dinwittyyou can configure the cab light, default if turns off about 5 mph or whatever.
I´m sorry but I didn´t understand that really. Is it possible to turn it on and off whenever you want or not?
Dinwitty:
I can see the front shell screw, but it looks like the entire front end must be removed to get to it. I see two wings that appear to snap in place, but there seems to have been glue used as well. Let me know what you find out.
Hal
Thanks for disassembly info; I'll probably take another stab at it.
Perhaps then, the Paragon 2 can't divide by four. My Hudson also has a 24:1 ratio, so it must be able to divide by six. I think here it is dividing by three, producing a rate which should be eight (seemed a little slower). The cadence (emphasized chuff) is set at every third beat, a reasonable sound, but just looks wrong not being synced.
The Loksound might work, since it can be set to divide by four. However, this would not be usable if it then has a cadence fixed at every fourth beat. The cadence would have to be adjustable to the third or sixth beat, or none (even chuff sound). The 4.0 is pretty amazing, so guess I'll look for the tech manual online, or anyone knowledgable please chime in.
In studying p. 24 of the tech ref manual for the 4.0, it seems unclear what increasing CV 58 does; the wording is bad. Possibly with a value of 4 (or something), the decoder will give a chuff for every four input hits, but before I spend the money, I will ask some more questions, maybe on the yahoo group, and of the US rep.
A Hall Effect sensor and six magnets might be able to do the six chuffs with the right irregular pattern, if anybody knows what that is, or if a clear recording exists.
Dinwitty, I have bad news and good news. The gear ratio is not 24:1; it is 22:1. I verified this by repeated measurements. This explains BLI's inability to use their flywheel magnet/reed switch setup to generate a sync chuff. Dividing 22 by 3 gives 7.33, the chuffs/rev rate actually being produced. Dividing by 4 wouldn't be much better: 5.5 chuffs/rev. There is no fix except changing the gears.
The good news: we can forget about the BLI sensor and Paragon 2. There is tons of room on top of the frame, next to several drivers, to mount a Hall Effect sensor after a cast spring assembly (which can't be seen) is removed. I ordered some TLE4905's (referred to in the Loksound manual) from Digi-Key for about $1.20.
The magnets I got earlier from KJ Magnetics. They were their smallest disk shaped items. Epoxying these to the inside of a driver with the right spacing to produce the correct irregular sound pattern should be fairly easy IF one can get that info. What I would like is to know the chuff timing in terms of degrees of a circle. Anybody?
There likely will have to be some washers added to the chosen driver between the wheels and frame, to limit sideplay, so the sensor will work during both right and left turns. This should not create a conflict if your minimum radius is decent; the second and fifth drivers seem to have much more sideplay than needed. Should know by next weekend.
The decoder will need to do 1:1 chuffs, and I don't know if a Paragon 2 can have its counter bypassed. Only that it can divide by 6 or 3, since I have engines with both. I'll see if I can find out from BLI. Any other decoder with a cam input should work.
De Luxe dinwitty you can configure the cab light, default if turns off about 5 mph or whatever. I´m sorry but I didn´t understand that really. Is it possible to turn it on and off whenever you want or not?
dinwitty you can configure the cab light, default if turns off about 5 mph or whatever.
You can turn the cab light off with that CV 208 being a 0 Zero. Regardless of what the book states, it is a Zero off and any small number will turn it off when the loco starts up. A 255 will keep the light on all of the time. I could not switch it on and off with a function, but maybe someone else could help with that.
Interesting info. Changing the CV everytime you decide to run the engine with cab light on or off all the time sounds pretty complex and time wasting. I totally dislike that policy of having the engines programmed in this way that the cab light automatically turns on while standing and off while running. If this can´t be turned on and off whenever I want, then I´ll never gonna purchase it for sure.
I was one of those who had placed an initial order and then later cancelled...kinda wish I'd kept the order, but it wouldn't do my curves anyway. Best Regards--John
UP 4-12-2 I was one of those who had placed an initial order and then later cancelled...kinda wish I'd kept the order, but it wouldn't do my curves anyway. Best Regards--John
They are sold out at BLI and most places.
The comparison below shows the two styles of cabs on the BLI 4-12-2
De Luxe Interesting info. Changing the CV everytime you decide to run the engine with cab light on or off all the time sounds pretty complex and time wasting. I totally dislike that policy of having the engines programmed in this way that the cab light automatically turns on while standing and off while running. If this can´t be turned on and off whenever I want, then I´ll never gonna purchase it for sure.
The programming for the cab light is toy like for sure. I turned it off all of the time since steam cab lighting was very dim. If you cover the led in the cab to dim the light to a soft glow, then it can be turned on all of the time and not stand out and look normal. The change of the CV to allow F10 is possible also and will allow you to turn it on and off. For my money, I will cover over the led to allow just a tad of light, like most steam locos really looked.
My project to put six magnets on driver#3-left worked out fine, but the TLE4905 Hall Effect sensor was not sensitive enough. A small reed switch worked much better. Now I get two chuffs per driver rev, so I must either change decoders, or find a way to get the Paragon 2 to put out a chuff for each input (no divide by three). Does anybody know how the P2 can be made to do this?
Back to tractive performance: I was playing with the locomotive this afternoon and decided to test it out with a long train, for me. I have never towed more than 19 cars with any of my locomotives mainly because previously my grades were in the 3% range and I knew to keep the consists relatively light...18 cars and a caboose were all I ever towed with the all-metal PCM 2-8-8-2.
I attached 24 cars and a caboose. All of them were near-NMRA weight, some lighter, some heavier, and some have a bit of rolling resistance...nothing silly. The 4-12-2 took it all up the 2.4% main like nobody's business. That thing's a champ!! I figure those flanged driver axles are doing almost all of the tractive effort, and it's a hefty locomotive. My guess is that it might take near 30 cars to make it begin to slip. I intend to find out.
More to follow...
...and they tend to nearly double the tractive effort of the locomotive in my experience. The Bull Frog Snot goop does, anyway, as evinced by my BLI Niagara's improved effort on my previous layout's 3.4% grades.
I did change to a TCS Wow after going over the Paragon 2 board and not finding a spot to process a 1:1 pulse/chuff. I found a 4-12-2 recording on Amazon and used it to set up the driver magnets for a similar 3-3 sound, and also to pick a Wow whistle (reconstucted ATSF) which is almost identical. A red washer was added to limit sideplay of the driver set.
I set up the red light and cab light on separate throttle functions, and removed the smoke generator.
Dinwitty, I am just generating a single chuff per pulse. The pulses are coming from six driver magnets, and I was able to position the magnets to give an irregular rhythm, like 123 123. Nothing to do with the decoder.
Have been running the loco tonight, and trying to decide whether it sounds enough like the recordings I found. I could always remove the magnets and try again. If someone knew what the exact angles for the chuffs were, it would help.