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Intermittent sound decoder Locos and rolling stock
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New member 5 posts Jiminyc New member 5 posts
Jiminyc

I have a 4-6-0 steam locomotive (On30) with a WOW101 steam V4 decoder and KA3 keep alive device. Sometimes the sound and lights work fine. Sometimes they are scratchy sounding. Most of the time they don't work at all. The loco runs fine.

Tried the reset CV8 to 2. No change other than CV1 defaulted to 3.

The connections look ok. The 8-pin connector is seated tightly to the main board. 

Oh yes; I pressed 8 (mute) several times just in case I had turned it off.

What should I do next?

Jim in SE Washington
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blindog10 Prolific poster 3,320 posts
blindog10

Speaker?

Sounds, pun intended, like a problem with the speaker, or in the wires feeding it.  I'd connect a different speaker and see if that solves the problem.

Now, if the lights are flickering at the same time the sound cuts out, it might be a problem with the decoder.  TCS stands behind their products.  If changing the speaker doesn't fix it give them a call 

Scott Chatfield
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Milt Spanton mspanton Super User 979 posts
Milt Spanton mspanton

If you are going to try a

If you are going to try a reset, use the Audio Assist to do it instead of sending CV values. 

And I agree with Scott's comments above on both the speaker connection and assistance from TCS.  TCS has gone above and beyond whenever I had problems.

- Milt
The Duluth MISSABE and Iron Range Railway in the 50's - 1:87
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Jiminyc New member 5 posts
Jiminyc

Test speaker.

Good idea. Will any small speaker like from an old CD player work or does it have to be smaller?
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Jiminyc New member 5 posts
Jiminyc

I would really like to use

I would really like to use the sound assist, but with the sound being all wonky I can’t be certain I will hear the prompts. Going to test the speaker connections.
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blindog10 Prolific poster 3,320 posts
blindog10

8 ohm

Make sure it's an 8 ohm speaker, at least.  Less than 8 could overload the speaker circuit.

Scott Chatfield
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Jiminyc New member 5 posts
Jiminyc

8 ohm

blindog10  Great advice. I'll do that and let you know how I faired.

Jim
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