BillB1
I’m new here and I didn’t have any problem understanding your post or it’s title.
That is because the OP had a title that made no sense and he edited it so that it made sense. 
Rich
1 Like
Back to the question at hand. I have lots of Walthers Mainline passenger cars but no Walthers Mainline locomotives, so I was unable to comment on Walthers sound decoders. But I did a bit of research and got somewhat confused. I saw some labeling that referred to Walthers branded decoders which made me think that Walthers had a known manufacturer produce a line of sound decoders spefically for Walthers. Then, I came across some Walthers documentation that referred to ESU decoders installed in Walthers Mainline locomotives. I also saw a caution in that documentation that I wish I could now find once again but cannot. It had something to do with using JMRI. I will see if I can track it down. Anyhow, does Walthers use sub standard decoders? I would think not, especially if Walthers is using ESU decoders.
Rich
1 Like
Thank you for your effort ,Rich.
Its appreciated a lot.
Bill
1 Like
I’d like to see that, as I have a number of ESU decoders, in Mainline locos and others, and I haven’t had an issue when using JMRI.
I saw it in an eBay listing. The documentation was shown in one of the listing photos. I will try to find it again.
Rich
I can’t find that eBay listing, but I Googled Walthers Mainline locomotive ESU decoder
and I come up with all sorts of complaints about failed decoders including a message from ESU acknowledging failures.
The documentation that I referred to was from Walthers about ESU decoder limitations in its Mainline locomotives. The documentation was included in the locomotive box from Walthers.
Rich
My sense from what I am reading is that the GP9 may have a faulty decoder. But if the decoder is faulty, that means you may have at least three faulty decoders since two have already been returned to Walthers for repair.
You mentioned that a BLI locomotive works just fine. So, a few questions. Were the four Walthers Mainline locomotives that you mentioned produced around the same time? Can you tell from the boxes if the item numbers are part of the same series? Does the Walthers documentation about its line of ESU decoders show up in each of the locomotive boxes? How many other locomotives do you have with sound besides the BLI that you mentioned?
Thinking about the emery board. You mentioned that the BLI has no problems like the Mainline locos do. No problems even after using the emery board to clean track? Do you have other locomotives that exhibit no problems even after using the emery board?
Sorry for all of the questions, but this is a puzzler.
Rich
2 Likes
I was going to download that but it seemed very complicated. Is it?
The 3 digit code is 910 - etc. Dont know if that means anything
I only have two of the four boxes because shipping for repair.
Here are some of the correspondence about ESU decoders…
Randy A. DragenriderDe
Dec 08, 2023
ESU has posted a message about this.
tinyurl.com/yqt24d8f
"We found that some LokSound 5 decoders we produced at the beginning of 2023 have been used a power supply IC that was not up to our standards, either a fake or “B grade” component. If the component fails, the MCU will not be powered, thus the decoder fails. While extensive testing was done in our lab, we were not able to make the decoders fail. Unfortunately a small portion of these decoders have failed in the field. The failure has nothing to do with the locomotive, the programming process, nor the decoder firmware used. The component may never even fail which we have found is the vast majority.
"ESU continues to stand behind its products and our industry leading 2-year ‘no questions’ asked warranty applies of course. Every customer can send decoders to our ESU LLC office for replacement directly. Please note that OEM decoders must be exchanged under the warranty of the OEM manufacturer.
“The chip crisis has been hard on the industry as a whole but is recovering. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this issue and want to thank you for your strong support.”
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Ihr ESU Support
TC Carr
Malheur, Kopperton & Tejas * Sn3½ in 1923
(the I don’t know yet) * Sn2 “Gilpin in Idaho”
Anaconda, Oregon & Pacific * S Scale Heavy Electric
My Blog Index
Reply 3
Super User
6,939 posts
MikeHughesDec 08, 2023
c 02, 2023 Edited
I am aware of multiple reported failures of the ESU LokSound V5’s, but has anyone been seeing a high failure rate in the Essential Sound Units used by Walthers in their Mainline engines? I’m curious because I have already returned two engines to Walthers for decoder replacements and am about to send two more. They all ran or programmed for just a few minutes before failing. Decoder Pro shows “short circuit” and the engines do not reset.
Walthers has been great to work with on the issue, but it is still frustrating!
Randy A. DragenriderDec 03, 2023
Sadly, it’s now three to return to Walthers. This one failed while on the programming track like the previous two. I always download the programming first before running. It made it halfway through before dying.
The problem is not the programmer. I’m using a Sprog 3 with JMRI Decoder Pro. All of my other engines, including older Walthers Mainline units, read and run just fine.
Mike MILW199Dec 03, 2023
I have two Essential Sound Units, and a 50% fail rate. I did change the address on it via LokProgrammer multiple times, and it apparently was too much. It seemed to take programming, but no motion, lights, or sound. Walthers did replace it without issue.
Mike former WSOR engineer “Safety First (unless it costs money)” http://www.wcgdrailroad.com
1 Like
JMRI may seem complicated because it can do a lot of different things. But you can pick and choose which of those capabilities you want to use, and simply ignore the rest.
For example, I use it for decoder programming, dispatcher panels, and operations (switch lists, etc). But automation, warrants, signaling, or Logix? Nope, I don’t use them and have never even looked at them.
If you’re comfortable installing software on your computer and plugging in a USB accessory (most DCC system connections are USB-based), you should be fine.
2 Likes