Author Topic: Esu micro 5 decoder install on cab forward  (Read 720 times)

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Viperjim1

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Esu micro 5 decoder install on cab forward
« on: January 06, 2023, 10:08:21 AM »
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I bought a esu loksound with pre installed sound file for a 4-8-8-2 cab forward intermountain n scale loco. Install went great and installed 2 8 ohm sugar cube speakers with chambers in series and tested and everything is good.
Priblem I’m having is, I have a NCE power cab with 1.62 revision and 3’ test track.
When testing the loco it sounds perfect snd moves to a point and then stalls. And then resets itself. And if I give it a lot of throttle it goes great. But when slow creep it keeps resetting itself. I’m wondering if it’s a power issue as it sound cuts out and stops moving. Then I turn the sound back on and turn the throttle up and travels a little and happens again. When I use the loco with no sound it seems to run without a glitch. Does the NCE not have enough to drive this sound decoder and loco?
I have other sound steam locos with wow sound and tsunami sound locos and the same seems to happen to them also. So I’m at a loss. Any help would be appreciated. All values have been unchanged as well as default address from loksound. Thanks again

peteski

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Re: Esu micro 5 decoder install on cab forward
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2023, 10:29:24 AM »
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I have am NCE Power Cab. It has plenty of "juice" (over 1 Amp) to power any N scale model with a sound decoder.  Power Cab also has a setting where it shows the current going to the track on the display.  It will show much less than 1 Amp.

Seems to me that it is a problem with electric pickup.  When the model moves slowly, it will be very susceptible to loss of connectivity with the track and will stall. Also the decoder's rather small built-in keep-alive caps will not keep it powered through the dropouts. Running faster the flywheels and the inertia of the moving parts will let the model coast over the power interruptions (which are much shorter at speed), and the decoder's small internal keep-alive caps will keep it powered. Sound decoders are sensitive to that. I would make sure that the loco wheels and the track are absolutely clean.  That is why many sound decoder installers add extra keep-alive caps, or even a full keep-alive module.  Regardless, clean track and clean wheel treads are vital to smooth operation, but it is extra important with sound decoders.

If you can, hardwire (using test clips) the loco to  the Power Cab track output and run it sitting on the workbench.  See how it behaves.  If it behaves well at all speeds, then it confirms that the electric pickup is a problem.

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Viperjim1

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Re: Esu micro 5 decoder install on cab forward
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2023, 10:57:19 AM »
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Thank you I will have to try that.