thinning is not for the faint hearted.
Is it just the video or did I detect a little jerking at the low speed steps?
I think these have a three pole motor so maybe an auto tune would help if indeed it is the loco.

Thanks! I noticed that, too, and I tried autotune, which did seem to help a bit, but the jerky motion is still detectible at slow speed. This is basically a brand new loco with no more than a minute or two of runtime, so there may be some run-in time needed. Or, it's the motor... Time will tell.


Just go slow with the shell. I have a Dremel tool mounted in a Dremel drill press, which keeps both hands free, and use a small sanding drum to do the work. Just make brief, smooth, even passes. In addition to removing the plastic wrap on the decoder, I ran the edges over a piece of sand paper a few times (really, REALLY not for the faint of heart!) - literally, like 4 or 5 passes. All combined, the decoder fit smoothly into the shell. Once you're that far, you're home-free. Go for it!


Chris

[tehachapifan]

Looks and sounds great!

Regarding auto-tune....I'm not sure I'm completely sold on using that as I seem to recall some of my locos running better with just the default settings.

[cbroughton67]

@jdcolombo I took a quick measurement on an unmodified MP15 chassis, and the v5 LokSound decoder will fit like a glove without need for "tilting" the decoder. This is a very good sign.


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[jdcolombo]

@jdcolombo I took a quick measurement on an unmodified MP15 chassis, and the v5 LokSound decoder will fit like a glove without need for "tilting" the decoder. This is a very good sign.


(Attachment Link)

Yep.  Looks like a winner!

John C.

[Jim Starbuck]

Thanks for taking the measurements Chris.
That’s definitely the way to go on these.

Jim

[Jim Starbuck]

Ok, this one has me stumped. What am I overlooking?

Sound works perfectly but I have yet to get the motor to run with the decoder installed in the mech.
I have disassembled and serviced the the entire mech including the trucks. Everything is absolutely in order.
It ran great with the original stock decoder and also with no decoder and wired for DC.
I took the 73100 out and soldered leads to the same pads in order to connect it to the Lok tester. On the tester the 73100 works perfectly including motor control.
While the decoder was out, I soldered the track pickup wires to the motor leads and ran the mech on DC. It ran perfectly using the same leads that were connected to the decoder.

Things I’ve tried:
Swapping motor lead polarity on the decoder
Disabling acceleration in case it was set extremely high
Disabling delay start
Making sure drive hold and brake are disabled
Rewriting firmware (multiple times)
Restoring to factory defaults (multiple times)
Reloading different sound files (multiple times)
Tried running on analog DC mode.
Tried running on regular command station instead of Lokprogrammer cab. Sound notches up but no motor
Tried using a different decoder type but Lokprogrammer changed it back to Select Direct
Insulated motor tabs on opposite side of the decoder. Nothing has shorted ever.

I have not tried using the motor pads on the other side but I did test and there is continuity between them an the pads I’m using.
Any thoughts?

Thanks
Jim

[tehachapifan]

I was waiting to throw Drive Hold possibly being activated out there but see you already covered that one. Been caught by that one a few times now, resulting in a mild panic before I realized what was happening.

….still, just to  make sure, activate Drive Hold and then deactivate it again. On my DCC system, sometimes a phantom or old command will carry-over to my next opt session and Drive Hold will be active even with nothing saying so on my controller (F9 in my case).

[peteski]

Are you absolutely sure that neither motor lead is shorting to the chassis halves?  If you have a multimeter (either on low ohm or continuity range), with the decoder installed and wired check that there are no shorts from each motor lead to both motor halves.

If no shorts, take the decoder out and hard-wire the track wires and motor wires to the and see how it behaves with the decoder totally out of the model, but still hooked up to it.

[Jim Starbuck]

Still no love
Lifted the decoder out so no part was touching the frame and still no motor.
Completely removed the decoder and soldered long leads to the motor pads and track pickup pads. Connected them to the Lok tester and decoder operates correctly. Motor control, lights and sound.
I soldered the pickup wires and motor leads together on the engine and ran it on DC. Kind of strange. The engine is making laps on the test loop while the decoder is running the motor on the tester and making sound while lying on the table.
I took the leads confirmed to work out of the tester and soldered them to the leads on the engine that were confirmed to work with no other changes and still no motor.
I tried cranking up the start voltage and also selecting other motor types in Lokprogrammer.
I tried BEMF disabled and enabled with various changes in parameters.
I tried running it on the Digitrax Zephyr and a DT 400 throttle which displays which functions are on so I could verify drive hold was on /off.
I soldered the leads to the motor tabs on the top of the board. Nope, no motor.

One thing I’ve noticed that through all the programming and file loading is the motor has never pinged. Usually during programming the engine will surge back and forth slightly as the decoder calls for feedback. I’m not sure what that’s telling me.
I’m out of guesses on this one. I was extremely surprised but still more puzzled when the decoder functioned ok on the tester. Would have thought failed decoder in the motor department.
I’ve got another 73100 ordered so I’ll try that next.