[Graham Plowman]

Hi,

Does anyone here have experience of the O gauge Dapol 14xx with sound ?

I'm asking this question on behalf of my father who has one.

Last time he used it, it was fine, but today, the sound doesn't seem to be working at all.

This morning he found that if he continuously pressed F1 there was a VERY faint hissing sound. Nothing else worked. As soon as he let go of the F1 button the sound faded altogether.

He reset CV8 with an 8. No sound at all now. The inertia setting has also been cancelled which suggests the decoder as supplied by Dapol was not in original factory condition.

The loco still runs ok and he has increased the steps to 128.

It is a Zimo decoder. Has he done anything nasty to the sound on the decoder?

Thanks

 

[Nigel2001]

CV8 reset in Zimo is usually fine, and the problems that ESU used to suffer (decade or more ago) with resets going to "factory" rather than "sound supplier" don't apply to Zimo.

Cancelling the inertia with a reset is very odd, it suggests that there is either no inertia programmed at sound-loading stage (really odd), or that there is another function key engaged on the system, and that key is operating the "yard" mode in the decoder to disable inertia.

Without a manual from the sound supplier indicating what they did to the setup, much else is very difficult to assist with remotely.

 

[boxbrownie]

I had a factory sound fitted GWR Railcar from Dapol a while back, sounded awful so I looked inside….the speaker wires had been twisted around the speaker terminals so badly they were touching the other speakers opposite terminal (twin speakers as standard) causing the decoder to blow or at very least damage the amplifier section so much the sound was always distorted, I sent it back to Dapol and they sent it back almost immediately saying it ran fine, not sure they even read the letter with it or tried the sound, maybe they tried an assumed it wasn’t sound fitted, anyway after several weeks of correspondence and another return it came back exactly the same, since then I’ll never touch another Dapol Loco, absolutely clowns….I know it’s a small operation by comparison to Hornby but that’s no excuse.

Basically check the speaker installation wasn’t done by the same drunken monkey who made mine.

 

[34C]

...He reset CV8 with an 8. No sound at all now. The inertia setting has also been cancelled which suggests the decoder as supplied by Dapol was not in original factory condition.

The loco still runs ok and he has increased the steps to 128...

Obvious question, but worth asking, after the reset was the decoder address 03?

I have seen so many decoders fail to fully respond to a reset*, that my 'going in' position with a malfunctioning decoder is an acceptance that more than one reset may be required to restore full functionality.

*Admittedly not a Zimo, none of my couple of dozen have yet required a reset

 

[Graham Plowman]

Thanks everyone,

I'll try and get hold of the manual from the sound supplier. Presumably, something came in the box with the loco.

Speaker wires is a good tip - will check that.

Address 03 is also a good tip, but my father did say it ran fine after the reset (minus the inertia and sound), so he must have had that sorted.

Will investigate further and report back.