Pendolino woes

[bwj]

Revolution Pendolino first run - factory fitted DCC and sound:

One driving car (marked "rear" when the body shell is removed) cannot be read at all on the programming track, or comes up with wild read CV numbers like 255 or 164, but will not write any CV's. I have gone back to the manual and tried the process of setting CV8 to 8 on this loco (factory reset) but as said it is simply not responding at all. This loco does not run at all even with the mad CV location "set"

Now my other Pendolino drive loco (marked "front") is running only at incredibly slow speed. I have tried a reset on this, putting CV8 to 8 but to no effect. There is no setup reason for this - other locos on the same track, running using the Z21 controller run properly.

Can anyone give me some tips please on what I can do to troubleshoot and solve this?

[Don't think this has anything to do with traction tyre issue!]

[jpendle]

When I got my ESU sound equipped Pendo's, many years ago now, I found that progranning on my Z21 programming track was intermittent, unless I connected a coach to the driving car.

I suspect that a combination of traction tyres and dirty and uneven track meant that the driving car on it's own wasn't getting good electrical contact.

Hope that helps.

Regardfs,

John P

[njee20]

Which Pendolino batch? Which decoders? Factory fitted or fitted by you?

There are a number of idiosyncrasies on the Pendolinos frankly, particularly relating to DCC operation.

[bwj]

Thanks both

I've worked out at least for the front car that the speed was just down to the acceleration CV settings. Rear car is still essentially dead!

These are first batch Pendolinos, sound equipped, DCC's and factory fitted but hard wired so I can't begin swapping and testing if there is a chip fault. Will give it a go tomorrow with a coach attached but I can't remember that this model ever even had traction tyres!

The working front loco doesn't have traction tyres and goes full pelt now.

I have spare traction tyres and can fit to the rear driving car but difficult to see how that would affect the electrical pick-up?!

I'm a novice and will follow any good advice though!

[Ben A]

Hi there,

For clarity, the Pendolinos are supported by Rapido, not Revolution, at Rapido's request.

Obviously we at Revolution want you to enjoy your model, and will provide whatever limited assistance we can, but more in depth support queries should be directed to Rapido either using the email address in the instruction manual or via their support portal.

cheers

Ben A.

[njee20]

They did have traction tyres, two per bogie. They cause other issues and IMO they run better without them!  They're irrelevant here though, as you identify.

The power cars alone are notoriously bad for pickups (primarily because of the traction tyres you're sounds like it's lost) - adding a coach is well worth doing for extra pickup. Use a first class one with table lamps to confirm that the coach has good pickups!

They're not hard wired - they have Loksound V4 Micros on 6-pin harnesses, so you can definitely try a different decoder.

It's a while since I set up one of my original ones, but I know they got confused having Railcom Plus enabled on both decoders, so I turned it off.

[bwj]

Hi there,

For clarity, the Pendolinos are supported by Rapido, not Revolution, at Rapido's request.

Obviously we at Revolution want you to enjoy your model, and will provide whatever limited assistance we can, but more in depth support queries should be directed to Rapido either using the email address in the instruction manual or via their support portal.

cheers

Ben A.

To be fair to Revolution, I raised my unhapiness and immeditaely got some more helpful replies from "Simon". I've edited out my complaint in the original post. Still haven't got to the bottom of the unresponsive rear drive car yet.

Although it's not the issue here - where do the traction tyres fit?

[njee20]

On opposing ends of the axle on each bogie. If you look at the wheels you'll see one on each axle on the powered coaches has a small groove to fit a traction tyre.

I'm still confused by what you mean about the 'wild' CV values. Which CV are you trying to read? Is that CV1? That said, a CV8 reset should sort it, but the intermittent responses could mean it's related to pickups.

I'd definitely try another decoder first, it's the easiest thing to try. I'm going to guess at an issue with pickups though.

[EtchedPixels]

Other possibility is that you've not quite got enough current draw for the signalling and readback to work correctly.

Sometimes moving the decoder to an actual motorised loco and programming it then moving it back helps. It'll also give you a clue if the decoder is dead or there is some other problem.

[njee20]

It is motorised, both ends are on the Pendolino 

[bwj]

Thanks all

I've tested the bogies and the conductive springs are drawing the same voltage as present in the track.

Although the DCC chip is not hard wired, the advice I got from Revolution is that to remove it, the wiring to the sound card needs to be desoldered. I'm not sure I have the surgical hands steady enough to do this so any tips on recommend repairers gratefully received!

Re wild CV values I only mean that the Z21 will read a loco address on CV1, but the address (rather than the CV I suppose) is wildly different every time/doesn't stick. If eg the loco address is 254 and I go into CV programming the Z21 won't write any other values [I've been trying to reset by setting CV8 value to 8]

Finally, a curiosity only maybe, but on giving the loco a little push down I got a small shock from the metal block nearest the lighting LED. Maybe some faulty wiring there that could have shorted the DCC chip?

[Steven B]

Sounds like it's time to stop tinkering and get in touch with Rapido UK.

[njee20]

Trouble is that it's 10 years old, your right to any sort of recourse is limited. Rapido may offer a paid-for service, but it sounds like that's been explored already.

You absolutely don't need to desolder anything. It's a 6-pin socket with a wiring harness, you just pull it out of the socket.

[bwj]

Trouble is that it's 10 years old, your right to any sort of recourse is limited. Rapido may offer a paid-for service, but it sounds like that's been explored already.

You absolutely don't need to desolder anything. It's a 6-pin socket with a wiring harness, you just pull it out of the socket.

Thanks for the reply - will have a look at checking the chip myself then but I've botched another loco with my "repair" efforts

Will contact Rapido - I'm not looking for a freebie and appreciate these are 10 years old but a little bit frustrating that it was only run in when first bought and then has been sitting on a shelf for 9 years!

[njee20]

Definitely worth an email. They were very responsive with me and provided the spares I needed.

I would still try the decoder first though!