Loksound in my Big Boy Thank you C&O and a few questions

[cudaken]

 I received my speakers and reprogrammed Loksound decoder that C&O gave me. Terry was not happy with the sound the Lok decoder had for his H-8. Ulrich Models down loaded the sounds to the Loksound decoder for a Big Boy. With new sound and dual speakers in the Big Boy I can find no fault with the sound quality. Speaker that Terry gave me did not look of good quality. Here is a link to my PCM Big Boy with Terry's decoder.

 http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j284/cudaken/?action=view&current=BigBoySound.flv

 Sound I am happy with but, and with me there is always a but. Cannot get the lights to come on? At slow speeds the engine sounds great, at higher speeds chuff rate seems to low. Steve at Ulrich Model trains sent me a short list of custom CV's that he programed in. One he disabled was CV 250 steam shift?

 Can I set the decoder to default with CV 8 =8?

 Terry thank you for the gift, and I am not disappointed.

               Ken

[tstage]

Yes, setting CV8 = 8 will reset your Loksound decoder.

Ken, is your chuff sound loud or sort a loud at low speed?  I found the chuff level on my new V3.5 Loksound decoder that I recently installed in one of my Trix Mikes to be a bit on the softer side - i.e. in comparison to my older V2.0 decoder.  (It was purchased and programmed from Bruce Petrarca @ Litchfield Station.)  My understanding is that if you have the Loksound programmer, you can adjust the loudness of the chuff recording.  Course, the programmer is the cost of another Loksound decoder.

One thing you might try, Ken, is to increase the master volume by changing CV63 to make the chuff louder.  The default value is "64" (loud), with a range of 0 - 64.  Adjusting CVs 121, 122, and 123 will increase/decrease your horn, bell, and axillary sound levels, respectively.  (Default sound level inputs are the same as CV63.)  I find it sorta interesting that the horn, bell, and auxiliry sounds can be adjusted individually, but the chuff volume is only controlled by the master volume.

One final thing.  If you press F8 twice quickly, you can set the overall master volume of your Loksound decoder to 4 different levels on the fly.  Once you are at the loudest level, pressing F8 twice again will bring you back down to the softest volume level.  You can then cycle through the 4 volume levels until you find a level that you like.

Hope that helps...

Tom

[C&O Fan]

Sounds very good Ken

I like the chuff and whistle much better than the C&O sounds

This whistle sounds playable

Is there a short Whistle ?

The speakers help a great deal

 

Hope you enjoy it for years to come

[cudaken]

 Tom, thanks for thanks the time to answer. I did know about the F 8 controlling the sound level. I re set the CV 8 = 8 and I like the sound better, but there is still issues.

 When I push F 0 instead of turning on my lights, it makes a steam release sound, when I hit F 7 that should make the brakes squeal, it slows down the engine but no sound for the brakes?

 What do I have to do to get the lights on?

 Other problem is after it ran a while the whistle will cut in and out when played. I will check the install, with the whistle sounding fine on start up makes me think the decoder is getting warm. Speakers are 100 OHM and where wired by Ulrich.

 One thing I did not do was pull the smoke unit jumper. Here a link to Ulrich instruction for install. You may have to turn off your firewall to get it to load.

 http://ulrichmodels.com/Prostores/SoundUpgrades/LokSound_PCM_Big_Boy_Install.pdf

 I did not want to turn on the smoke unit by mistake and burn it out so I left the jumper on. Steve did not know if that would cause a problem, may that is why mine is acting a little odd?

 Does anyone have a link for Loksound 3.5 decoder CV's?

 Thanks for all your time.

                            Ken

 

[Graffen]

Here is the Download page at ESU:

http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/instruction-manuals/digital-decoders/

There is a complete manual for the 3.5. It sounds like you will have to function-map the decoder.

Hope it helps.

[selector]

Graffen is correct, Ken.  You must perform a "function-mapping" procedure to get F0 back to controlling the light.  A reset with CV8 may do it for you...not sure since I have never reset a decoder to restore the "usual" function mapping, but I guess the worst it will be is that you can always fiddle with the other CV's again if a full reset doesn't do anything but restore all the volumes to those you don't want.

-Crandell

[tstage]

Ken,

I would encourage you to download the complete V3.5 Loksound manual, print it out, and put it in a 3-ring binder.  You can use the margins to jot all of your notes on.

All the CVs are listed in the back. It's nowhere as big as the QSI manual.  Maybe 50-60 pages, tops.

Tom

[cudaken]

 Graffen, thank you so much for the link, now all i have to do is figure which 3.5 decoder I have. Wonder if it is on the decoder?

 Terry, (C&O) boy I am happy with it. Whistle seems to be sort of playable. Whistle starts out very slow even with a quick push of the button and stays on for some time. Hold it down longer and the whistle stays on for sometime before it stops.That is all so when it acts up. When it is moving and I hit F5 it will give to short and fast blast. I really like the random sounds!

 Crandell, yep I know it needs to be mapped. Here a few months ago i did not want to be able to change CV's! I have set CV 8 = 8 all ready, but with the smoke unit jumper in places it maybe causing problems.

 Tom, 60 pages? Going to have to buy more ink!

 On the whistle cutting out, seems I was over whelming the amp in the decoder. I turned down the sound with F 8 and whistle no longer cuts in and out.

 My BLI with QSI pale in comparison to the Lok.

               Cuda Ken

[Graffen]

Nice to hear that it is a good sound in the Loksound .

CudaKen, if you have read the instructions now, you see how many things you can tweak to get the sound experience that YOU like.

I think the LokSound decoders have an undeserved bad reputation in the States, and I think it may be due to substandard instructions and lack of experience at the Shops.

CudaKen, please make a new Video of it, when you have programmed it to your satisfaction, and let us hear it as it should be heard .

[tstage]

cudaken

now all i have to do is figure which 3.5 decoder I have. Wonder if it is on the decoder?

Ken,

There's only one V3.5 Loksound decoder.  The sounds are programmed to the correct locomotive.

Tom