Question about engine sound

[esoyke]

My tried and true 20 year old Conrail engine died recently and I find myself looking for a new engine with no knowledge about 'recent' engine technologies. I have my eye on a Chessie System engine that advertises it has sound. I have an old DC controller that I'd like to keep if possible and it says the engine runs on either DC or DCC. My question is, is the sound always on or can it be turned off?

[rrinker]

 When you come to a complete stop and turn the throttle to stop, the sounds will stop since there is no power to the rails. You will have to turn the throttle up to somewhere near half throttle just to get the sounds to start - but the loco won't move yet. As you further increase the throttle, the loco will start moving.

 A sound loco on DC won't run with another plain DC loco because of this. If this will be your only loco, it's not that big of a deal, but if you have others that youw ould want to run in consist with this one, you would be better served getting the non-sound version.

                                        --Randy

 

[esoyke]

Thanks for the info. Strange that you can't disable the sound. I'm imagining that might get kind of old hearing that constantly, at least for me.

[RR Baron]

 

The sound can be turned off by someone with a capable DCC system.

 

However,  a locomotive equipped with a DCC sound decoder will run unreliably when controlled by pulse or rheostat-style DC power pack (DC controller).  You can buy a DCC compatible DC power pack however waste of money unless you have convenient access to someone with a DCC system capable of changing CV value.   If you are going to buy DCC sound decoder equipped locomotives buy a quality DCC starter system** to configure its CVs and control it or stay with DC locomotives.

 

**Research NCE Power Cab and Digitrax Zephyr Xtra --- shop for best cost. 

 

[BigDaddy]

Out of the box most people find sound too loud and some don't like it at all.  I stuck my toe in the water, not knowing if I would like sound.  Once I dialed the volume down I quite like it.

DCC allows you to control the trains rather than control the track.  The starter Digitrax or NCE systems are less than $200.  I think the extra control you get is worth it.

 If you watch Youtube, it is fashionable to blow the horn and ring the bell as much as possible.  Just because you CAN do it doesn't mean you HAVE to do it.

 

 

[wjstix]

Note that turning the sound "off" won't affect how the engine runs, it still won't start until it gets up around 5-6-7 volts DC. Sometimes the decoder can be adjusted via CVs (Control Values) so it starts at a bit lower power, but not much less.

You can buy gizmos (to use the technical term) that allow you to access the DCC function buttons to blow the horn, ring the bell etc. and there are even some that allow some simple programming of CVs (like the engine ID).  However, a starter DCC system is fairly cheap (about like a low-to-mid-range DCC sound equipped loco) and probably will be worth the investment.

Note that you can always buy a "DCC Ready" engine and run it on DC, and later add a DCC sound decoder.

[esoyke]

Thanks everyone for the info. Sounds like I have a few options to mull over.

[richg1998]

Welcome.

As you know now, a decoder requires digital info to to change some of the features. DC does not have this capability. Not unusual at all.

Kind of like opening a car with a key, DC or today using a digital device, DCC to lock or unlock a car.

The microprocessor requires about five volts to just “wake up”.

Last I knew, digital circuits require about five volts DC

Nature of the beast.

Digitrax sells a device to use between the DC power pack and track. It can send data to change some features when running on DC.

Below is a little block diagram of part of a decoder. You can see the processor right after the full wave bridge rectifier.

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/t/225279.aspx

If you search for dcc decoders, you will find all kinds of info.

Rich