 Joined: 04/10/2021(UTC) Posts: 56 Location: Maine, Lewiston
|
Hello,
I tried running my still new in the box 37990 Big Boy on my test loop using a mobile station 2. Everything ran fine, functions 1-8 (some lights, bell and whistle) work fine but there are no functions above 8 and there is no ‘chugga chugga choo choo’ sounds. From what I’ve read online today it seems this loco has 2 decoders in it, 1 for operation and 1 for sound, but I can’t find anything on how to go about programming the sound decoder. Anyone else run into this, have any ideas for what I can try?
Thanks, Jeff
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Joined: 04/08/2018(UTC) Posts: 1,159
|
Originally Posted by: Mjn2ts  Hello,
I tried running my still new in the box 37990 Big Boy on my test loop using a mobile station 2. Everything ran fine, functions 1-8 (some lights, bell and whistle) work fine but there are no functions above 8 and there is no ‘chugga chugga choo choo’ sounds. From what I’ve read online today it seems this loco has 2 decoders in it, 1 for operation and 1 for sound, but I can’t find anything on how to go about programming the sound decoder. Anyone else run into this, have any ideas for what I can try?
Thanks, Jeff The wheel sensor might be the issue. There's not much you can change in those old decoders. One possibility is that the track voltage on a MS2 might be too low for the old wheel sensor on the sound decoder. Do you have access to an old 6021? or similar ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: 23/04/2019(UTC)
Posts: 497
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
|
I can see from reading the manual that the 37990 is a pretty old model (nothing wrong with that of course) and it does have two decoders. And it mentions using the old 6021 control unit to access the sounds.
Hopefully someone with better knowledge can help.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: 04/08/2018(UTC) Posts: 1,159
|
Originally Posted by: bph
The wheel sensor might be the issue. There's not much you can change in those old decoders.
One possibility is that the track voltage on a MS2 might be too low for the old wheel sensor on the sound decoder.
Do you have access to an old 6021? or similar ?
Before I upgraded my old 37990, it worked fine on my old 6021, but it played up on my CS3, with chain gunn sound etc. The old wheel sensor also worked fine again together with a new msd3 decoder on the CS3.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: 16/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 15,446
Location: DE-NW
|
Originally Posted by: Mjn2ts Everything ran fine, functions 1-8 (some lights, bell and whistle) work fine but there are no functions above 8 and there is no ‘chugga chugga choo choo’ sounds. From what I’ve read online today it seems this loco has 2 decoders in it, 1 for operation and 1 for sound, but I can’t find anything on how to go about programming the sound decoder. The loco is from a time when a single decoder only handled F0 through F4. So, if you have F5 through F8 operational, then it is the second decoder responding and there is nothing beyond F8. If you hear bell and whistle then the speaker is OK. No decoder issue, no speaker issue. There might be a problem with the wheel sensor. Or something I cannot think of. The wheel sensor problem could be related to the track voltage, as others wrote. |
Regards Tom --- "In all of the gauges, we particularly emphasize a high level of quality, the best possible fidelity to the prototype, and absolute precision. You will see that in all of our products." (from Märklin New Items Brochure 2015, page 1) ROFLBTCUTS  |
 2 users liked this useful post by H0
|
|
|
|
 Joined: 04/02/2011(UTC) Posts: 3,564 Location: Paris, France
|
Hi Jeff I also have this great loco. As already indicated by our friends here: - the loco has 2 separate decoders, one in the loco, one in the tender - The factory set address is 40 and 41 (respectively for loco and tender decoder) - the decoder in tender delivers the conductor's whistle( F1), the bell (F2), the whistle (F3), the running sound (F4), If none the the decoder 2 sounds are available then EITHER the address has been changed (the switch contact may have been corroded and needs some back and forth movement OR the decoder in dead If ONLY the "Chuff-Chuff" is missing then the hall transistor mounted on the first bogie for the loco is bad or disconnected (broken wire) If the "Chuff-Chuff" is garbled (not synchronized) it come from the use of multi-protocol which are confusing the hall transistor and its long wires (so operate in MM2 only) Here is the location of the hall transistor to trigger the Chuff-Chuff (circled in red  Here is the user's manual in case you don't have it Address settings are shown in the early pages https://static.maerklin....56152699261434542172.pdfIf the second decoder is dead and if you have a CS3 or CS2, I recommend to replace the decoders by a single mSD3 and program the Big Boy sounds with a CS3 (or a Märklin Sound Programmer) Voilà, I hope this helps Cheers Jean |
|
2 users liked this useful post by JohnjeanB
|
|
|
|
Joined: 04/10/2021(UTC) Posts: 56 Location: Maine, Lewiston
|
Thanks everyone for all the input. After doing more testing I believe the mobile station 2 doesn’t put out enough power to fully activate the chuffing sounds. I will probably explore replacing the decoder/s to something a bit more modern.
Thanks again everyone, Jeff
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: 04/08/2018(UTC) Posts: 1,159
|
|
1 user liked this useful post by bph
|
|
|
|
Joined: 16/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 15,446
Location: DE-NW
|
Originally Posted by: Mjn2ts Thanks everyone for all the input. After doing more testing I believe the mobile station 2 doesn’t put out enough power to fully activate the chuffing sounds. You can try a higher track voltage. Running the MS2 with 16 V AC should be sufficient for the chuffing sound. Or try DC between 20 V and 22 V. Some laptop power supplies may have fitting plugs. |
Regards Tom --- "In all of the gauges, we particularly emphasize a high level of quality, the best possible fidelity to the prototype, and absolute precision. You will see that in all of our products." (from Märklin New Items Brochure 2015, page 1) ROFLBTCUTS |
1 user liked this useful post by H0
|
|
|
|
Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.
