Updated 7-5-2015 6-11436 Union Pacific VISION LEGACY Scale 4-8-8-4 Big Boy #4005 tender sound trouble

I'm no tech but the first thing I do when a legacy loco drops the sound and/or acts strange I give my track a thorough cleaning.

I've found that even though my track doesn't look dirty there may be enough dirt/ residue on it from dust oil etc that a newer legacy loco will  drop the sound.

I've even had one loco jerk and stop with the onboard diagnostics flashing a motor driver board issue. Cleaned the track reset the loco and never had a problem.

The VL bigboy is certainly a much more complex animal than the average legacy loco, and dirty track alone may not be the problem. Its just an easy place to start the " process of elimination".

Maybe the 2 way communication with the stereo sound between the tender and loco complicates the issue.

 I have older TMCC locos that never flinch no matter how dirty the track. The newer legacy stuff is especially sensative.

At the bottom of every page of the Legacy manual it says: "Clean and lubricate your eguipment. Wipe your track regularly"

If it is just a glitch, doing the reprogramming allows the Engine board to reset the tender also.  G

I have found that my VL BB is rather picky about track cleanliness and the wireless tether alignment.  Like RickO says, after a track wiping it comes back to life again.  I did have to tweak the IR sensor on the tender once to get them to work together again.

As for the Cab-1, I think mine did the same thing the one time I tried it.  You have to use the start up command for the locomotive to get the sounds to work, or else it runs in silent.  My K-Line TMCC locomotives do the same thing.  Address the locomotive, then push Aux1 and then #3 and the sounds will start up.

If you've tried all the above suggestions, let's do a little diagnosis.

Fire up the locomotive without the tender connected and point a digital camera at the IR sensor on the drawbar.  You should see a dull purple glow in the viewfinder from the IR sender.  If not, that's a problem.  If you see that, put the tender on the tracks by itself and see if the steam idle sounds are working.  If you have a standard transformer connected, you should be able to use the controls to sound the whistle.

If both of those tests work, I'd examine the wires from the tender IR sensor closely, I've had a couple units where those were broken.

GNJ,  I tried my canon rebel t3 I saw no purple light in view finder but then cab light being on not a help either!as an after thought I took a picture of that area and assume the purple light is what your wanting to see.

I tried the tender only it gets sounds at power upa sort of chuff chuff sound and a consistent steam sound, the transformer whistle button push results are positive for sound. I  disabled the legacy base for this test. but a quirk I only get a short whistle sound repeated about 2-3 seconds if button held down not a solid whistle sound. I also get the recording saying 4005 your clear for outbound and repeats same as whistle if whistle button held down

now I have cleaned the track and ran it chuffing was fine until it entered the 072 curve then sounds would come and go at will and also acted as if I had just powered layout up. If I pushed the R on cab-2 all was fine for a short while.

the button pushes on cab-2 to turn tender lights on/off sometimes they respond other times its a 2-3 button push. whistle and bell work either on curve or on the straight track.

I have tried new batteries in cab-2 same result sporadic response to tender lights on or off.

sorry for long response delay am battling a AC Unit issue past 2 days a call to repairman is in order!!

am going to remove boiler on big boy and make sure the connector is snug. also ckeck wiring as my s-3 had cracked and broken insulation on wires that resulted in a short it was only 3 months old makes you wonder what they used!

so where do I go from here? other than call lionel and get an RA#

Yep, that indicates the IR is transmitting from the locomotive.

It's sounding more like you have some sort of power issue to the tender, I think if you're going to look for this issues, I'd be looking in the tender first.

If you want to further verify the locomotive IR sender, block off the cab light with a rag over the cab and then move the drawbar around to see if it ever blanks while watching it with the camera.

gunrunnerjohn,

this may not be the BB itself after all!?

using the cab-2 button presses are hit and miss and unusual happenings.

the tender on/off button turns the front marker lights on/off but not always a positive on or off meaning sometimes a 2-3 button press for it to respond.

and the smoke low medium high and off  sometimes it responds sometimes not and sometimes low setting works sometimes cannot turn smoke off at all!

but smoke fans work whistle smoke and blow down work after a time for elements to heat up.

now enter the cast aside tmcc cab-1 remote.  turn smoke on/off responds one button push for each. is there a way to select low,medium or high smoke using the cab-1?

had an issue with volume and cab-1.

I had set volume to no sounds using cab-2 so had to raise it back up using the cab-2.

then cab-1 would raise and lower volume sounds this seems odd to me.

bell whistle rear coupler all legacy features using aux-1 on cab-1 work  all works with no response button press issues!

is there a way to use cab-1 and cycle the tender red lights on/off??

is there a cab-2 reset for remote I can try?

why is cab-2 turning marker lights on/off instead of the red tender lights??

times like these I wish I had another legacy command unit to use as a tester.

so I'm thinking its the cab-2 at fault here??

I think we're mixing too many symptoms here.  The first symptom was that the tender didn't respond to any TMCC/Legacy commands, and you got no chuffing.

Note that you're working in TMCC mode with the CAB1, so the BB will doubtless respond different than with the CAB2.  Truthfully, I've never used the BB with the CAB1.

If the tender coupler works with the CAB1 and not with the CAB2, that would certainly indicate the IR link is working, that's the only way that could work.  I don't believe you have any way of independently controlling the extra lighting functions from the CAB1.

The CAB1 smoke level settings for older TMCC locomotives is as follows, I don't know if this works with Legacy stuff, never tried it.

AUX1, AUX2, 9 H, then AUX2 again to save the setting.  This sets the smoke volume to high.   

The L,M,H, buttons are the momentum buttons under the cover, they select smoke volume in the above command sequence.

GRJ,  unknown to me that the aux2 and volume up/down keys on cab2 control the background sounds and so after adjusting it all sounds are back again.

all this started with the sounds cutting in and out on a curve go figure!

just thought I'd share the cure for my issue.

It didn't occur to me to mention that there is two volume controls.  If you hit AUX1 and then volume up.down, you adjust the background sounds.  If you just use the volume keys, you adjust the master volume.

Sorry for the omission.

GRJ... no biggie but I have no idea where I came across that.

I also need to find out what those other features on second screen do other than the tender-marker light keys and the rule 17 the others above am thinking are for lights but?

will look at VLBB manual see if they are in there.

hey I just appreciate your help!!