Problem activating boiler glow on my sound chipped Hornby Black Five

[lardylad]

I have taken delivery of the above loco,which was sound chipped (with boiler glow) by a model shop for me. It has been fitted with boiler glow,which is supposed to be activated by pressing function 15 on my Hornby Railmaster.Coal shovelling has also been assigned to that function.

When I press this function button I hear the sound of coal shovelling,but there is no firebox glow.

When I programmed the loco into my Railmaster database (using the Hornby Elite) I found that the loco ran backwards when I specified forwards on my touchscreen,which is linked to the Elite.By adding 1 to the value shown on CV 29 I remedied that particular problem, but I am stumped by the continued failure of the boiler glow to activate.

The loco is fitted with an ESU chip plus stay alive.

The dealer who carried out the sound installation is away on holiday and I would be grateful for any advice in the meantime.

[Chrissaf]

Does the 'fireglow' operate if you send the F15 command from the Elite controller?

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If it does (but you only get the shoveling sound using RailMaster RM), then you probably need to edit the F15 function label within RailMaster to turn F15 into a 'latching' function.

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To do that, you call up your Loco within RM (the Steam Loco icon) then click on the listed entry for your particular loco (I am assuming you have already added it to your loco roster in RM as your posted query infers). Then edit the name for F15 (Function list on the right hand side) to add the text "on/off" without the " " marks. If on/off is not shown on the label name then the function (in this case a lighting effect function) will not latch on.

[lardylad]

Thanks,Chris. I had already inserted on/off in the text describing the nature of function 15 when I added this loco to my roster on Railmaster.

Having checked following your post, I confirm that the fireglow does not operate when sending the F15 command from my Elite controller (having disconnected my computer and touchscreen from the Elite).

I re-connected my computer and touchscreen to the Elite and restored the chip to its factory settings by writing 08 to CV8. I found that even when operating the loco with the address set to this default setting (03) the fireglow still did not operate and,further, that the loco ran backwards when forwards was specified.

Any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Chrissaf]

I suspect, my view will be the same as others. It will probably be a case of waiting for the original installer to return from leave and hand the issue back to him to resolve. Only he knows what he has and has not done. It may be just a case of giving wrong instructions i.e the fireglow is not on F15 but another number, or it may be a fault with the actual installation. The installers modification would come with a warranty and he should get the feature working at no additional cost to yourself.

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Just in case the fireglow is actually on another function number. I would suggest some experimentation. Using the Elite controller rather than RM, go through all Functions sequentially and see if sending any other function number command operates it. I suggest using the Elite, because unlike RM, functions using Elite latch on by default.

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If you do have to send the loco back to get the fireglow corrected, you could ask him to reverse the wires creating the direction reversal. Either the motor wires (Grey & Orange) or the pickup wires (Red & Black) are currently reversed. hence your need to amend CV29.

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PS - There is no need to disconnect RM from Elite when using the Elite button controls. Nothing adversely will happen. The functions will just get out of synchronisation. In case you are unaware. RM supports the feedback of the Elite speed control knobs, such that rotating the Elite knob moves the throttle slider on the associated loco in RM. For this feature to function you need to have the line Elite feedback=1 as an entry in the RM .INI file.

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This following suggestion may be clutching a straws. But check that CV29 is also configured for 128 speed steps and not 14 speed steps. 128 speed steps is needed for directional lighting to work. Yes I appreciate that a steamer doesn't have directional lights, but this may have a bearing on the function that the installer is using for the fireglow.

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CV29 = 3 for Reverse direction enabled + 128 speed steps

CV29 = 7 for Reverse direction enabled + 128 speed steps + DC operation.

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If CV29 = 0 or 1, then 128 speed steps is not enabled.

[Fishmanoz]

Chris, think about it - swapping red and black has no effect on direction, you have to swap orange and grey.  Swapping red and black is the same as putting the loco on the track the other way around and has no effect on direction.

[Chrissaf]

Yep spot on Fishy.....short term memory lapsing oversight on my part.....quite correct.....Orange and Grey it is then.......Lardylad,  note however that normally the Red wire goes to the same Right side of the loco as the Orange motor wire. Whilst the Black wire goes to the same Left side of the loco as the Grey motor wire.

[Howbi]

Just a couple of thoughts.........1). is the firebox LED polarity correct.......2). if the FB LED resistance is greater than the sound circuit, it may reduce available power to LED..........HB

[St1ngr4y]

Daft thought - have you checked that there is a LED installed in the firebox?

Ray

[Fozzy Bear]

Try F3 or F4

[lardylad]

Thanks for your assistance,guys.

I will check the value for CV 29 as suggested,Chris.

There is indeed a LED in the firebox.

With regard to your post,Fozzy Bear, and CV's 3 and 4, kindly advise what I should look for.Should these have a particular value?

[Chrissaf]

You misunderstand Fozzy's post. He is not saying CV3 & CV4, he is saying try sending F3 & F4 instead of F15. This is pretty much the same as my previous suggestion, except I suggested sending (one at a time) all the F numbers sequentially from F0 to F25. The installer may have put the Fireglow function on a different function number to the documented F15, either by design or by error.

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Again as I stated previously, use the Elite rather than RM to do this test, as the Elite function buttons latch on by default.

[dynax]

Hi Lardylad, Fozzy Bear is referring to the function buttons not cv's, i have thought about this and i too must assume that it is the lower functions that have been used, so with the loco on track, try pressing the function buttons 1-4 and see if it lights up when one of those has been activated,

[Sloop]

My I suggest that you contact Southwest Digital (Tel: ++44 (0) 1934 515382  Email: info@swd4esu.co.uk), I believe that they are importers of ESU chips. When I had a problem with one of their chips they gave me instructions on which CVs to change and the values I needed, the problem solved in just a few minutes.

[Fishmanoz]

I don't think I'd be fiddling with CVs at all yet, we have yet to discover if it is a decoder fault. I would certainly try F3 and F4 though as this will tell you if the LED has been connected to the green or purple function wires, together with the blue common wire.  You could check that by inspection too and ensure if the polarity is correct by telling us which legs of the LED these are connected to.

[96RAF]

It is still basically a dealer fault so any fiddling should be Mark 1 eyeball only, not taking it to bits and no changing CVs or the dealer could shrug their shoulders about ot.

[lardylad]

It is still basically a dealer fault so any fiddling should be Mark 1 eyeball only, not taking it to bits and no changing CVs or the dealer could shrug their shoulders about ot.

Thanks for all the advice,guys. I have located firebox glow on another numbered function,but a few other issues have come to light so I am returning my loco to the dealer to sort matters out.

[Chrissaf]

Just for completeness of information, can you say what the Function number was that you found the fireglow on?

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It may be useful information to know for others......

[lardylad]

Found the fireglow on function 14.

[Chrissaf]

Thanks!!