Model Railway Forum

I have a beautiful new Dean Goods loco from Oxford Rail. Impressive little engine apart from the sound, I can hardly hear it. I have done a bit of research and found that CV 63 is the master volume control and I think that I have set it to 220 using my programming track. I only think because although I can enter values via my Prodigy Advance 2 walkaround I don't know how to read existing settings. I might have made it a bit louder but it is still much quieter than my other DCC sound locos.

Do I have a problem I can overcome or should I contact the supplier?

Small correction and additional info. Sound is Loksound, default setting and maximum is 192 and I have used my Prodigy to reset to 192. You can hear it when it is running but as I said it is much quieter than other locos, like a class A1 or Castle class.

You probably need a better quality speaker, do you know which is fitted in the loco.

I recently purchased a sound decoder and speaker from CoastalDCC and the sound was awful, it was very quiet when running the loco, it just stayed on tick over with no engine sound increase, other sounds including the horn were pitiful as well.

As CoastalDCC ignored my email regarding this I decided to have it re blown and though it is now better it still would benefit from a better quality speaker.

Loksound are now supplied with a speaker that needs to be housed into a chamber to get the best effect, however even that is not the best solution for sound quality, but don't use CoastalDCC for help!.

Nokonium wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2020 12:24 pm <SNIP> I can enter values via my Prodigy Advance 2 walkaround I don't know how to read existing settings. <SNIP>

Hi

From the PA2 manual section 2.6 copy & pasted below ... See the last paragraph which I've highlighted in Blue.
I have a PA2 and it both reads and writes correctly. The main thing to remember when using the Programming track is: Ensure the programming tracks rails are freshly cleaned and the locos wheel treads too.

2.6 OPERATION - READING LOCOMOTIVE’S DECODER VALUES ON PROGRAM TRACK
The PRODIGY ADVANCE DCC system gives you the ability to read back CV values of a decoder
equipped locomotive on the Program Track. This feature is useful if you do not remember the
decoder address or what CV values your decoder has. Please note that not all decoders support this function and you will need to consult your decoder’s instructions to check whether
this feature is supported.
To read locomotive’s decoder values on your Program Track, please follow this procedure -
1. Place your locomotive on the Program Track
2. Press PROG to select “rEAd Prog Track” then press ENTER.
3. First, “Adr” will flash, prompting you to read the locomotive address. Press ENTER to
read or press SHIFT to skip to the next item. It may take several seconds to retrieve the
address. If the decoder does not support the read back feature, you will receive an
“Err” (Error Message)
4. Next “SV” will flash, prompting you to read the start voltage. Press ENTER to read or
SHIFT to skip.
5. Next “Acc” will flash, prompting you to read the acceleration rate. Press ENTER to read
or SHIFT to skip.
6. Next “dEc” will flash, prompting you to read the deceleration rate. Press ENTER to read
or SHIFT to skip.
7. Next “TV” will flash, prompting you to read the Top Voltage. Press ENTER to read or
SHIFT to skip.
8. Finally, “CV#” will flash, prompting you to read a CV. To read a CV, enter a CV number
and press ENTER. After reading a CV, press ENTER. “CV#” will flash again, prompting you to
read another CV. To end the read process, press ENTER.

I did do that, but when I entered the CV number only a box to enter the value was displayed by the walkaround, no existing value was shown even if I'd previously entered one and seen the walkaround 'SEND' the value.

Hi
You of course need to press the Enter button to read the CV value after entering a CV number. I would retry with a simple CV to test. Say CV1 (address) or CV3 or CV4 Acceleration / Deceleration rates. If possible try a couple of locos too. If the PA2 responds correctly then all is OK, but if it fails it may be worth speaking to Gaugemaster in Ford, Nr Arundel, W'Sussex and seek their advice. They are very good with customer questions and repairs if needed.

I will run through it again maybe I missed an enter.

Sometimes controllers can appear to have completed a step on screen but in fact they are still juggling the black magic inside the box. Give each step a distinct pause to allow the controller to complete the action before going onto the next step.