121 Bubble car - Fitted with the Dapol MTC decoder - not responding on Z21 DCC System

[creilly81]

Hi,

I purchased a DCC ready Dapol 121 Bubblecar at the London show nearly 2 weeks ago, and subsequently purchased and fitted the new Dapol Imperium 21pin Dcc decoder.
All is well and good on the DCC system at home, all functions work and the loco operates as commanded, however on the Roco Z21 system we have at the club, it's a very different story.

Placing it on the track here and it does not respond to any command. Even switching to DC running has no affect, yet it runs and works perfectly ok at home with the Hornby Elite. Am i missing something here, or is there a possible compatibility issue?

Kind Regards

Chris

[Andy Dapol]

Hi,
You will have been contacted with a reply to your email, but I'll also post here. There is no known compatibility with any control system and the Imperium, however we recently tested a 121 with imperium on a Z.21 extensively and were unable to re-create the problem. As this operates OK at your home, I cannot suggest anything else to check, other than to re-check selected loco address numbers on the Z.21 as it can be a little opaque.
The decoder will also function on DC, is my understanding that yours will not run on DC at wither your club or at your home?

[creilly81]

Hi,
You will have been contacted with a reply to your email, but I'll also post here. There is no known compatibility with any control system and the Imperium, however we recently tested a 121 with imperium on a Z.21 extensively and were unable to re-create the problem. As this operates OK at your home, I cannot suggest anything else to check, other than to re-check selected loco address numbers on the Z.21 as it can be a little opaque.
The decoder will also function on DC, is my understanding that yours will not run on DC at wither your club or at your home?

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the reply.

No i haven't had a response via an email yet, but your reply is sufficient.
It is an odd one because the ID is set correctly, but i get no response. I'm taking it again with me this Wednesday so i'll try and couple more things to see if that helps.
Regarding the email i originally sent at the end of March, is there some documentation regarding the Imperium and what CV's are adjustable and their defaults and range of values?

Kind Regards

Chris

[mjb1961]

Perhaps you could help me ,,,,I've just bought a 121 bubble car ,,,,I fitted a Hornby sapphire decoder ,it would only give me motor control ,directional lights that only illuminated when the speed setting was on a EVEN NUMBER IE 2/4/6 etc so building up speed the lights were on/off/on/off ,,and only cab lighting at the van end ,,,a Lenz standard 8pin via adapter would only control the motor ,,,so now with a Hornby 8pin via adapter I get the same as the sapphire but without the on/off/on/off ,,,so would I be correct in saying that I need one of dapols 21pin decoders to enable me to have full control and have carriage lights as well ,,,,,martin

[Andy Dapol]

Hi, I will try to help, although of course we cannot offer authoritative support for decoders etc other than for our own products.
Your first problem sounds rather like your decoder is set to 14 speed steps, it should be set to 28. speed steps.
The model requires a minimum of 4 functions to control the lights, if other features need to be controlled, then 6 functions are required. An 8 pin decoder only has 3 functions wired in (the 4th is usually an unconnected 'spare' wire). This is a limitation of the 8 pins (2 pickups, 2 motor, 1 common and 3 lighting) so your 8 to 21 pin converter will still be missing functions 4, 5 & 6. A 21 pin, 6 function decoder will give you full functional control.
Of course we would recommend an imperium decoder; but any other 6 function, 21 pin decoder will also operate. Full details and programming information can be found in the loco information sheets.

[mjb1961]

Thankyou Andy ,,,,,I think I will be buying one of your 21 pin decoders ,,,,,,martin

[Mooresby]

I also have an issue with directional lighting. I've fitted a Loksound V4 chip and am running an ECOS ESU DCC system. All of the sound functions are working fine but the directional lights only work in one direction and go off completely when i put the model into reverse. Am I missing something obvious here?

[mjb1961]

Hi Moorsby ,,,,,,I've ordered a Zimo 21pin MTC 6 function so hopefully that will give me all the functions,but regarding your problem I can't give you an answer but do you have another 21 pin decoder ,or 8 pin plus an adapter that you could plug in and see if the lights work when you change direction,,,that would eliminate a faulty loco lighting system,,,,besides the problem you have mentioned does everything else work like cab lights both ends and carriage lighting ,do you have full control,can you turn any lights on and off independent of each other ,,,also ,,is there a cv on your ESU that controls directional lighting ,if there is it may be turned off ,,,,,sorry I can't be of more help ,,,please let us know your findings ,,,,,,,martin

[Mooresby]

Thanks Martin - I must've spendt about 5 hours faffing around with it today and finally seem to have got it working. The cause appears to be that the DCC chip was not pushed down far enough onto the prongs from the loco. Even with me applying reasonable force there is still about half a mm of prong showing but i'm reluctant to do anything that may damage the model or chip or both! Anyway, it seems as though the issue has been resolved. Now all i need to do is work out which CV controls the blindingly bright interior lights and try to dim them down to something less Xmas tree-esquel!!

[mjb1961]

Thanks Martin - I must've spendt about 5 hours faffing around with it today and finally seem to have got it working. The cause appears to be that the DCC chip was not pushed down far enough onto the prongs from the loco. Even with me applying reasonable force there is still about half a mm of prong showing but i'm reluctant to do anything that may damage the model or chip or both! Anyway, it seems as though the issue has been resolved. Now all i need to do is work out which CV controls the blindingly bright interior lights and try to dim them down to something less Xmas tree-esquel!!

Hi ,,,glad you've got it sorted ,,,,I'm having a right game with my 121 ,,,I put the brand new zimo 6 function in today and found it is no different to any other decoders I try ,,as it is now with the zimo installed I have directional and head code lights ,and they switch round with change of direction,,😀,,,,,function one turns on the cab lights but only the van end works ,no matter which direction you travel ,the carriages lights do not work at all ,,,,,now if I were to put the body on the wrong way round ,I get white directional lights both ends ,head code at one end only ,no cab lights at all but the carriage lights work ,but in only one direction ,,,I'll take another look and see if the decoder is installed fully ,,,,,martin