UP Sound Diner Not Working As Expected

@sinclair posted:

I have the Lionel UP excursion sound diner and recently it stopped working as it should.  Before when I built a train and added it the diner lights would turn on when I started up the train.  It no longer does that.  Also, when I put the train into sequential mode the diner would start doing station announcements, it also no longer does that.  It's volume also used to change with the locomotive's volume, and it no longer does that.  If I push the Train Link button it still talks to the diner and I can access those functions, and it has the chain icon above the diner when I build the train.  I've reprogrammed the TMCC ID of the diner to a different number and rebuilt the train and it still didn't help.  The lights did come with the train if it was set as a diesel locomotive, but once set as a passenger car it stops working as it should.  How do I get this to work as it should once again, it's like it's forgetting what it is unless addressed directly.

Same thing happened to me. I open the shell and I found the antenna plate had come off of the roof and fell down onto the board and no communication hardly

On mine there is no antenna attached to the body.  What I assume is the antenna is sitting on top of the speaker enclosure.  I guess I can take the body off and make sure the wires are attached.

@sinclair posted:

On mine there is no antenna attached to the body.  What I assume is the antenna is sitting on top of the speaker enclosure.  I guess I can take the body off and make sure the wires are attached.

When you take the shell off there is a 1" x 2" thin alluminum or whatever metal with a soldered wire to it.  It is held to the insiude of the roof with an adhesive transfer filnm.  The antenna is neccesary to recieve the rx.  Rememver MTH by rail and Lionel by radio.  Have to have antenna.

I would be surprised if that is not your problem.  It happened, noit came thwith the problem.  I could be wrong, but it would be the first time in 5 minutes.

I know it needs an antenna, but as the body is plastic the antenna doesn't need to be on the body.  On this model Lionel put it on the speaker enclosure, probably to reduce the number of wires attached to the body.  The car responds to all commands just fine, it just doesn't play nice in a train configuration anymore when it's set as a passenger car as the type instead of a locomotive.

@sinclair posted:

I know it needs an antenna, but as the body is plastic the antenna doesn't need to be on the body.  On this model Lionel put it on the speaker enclosure, probably to reduce the number of wires attached to the body.  The car responds to all commands just fine, it just doesn't play nice in a train configuration anymore when it's set as a passenger car as the type instead of a locomotive.

Mine was attached to the bottom of the roof.  Can you get it to do the squeal and clickity clacks when you roll it on the track by itself?  Maybe the little board that reads the magnetic disc is dirty or corrupt.  That's the only thing I can think of.  If none of this helped you, I'm out of ideas.

There are some sage individuals  on this forum that can give you some other ideas.

That does sound odd. I’d check all wires and make sure there’s nothing loose and with reprogramming the car I’d say a board is going bad. Have you tried different TR numbers when building the train? Since the sounds and everything work I’d venture to guess the DCDR (think that’s the right abbreviation) IE the radio board is about to croak.  

It makes track noises as it rolls, and if I address it directly the lights go on and it make s the station announcements.  It's only when in a train that the lights don't come on or it makes announcements with the train like it should.  I have made a different train with different locomotive and no change.

I know with TMCC you can reprogram the boards to a point so that it knows if it's a steamer or diesel, so it's like this car thinks it's something other than a passenger car.  Is there a way to do a feature reset or to tell it it's a passenger car again?  I don't remember seeing anything in the manual about that.

@sinclair posted:

It makes track noises as it rolls, and if I address it directly the lights go on and it make s the station announcements.  It's only when in a train that the lights don't come on or it makes announcements with the train like it should.  I have made a different train with different locomotive and no change.

I know with TMCC you can reprogram the boards to a point so that it knows if it's a steamer or diesel, so it's like this car thinks it's something other than a passenger car.  Is there a way to do a feature reset or to tell it it's a passenger car again?  I don't remember seeing anything in the manual about that.

Just curious what software are you using on the Cab2 and Base?  1.6 is needed for support of the Legacy Sound Diner Cars.

@MartyE posted:

Just curious what software are you using on the Cab2 and Base?  1.6 is needed for support of the Legacy Sound Diner Cars.

I'll have to check when I get home as this is news to me.  I'm pretty sure my base and one of my handhelds is at 1.6 as it got updated when I sent it in for repair a while ago.  My other handheld is 1.5 I think.  Wouldn't that be just crazy if I had consistently been using the 1.6 handheld until just recently.

@sinclair posted:

I'll have to check when I get home as this is news to me.  I'm pretty sure my base and one of my handhelds is at 1.6 as it got updated when I sent it in for repair a while ago.  My other handheld is 1.5 I think.  Wouldn't that be just crazy if I had consistently been using the 1.6 handheld until just recently.

If nothing else it's worth a shot.

Well, that was it.  I built a train with the 1.6 controller and the diner worked just fine.  So I need to make sure I use the right controller when I use the diner as I have no way to update the other controller.  Thanks Marty!  Glad it was a simple 'fix'.

@sinclair posted:

Well, that was it.  I built a train with the 1.6 controller and the diner worked just fine.  So I need to make sure I use the right controller when I use the diner as I have no way to update the other controller.  Thanks Marty!  Glad it was a simple 'fix'.

WooHoo!  Glad it worked out!  Get that other HH updated whenever you can.

I'd love to update my HH, but I have zero way to do so.  So for now if it doesn't work right, I just have to remember to pick up the other HH.  Thanks.