a couple of things to consider: by programming each unit separately, even if the address is the same, you can disable horn/bell sounds in the B units. One other possibility, though you may have to paint the inside of the shell black, is the ability to add engine room lights to A and B units for neat night effects, also truck area lighting for crew safety when idling or stopped. John
hobo9941 So for the time being...
So for the time being...
I put sound decoders in all three units of an ABA F-7 lashup. I was going to silence the horn and bell in the B and trailing A units. But when I press the horn or bell button, the sounds are perfectly in sync in all three units, and from a few feet away, you can't tell which unit they are coming from. So for the time being, the horn and bell work in all three units.
For what it's worth, Soundtraxx has the best EMD 567 1st gen diesel sounds, hands down, including transition sounds. They also win for their ALCO sounds.
Since virtually all manufacturers use the same power chassis for both their A and B units, they have to leave an opening for the sloping cab front of the A unit, and often for a cab interior. In a B unit of an F or E type engine, you don't have to have the sloping front for the windows or the cab interior, which means there is a large open space in the B unit where you can fit a very large speaker into. So when adding sound to say an A-B set of F units it works out nicely to put a regular decoder in the A unit, and a sound decoder and large speaker in the B unit.
I usually set them up so the speaker is near the "front" of the B unit, where the A and B unit come together. Unless you're right next to them, you can't really tell that the occasional horn honk or bell sound are coming from the B unit.
But ya, if both the A and B unit have sound, I would turn off the horn and bell sounds in the B unit.
The debate has surfaced here a few times if I recall, don't ask me why but I got the itch and put a sound equipped decoder in each engine of a Proto2k F unit A-B-B-A lash up and some may consider it overkill and even I do at times that is until I listen to it idling in the yard or pulling a long train up my 2.5% grade the four engine sound is killer. I have never even thought about the bell or whistle sound in any of the units other then the head engine but now I'll have to check and see it it's actually coming out of the rest of them. I have them all on one address so I don't know if I could even disable the CV that controls those sounds in the other engines. Gee thanks somethign else that will keep me awake at night...........
I think the intent is to get the prime mover sounds and not necessarily the bell/horn but rather than program them out or develop a B unit only sound decoder, it's just easier (and cheaper) to drop in the same decoder that is in the A unit. As someone said, some B units did have horns/bells but many didn't. However, if your B units are in a consist with an A unit as the lead, you should only hear the horn/bell on the lead unit and the prime movers of the trailing unit(s)
Ricky
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
the primary sound is the diesel engine, other sounds include the air compressor, brakes, etc. The horn and bell are minor sounds. Many B units also have horns and bells too.
Why do manufacturers equip "B" units with sound? Would not a train just use the horn in the "A" unit? Do real "B" units have horns and bells in them? If so why? Just wonderin thanks.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."