Problems with DC / DCC motherboard New PIKO ML4000 Krauss-Maffei diesel

[julesc770]

Hello fellow NMRA people!

I'm hoping - though I think it might be a bit of a long shot - that someone may be able to assist with an issue I'm having with my newly acquired PIKO EMD ML-4000 (aka Krauss-Maffei) diesel hydraulic loco in HO.

Firstly, let me say that this is a stunning little model. A truly lovely example of state-of-the-art model production and thrill to operate. At least in DC mode. It moves smoothly (well, it glides over the rails, if truth be known) and the lights operate thrillingly (to me!) - headlamps, number boards, gyralite, even the dash inside the airy cabin lights up! (and I can see it also has a cab light, other lights and, the operating manual seems to hing, operating fans too!)

However... DCC mode is a different story. At least if you don't buy the (quite expensive) PIKO PluX22 decoder.

In order to run it on the club layout, I bought a DCC PluX 22 chip from a manufacturer that I had previously found satisfactory - LaisDCC (albeit I had previously used only their 8-pin decoders) and expected the usual 'plug and play' (as per my BLI AC6000 sound equipped loco and a Digitraxx motor decoder). To my great disappointment, however, while I can operate the loco - and it moves smoothly, albeit with an unaccustomed whine - nothing I do can make the lights operate. I have tried resetting the chip, remapping the lights (though, given that there is little information in the instruction booklet or online from PIKO, its a bit of a random exercise...) etc. But... nothing makes a difference!

I don't have another Plux22 equipped loco to test the chip - lest that should be the issue - but I have subsequently read on other fora that others have experienced similar issues when using a non-proprietary chip and, in any case, given that the chip appears to be functional (e.g. responds to and allows writing of values from JMRI and I can run the loco / set motor related variables without error) the suspicion is that it is an issue with the PIKO motherboard.

I'm not 100% sure how PIKO have implemented the lighting control in DCC. I'm assuming it is as per similar setups which use a motherboard with lighting / sound functions for both DC and DCC where these functions are carried on the motherboard whereas the motor controls are located on the supplied DCC chip. I'm not 100% sure how one accesses the lighting / sound functions in such a setup - given that when e.g. JMRI reads the chip it 'sees' only the motor chip not the motherboard... And doesn't 'see' anything if you remove the chip as either there's no feedback 'jolt' given that there's no motor control OR it cannot read such a motherboard directly (if the former, I seem to recollect there is a way of providing the 'jolt' but I don't quite recollect how...)

In other words - I'm slightly at sea with this and would really welcome anyone who has had experience of either the PIKO or DC motherboards with DCC interface so that I don't unnecessarily end up buying an expensive PIKO decoder...

Many thanks and TIA!