Well, that explains it then, mine are in either Kato motored Atlas, Beuhler motor Stewart, or Canon motored Stewart locos.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Atlas now uses different motors in their new stuff, compared to what was installed about 3 years ago and before. Nice motors, but not as good as the Kato-based motors. I've done the BEMF auto tuning. Its as good as its going to get I'm sure. Not totally silent, but its fine.
- Douglas
Again - it's the BEMF. ESU is already well aware of this and it is not something that can be addressed with a software update. It will be addressed in the V5.0 decoders as a hardware modification is required.
The tighter the tolerances are in the motor the less the sound will be apparent. Cheap motors will really amplify this frequency, where-as (older) Atlas and Kato motors exhibit little to no noise.
If you find it too annoying, just turn BEMF off and re-adjust CV2. If your motor is exhibiting this noise, you can minimize it somewhat, but you CANNOT eliminate it with BEMF turned on.
Directly from Matt at ESU .... Try setting CV124 to a value of 20, then do the Auto BEMF setting. If the loco pauses too long before moving off for your tastes, set CV124 to 16 instead.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Hmm, none of mine have odd noises. I don;t have anything set up right now to be able to read CV124 and see what mine are though. However, values that would make any sort of difference would be:
24 (default), 8 (changes to adaptive regulation frequency), 16 (constant regulation frequency but turns off c-sinus serial protoco) or 0 (turns off both). bit 0 (so making the value odd or even) controls something called driving direction, and bit 1 (adding or subtracting 2 from the value) enables or disables the decoder lock function, and bit 2 (adding or subtracting 4 from the value) controls the prime mover delay. So none of those 3 has anything to do with motor drive - but the other two do.
Also check CV49, that's "extended configuration 1". The default is 19, which enables DCC auto speed detection (so it knows how many speed steps you are sending - leave that one on), 40khz motor drive frequency (turning that off makes it 20khz - which might be audible, 40khz most definitely is not), and back-emf turned on. Making it 17 will change to the 20khz motor drive if you really want to try. Again, default is supposed to be 19.
This is in the Loksound V4.0 manual.
It's the BEMF. You can turn off the BEMF to prove this.
Loksound decoders have an auto-setting for the BEMF which can sometimes help. Set CV54 to a value of 0. Place the engine on your layour and turn on F1. Your engine will take off at full speed for about five or six feet. During this run, the decoder is automatically calibrating the BEMF based on actual running conditions of the motor.
Yep. I had the same buzz with the S2, and all factory equipped Loksounds that I own.....RS1, C424, GP40, and Fox Valley GP60. The CV 124 setting seemed to work pretty well for the S2, but not so well on others. Its a peculiarity with Loksounds that other decoders don't have nearly as bad. They need to program that out, because setting CV 124 to 20 thru 24 doesn't silence the buzz good enough, IMO.
That's the slightly annoying thing about Loksound - the Select really is just a V4.0, so you need to look in there. CV124 is defined in the V4.0 manual, it's a bit mapped CV like CV29 and controls multiple things. The default there is listed as 24.
Woodone,
CV124 had a default of 255. I changed it to 24 and the sound that it had changed to a low hum, not unlike a motor hum sound. It is much lower in volume than the noise that it had before. I ran it with the diesel sound on and the noise level was basically inaudible. Thank you very much indeed for the suggestion.
I don't know what CV124's function does, but the ESU LokSound manual describes it as "Extended Configuration #2". The manual doesn't show a default, but shows the setting to be 24.
Thanks again. -Al
See what you have stored into CV124- some will come defaulted to 4-
need to be changed to value of 20 to 24. Give that a try.
It occurred to me that your S1s should be comparable to the 2015 Atlas RS1 where I very recently converted to Select plus sugarcubes. Below is a video just shot, the first 25 seconds moving it back and forth with motor sound off. Yours should be comparable. Ours are similar but different sound files for the Alco 539T. Yours (if current Atlas factory version) is file 91475 (Atlas OEM file) which possibly could contain differences (e.g., horn default difference) at Atlas option, whereas mine is generic 539T file 73411. But I'd bet the quiet running should be the same, no matter what.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
If the loudness of the humming was exactly the same for both locomotives, I'd venture to guess that it might be the BEMF on the decoders. However, since you mention that the 2nd locomotive isn't as loud as the first one, it's probably a mechanical/drive train issue.
As suggested, try resetting both decoders individually and see if the issue (i.e. the different loundess levels of the humming) persists.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Can you post a video of it? It is probably either engine noise or drivetrain noise.
I'd say something isn't right, with either loco. I have lots of LokSound Selects (and one Direct) that I've installed. These don't start up with the motor sound on (I hit F8 to start that). With the motor sound off, of course the horn and bell can be activated. But when moving (motor sound off) you should hear nothing but the drivetrain noise.
I'd say do a reset, one loco at a time. Then change nothing and move the loco. If there are electronic sounds, I'd guess something is amiss. If I installed them myself, I'd call LokSound. If not, I'd call Atlas and then LokSound. If still under Atlas warranty, I'd push them on that.
At first I thought it might be a motor sound file issue, and some decoders have more than one sound file to choose from (part of CV48). But your issue is sounds when the motor sound is turned off. If reset doesn't fix it, I'd pursue getting it right.
EDIT: I presume (if factory decoders) the Alco 539-T sound file listed below is installed. You can expand the info seen with the "functions" and "bulletin" buttons. I see nothing helpful there, however.
http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/sounds/loksound-select/loksound-select-oem/
I recently purchased an Atlas S2 with an ESU sound decoder. I programmed it with its loco number and then set the volume down to a much lower level (CV63 down to value of 30). Once I started running it, I heard an unusual sound coming from the loco: a kind of electronic humming noise that changed pitch as I sped it up. I then turned off the diesel sound (F8), and the noise was still there. It is very annoying. Sounds almost like some electronic signal that is leaking into the speaker.
I have a second S2, same make and with the same decoder. It has the same sound noise, but is hardly audible with the diesel sound turned off (F8). The noise is not noticable at all with the diesel sound turned on and is acceptable to me.
Is this noise something peculiar with ESU decoders? If so, how can it be eliminated or, at least greatly reduced? I have a number of other sound locos of different makes, and have never had this noise problem with them.
Thanks for any info!