Kato ICE4 with Zimo, what's the weird noise?

[Kiran]

I got the Kato ICE4 with factory fitted Zimo sound decoders. Only 1 motor car has sound and the other doesn't. In the video below on my text track, one of the motor cars makes a wining noise at around speed 30 or 40 in 128 speed step mode. It only makes the noise in forward direction. Does anyone know what this could be? No such noise in reverse. I turned off the engine sounds in the decoder so you can hear the wining. Ignore the second motor car that's not moving. I already contacted Kato about it. They fixed it but it stopped running again.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J1I1kUpn9CLQCddZ9LwNjnZPY6tHo0eH/view?usp=sharing

 

I also have another Kato ICE4 set with EM13 decoders and that one runs like a champ without any problems or wining sounds. It also runs much faster than the set with Zimo decoders. But I am mostly worried about the noise.

[Martijn Meerts]

That doesn't sound good ... Have you tried removing the decoder and running the motor car on some analog track? Or maybe replace the Zimo with a Kato decoder for testing (if that's possible at all, I don't have the model)

 

[chadbag]

I have the ICE4 and I have the Zimo decoder set without the sound.  I have not yet assembled it but will give it a try and see how it works.

[Kiran]

Thank you Chadbag. Please do report back when you get around to installing the decoder. The whining noise thing is being made by the motor car with Zimo sound decoder though.

 

On an unrelated note, I got a bit of a shocker just now. Apparently, Kato USA warranty is only for 60 days. https://www.katousa.com/faq/warranty.html

 

So I have to pay for the repair costs in addition to $700 for the set. Ah well, it is my fault for not checking the warranty FAQs I guess.

[chadbag]

I hope to get it installed this weekend to test.  We'll see if I get the time.

 

While it is not the sound version I suspect the motor driving part is basically the same.   I do want to buy the sound decoder versiojn (Lippe has them) but I am on moratorium so will have to wait and hopefully still be able to find one somewhere.

 

 

[chadbag]

I installed the Zimo motor decoders in both the motor cars (I have the complete 10-1512/10-1513 set).  Besides having a devil of a time programming the address in them, I got them working and I did not hear anything like in the video, though I did hear some sort of electrical hum faintly.

 

@Kiran Does the sound you hear sound more mechanical or more electronic to you?  I watched your video several times but had a hard time deciding on that question.   Does the sound change as you change speed?

 

If you change the speed stop mode does the sound change?  (You mentioned you were on the 126/128 sound step level).

 

---

 

As an aside, the Zimo decoders do not seem to respond to the "Emergency stop" DCC command.   I was using my own app to test and the TCS decoder in my EF66 does so I know it is programmed correctly...   I tried both motor cars and both ignored the "emergency stop" command.

 

[Kiran]

To me, it sounds mechanical. And the noise is heard at only a certain speed, around 40 in the 128 speed step mode. I don't remember if I tried the emergency stop command. But I will check once the motor cars are back from Kato USA.

 

As a side note, I tried using the Zimo decoders in other Kato DCC ready trains. They don't appear to work.

[chadbag]

1 hour ago, Kiran said:

As a side note, I tried using the Zimo decoders in other Kato DCC ready trains. They don't appear to work.

 

That is strange...  You'd think it wouldn't matter as long as they were EM13 compatible.   Now you're tempting me to try it one of these days....

 

[Kiran]

8 hours ago, chadbag said:

 

That is strange...  You'd think it wouldn't matter as long as they were EM13 compatible.   Now you're tempting me to try it one of these days....

 

 

I might have done something wrong. I tried it in a Narita Express and the E4 Shinkanses. The Narita express didn't like it. But it works with EM13. The E4 doesn't like either decoder.

 

I have 3 spare Zimo decoders if you would like to try. Happy to elend them to you if you would like to experiment.

[chadbag]

@Kiran  If you want me to try them for you I can.    I spent a couple days discussing the ICE4 and ZIMO decoders with a very nice ZIMO engineer (about something different than your problem) and I also asked if they were meant to work with other KATO trains.  He said the party line that they were made for the ICE4 and so had not been tested wit others but they had had feedback on at least a few other Japanese EM13-style trains that they were successfully being used.