Well, I wanted sound.
I got a Prodigy Express on eBay. I got an Atlas U25B and successfully sent off a frame to Aztec, and almost by teleportation got the exchanged milled frame right back.
I was thrilled, the speaker fit the milling perfectly. I slid the decoder in. I ran the speaker wires under the decoder then down through the part of the frame with a little black plastic where the motor ends. I screwed the frame back together. Popped it on the track. Lights, quiet rumbling of the motor. A bit quiet, but I thought maybe the recommended resistor was just holding down the volume. Lights go on and off, horns and bell work. Woo hoo. Then a bit of throttle and it sits. Change direction the lights flip as expected, still no motion.
Boo hoo.
Disconnect DCC, hook up a DC throttle, and back and forth she goes. Rehook up DCC, sound, no movement then the board feels hot to the touch as I check the connections. Several tear downs and reassembles and then try without the resistor, now no sound SDVA whenever I hook it up. It looks like one of the tiny wires to the speaker lost its insulation, then it breaks.
I have a second one, which was supposed to go into another loco. Before I can even get this one in the frame one of the speaker wires breaks from the solder. I resolder it, this one gives lights and sounds for exactly one second before going dead as the other did.
I'm fairly sure I let the smoke out of them... $120 down the toilet. I really would like at least one loco with sound, so I'm actually stupid enough to think about ordering a 3rd, but I'm just wondering if someone out there has actually successfully gotten one of these babies working before I try again.
Some days, it just doesn't pay to get up.
Jason
I got a Prodigy Express on eBay. I got an Atlas U25B and successfully sent off a frame to Aztec, and almost by teleportation got the exchanged milled frame right back.
I was thrilled, the speaker fit the milling perfectly. I slid the decoder in. I ran the speaker wires under the decoder then down through the part of the frame with a little black plastic where the motor ends. I screwed the frame back together. Popped it on the track. Lights, quiet rumbling of the motor. A bit quiet, but I thought maybe the recommended resistor was just holding down the volume. Lights go on and off, horns and bell work. Woo hoo. Then a bit of throttle and it sits. Change direction the lights flip as expected, still no motion.
Boo hoo.
Disconnect DCC, hook up a DC throttle, and back and forth she goes. Rehook up DCC, sound, no movement then the board feels hot to the touch as I check the connections. Several tear downs and reassembles and then try without the resistor, now no sound SDVA whenever I hook it up. It looks like one of the tiny wires to the speaker lost its insulation, then it breaks.
I have a second one, which was supposed to go into another loco. Before I can even get this one in the frame one of the speaker wires breaks from the solder. I resolder it, this one gives lights and sounds for exactly one second before going dead as the other did.
I'm fairly sure I let the smoke out of them... $120 down the toilet. I really would like at least one loco with sound, so I'm actually stupid enough to think about ordering a 3rd, but I'm just wondering if someone out there has actually successfully gotten one of these babies working before I try again.
Some days, it just doesn't pay to get up.
Jason