Hi everyone. I have an Atlas GP7 that I got in 2019, and I haven't run it in a while. I wanted to change the horn when I took it out for the first time in a while, but no matter what I put in for CV 48, the sounds don't change even after power cycling the engine, and when I read CV48 the value always comes up as 000. I'm at a loss for what the problem could be.
I tested some other CV's (63 master volume, and 8 to reset the decoder) and those worked fine. Only 48 gave me trouble.
Additionally, when I press the "bell" button on the throttle (not the number button) sometimes the headlight toggled instead of the bell.
I have an NCE Power Cab. The engine has Loksound Select and it was a factory installed decoder.
I'm replacing the flat cable as it was getting loose and I worried that may be the cause of my issues. I will update you when I have done that.
Modeler of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in Bethlehem PA, 1971 and railfan of Norfolk Southern's Lehigh and Reading Lines of the modern day.
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I didn't know Atlas used Loksound Sekect.
Maybe you need the Loksound programmer, or try it on JMRI.
Mike.
My You Tube
I have an Atlas S(2?) with a factory installed select and a Power cab. I didn't have any problems with CV48 that I recall
I have had problems where either the bell or the horn won't work with loksound selects. A reset followed by cycling the power works
Do not use the Powercab reset option with non NCE decoders, weird things may happen
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
It may have a Loksound v5, not a v4/Select. My new RS-3 came with the same instruction sheet they always have, which lists CV48 for horns, which is correct for the Select. But it is NOT the right CV for the V5. Horn selection for the v5 is CV163.
GO here: http://projects.esu.eu/projectoverviews/19?type=diesel&order=date&country=us
Scroll down to the GP7 (EMD 16-567BC) - Atlas GP7. The horn, bell, brake, and air dryer sounds are all listed as to which CV, and which value is which result.
The RS3 I have is a 2020 release, and they're STILL including the wrong instructions. Not sure what Atlas is thinking.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
(Odd, cannot quote messages by some people, or I get 403 Forbidden. Whatever, in response to Mike's message....)
Atlas has been using Loksound since late 2016. The C-420, 2016 release of the RS3, ALP-45DP, and a couple of others. Up through late 2018. Early 2019 release like the GP7 started using v5.
The other half of this: when I look in the 8.edition (for firmware 5.0.60+) of the ESU LokSound v.5 manual (p.96) I note that CV 48 is either reserved or 'unsupported' (I suspect the latter if it always reverts to 000 when a value is pushed).
47 is "Protocol Selection" and 49 is "Extended Configuration #1" (which itself has three reserved settings I can see).
It also seems to be saying that 155 to 170 are "16 CVs for sounds that can be assigned within sound projects", which is why 163 will give you specific horns. The base Horn 1 is CV 275 and Horn 2/Bell is CV 283.
(Incidentally CV 63 shows as 'master sound' and entering 8 in CV8 -- the "Manufacturer's ID" field -- resets the decoder...)
If I read the project correctly, the values to set CV 163 for the horn 'correctly' are as follows:
Horns (SoundCV9): CV163=0 Leslie A-125 CV163=1 Leslie A-200 CV163=2 Leslie S-2M CV163=3 Leslie S-3K CV163=4 Leslie S-3L CV163=5 Leslie S-5T CV163=6 Nathan M3RT1 CV163=7 Nathan M3H CV163=8 Nathan M5 CV163=9 Nathan P5 (Old Cast) CV163=10 Nathan P5R24 CV163=11 Nathan P3 CV163=12 Nathan P3-R4 CV163=13 Nathan P5A CV163=14 Wabco E-2
Thanks Randy.
rrinkerIt may have a Loksound v5, not a v4/Select.
Had I known V5 I would have kept my mouth shut. The jump in complexity of V5 is like the jump from counting on my fingers to writing Excel spreadsheets.
YMMV
In a way, it's a lot easier. With a Select, you had one CV to select horns and prime movers, a bitmapped CV like CV29, so something like 1-15 were hornd with one prime mover sound, then 17-31 were the same horns again but with a second prime mover, etc.
Now there is one CV that changes JUST the horns. Another CV changed JUST the bell. No overlaps, no calculations.
