Vision Line Triplex Bell Stopped Ringing

I have had this issue but had the same series of events. I noticed it, power off and restart, went away...now I cannot repeat. So I assumed it had something to do with operator error.

Seeing someone else say the same has me wondering if it is tied in with the four digit addressing issues.

Yea this is very annoying because all other sounds work fine but the bell just swing without any sound. 😩

Well hopefully some other people can chime in and we can start to figure out if something is actually going on.

Listen closely to the locomotive, on mine the bell sound only comes from the locomotive speaker.  See if there are any sounds coming from the locomotive speaker, maybe that audio board and/or speaker has stopped working?

I'll have to see if I can get the problem to repeat so I can check the sounds.

I take it the audio signal is used to activate the magnet?

@BillYo414 posted:

I'll have to see if I can get the problem to repeat so I can check the sounds.

I take it the audio signal is used to activate the magnet?

No, the magnet is directly driven by the serial data into a bell coil control board.  I don't think they've come up direct drive from the main board for the bells yet, I believe it's still a small board that receives the serial data and drives the coil.

Noted. I haven't popped my Triplex apart but it's good to know I'm looking for a smaller board if I do. I never paid close attention on any other locomotive I have.

The LCP boards are new since around 2021, but I don't see any provision for them to drive the bell coil, so I suspect it's still the bell coil board that was used with the RCMC.

@gunrunnerjohn thanks I’ll see if I can figure if it’s coming from the engine. All sounds including the horn work it’s just the bell 🤷🏻‍♂️

But do you hear any sounds from the locomotive, or are all the sounds coming from the tender?  Many sounds are from both, and you may not realize that the locomotive sounds are missing.  The two that are readily heard from only the locomotive are the bell and the locomotive chuff, the tender chuff comes from the tender only.

I'm having a hard time with how they'd lose only the bell sounds, that would seem to have to be a common issue with all of them.

I just tested my engine. All the sounds including chuffs are only coming from the tender, the locomotive is silent 😔….I’m a bit new to this so could there be a control button that I accidentally pushed to turn off locomotive sounds but keep tender sounds? Or is this something I need to start contacting Lionel about that warranty of theirs?

I think it's a contact Lionel issue, I know of no button or other control to turn off only the locomotive sound board.  My guess it could be just the speaker, but you are not likely to be all that interested in taking the thing apart to find out.

Are these tethered? Maybe the plug came loose. I thought I saw someone post how the engine and fender are electrically connected but now I can't remember how or where the thread is.

Yes on these the engine and tender are connected with wires and there’s a screw. I’ll double check that connection before I contact Lionel, just in case it’s something simple like a loose wire.

If you're controlling the lights, smoke, and motor, it's probably somewhat unlikely that it's a loose wire.  OTOH, it doesn't hurt to check, but I'm somewhat dubious that will turn out to be the case.  The actual TMCC receiver is in the tender, the locomotive receives the serial data to command it's operation from the tender.

For what it's worth, as a follow up, I can't get this issue to repeat so I can do any investigating. Not sure if mine was a one-off problem or what. I'll continue to monitor it.

Sounds like a sound failure in the loco.

Unplugging the tether between loco and tender will not really tell you anything... the loco and tender each have their own LCP3 board.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The LCP boards are new since around 2021, but I don't see any provision for them to drive the bell coil, so I suspect it's still the bell coil board that was used with the RCMC.

Swinging bell is still driven by the CDV2 board. Serial out to the CDV2 to begin swinging the bell; serial back into the LCP3 to trigger playing the sounds.

Last note, though I don't think it applies to OP's issue. AUX3 disables swinging bell in case you don't want that feature. Just make sure you didn't accidentally hit that button and turned it off.

Very helpful @Dave Olson! Thanks!

@Dave Olson posted:

Sounds like a sound failure in the loco.

Unplugging the tether between loco and tender will not really tell you anything... the loco and tender each have their own LCP3 board.

Swinging bell is still driven by the CDV2 board. Serial out to the CDV2 to begin swinging the bell; serial back into the LCP3 to trigger playing the sounds.

Last note, though I don't think it applies to OP's issue. AUX3 disables swinging bell in case you don't want that feature. Just make sure you didn't accidentally hit that button and turned it off.

Who would want to turn off the neat swinging bell?   The locomotive doesn't have a TMCC receiver, right?

Since all locomotive sounds are gone, I figured it was probably a failure in the locomotive.

Yanno, I went downstairs tonight and I hate to say it but I bet my issue was the aux 3 accidental press.

Guess I'll have to log some time running the locomotive...for further testing of course!