Same with some of the other stuff, like the function mapping table - the v5 is just twice as big as the v4. OK, that's a lot of CVs added, but it's just a table, it's not 200 unique variables. It literally is a spreadsheet. It was the same in a v4. This is what gives them the flexibility to do things like what Scale Trains did with their gas turbines and have the turbine sound but also the Alco diesel those locos were equipped with for hostling. Of the compound articulated sound project they have that has a simple mode for startup - out of sync 8 chuffs when starting and then with a function button switch over to compound mode with just a single set of chuffs. A v5 might finally make a proper Genset sound, but those locos seem to have been all but forgotten.
It's been almost 2 years - I just wish Atlas would put the proper instructions in the box! I wonder of the first models with Select decoders shipped with the QSI quick start sheet...
Forgive me if I'm incorrect, and maybe I'm I'll-informed/naive, but couldn't this issue, and most of the other issues brought up here regarding the complexity of programming, be easily resolved utilizing JMRI Decoder Pro? It's free, it's intuitive. I realize not everyone has a computer, but for those who do, Decoder Pro is certainly something with absolute minimal computer skills can master. As the saying goes, if I can do it anyone can.
Tophiascouldn't this issue, and most of the other issues brought up here regarding the complexity of programming, be easily resolved utilizing JMRI Decoder Pro?
There is no doubt that using JMRI/Decoder Pro makes working with CVs easier for most people. I am personally looking forward to see what TCS does with incorporating more of its programming with JMRI (as a recent video indicated).
BUT -- and it's a big but -- if you don't know what the CVs are, easy scan and manipulation may not help you. If you have ever used a hex editor on a given computer platform you will probably appreciate this. I have my suspicion that if he tried to set "CV48" in Decoder Pro he might not get the 'right' message -- which might in a less imperfect world be "that's not a defined CV for this decoder, but I see you have an Atlas GP7 with a 'project' loaded in CVs 155-170 and if you were trying to adjust the horn it is in CV163 with the following values..." There may be undocumented or proprietary code or config variables that the interface might let you set but does not explain what you're setting -- here be dragons, sometimes.
In a sense you're making my point. When I say Decoder Pro eliminates complexity, I mean that with Decoder Pro you don't even need to know what cv's are involved. Just go to the "sounds" tab, click on "horn" and choose your selection from the drop downs. Easy-peasy
TophiasI mean that with Decoder Pro you don't even need to know what cv's are involved. Just go to the "sounds" tab, click on "horn" and choose your selection from the drop downs.
(Or tell him why he can't set CV48 on his locomotive?)
This loco MIGHT be in the current version of JMRI, since it's over a year old. But has anyone created the definition for something newer from Atlas, like my RS3, witht he correct list of horns int he dropdown? See, JMRI isn;t magic. I can;t know this stuff. It LOOKS like magic becuse out there somewhere, someone tookt he time to copy the information from the sound project and populate the tables that fill in those nifty dropodowns. Unless the speicific project has had a JMRI decoder definition created for it, and unless said definition is loaded into your copy of JMRI - all bets are off.
Theoretically, you wouldn't try to set CV48 with this loco using JMRI, because it would identify the decoder as a Loksound v5 and at that point 'know' that CV48 isn't the one to change horns, so if you select a new horn sound from the dropdown list and then write the decoder, it will write the correct CV, CV163, and not CV48. Though there is nothing in a Loksound decoder that FORCES CV163 to be the horn select and CV164 to be the air letoff or whatever. The person who created the sound project made those choices. Which is why there needs to be a decoder definition file for this specific sound project for it to accurately display the settings.
ANother example, most all Digitrax decoders return the same identification information. Doesn't matter if it's a DH165 with wires, a DH165L0 for P2K locos, a DH165AT for Atlas/Athearn, a DH165DP direct plug in - DecoderPro cannot tell which specific one you have. It's not a huge deal in this case - they all have the same CVs and the same settings. But there is no magic way for DecoderPro to peek inside your loco and show you exactly which of that range of decoders you actually have installed. Some other brands include additional manufacturer ID information in the CVs reserved for that purpose and CAN tell uyou precisely which exact decoder you have, but not all do. Sound decoders, especially ESU with their infinitely configurable functions, are pretty much hopeless without specific definitions for each sound project.
As I first mentioned before, "I may be ill-informed or naive ". Looks like I'm some of each!