Emergency light: I had to run my own LED out the front into the "can" that holds the red lens and then solder the wires with a voltage drop resistor inline to one of the aux outputs of the ESU decoder that was factory in the loco. As a result the shell is now semi permanently attached to the chassis via the decoder so be aware of that possible downside. One could install a plug I guess but I don't plan on running the loco without a shell so not worth the extra hassle/expense to install one. I used a mini red 0406 led pre-soldered to magnet wires which was small enough to fit in the void behind the red lens. I also use SMD 1/8 watt 1K resistors for the voltage drop to the LED to minimize space needed to run it all. LEDs: https://evandesigns.com/products/chip-nano-pico-leds Resistor: https://www.ebay.com/itm/362525126903 Not sure if your digitrax decoder has aux outputs but if it does and you are comfortable with micro-soldering it can be done.
Nice work Freddy. I am definitely not comfortable micro soldering, So I will call this Loco complete. It's to bad it didn't come with a reverse light built in.
[QUOTE="MK, post: 1288459, member Almost all DCC decoder has a DC mode. Some may be disabled in which case the loco just sits there. You can turn DC mode on and off with a CV. Ok, I looked up CV sounds like its the programming mode in the DCC setup. I should be getting my NCE CAB today. I am Looking fwd to tinkering. And it sounds like my Loco is ok.
It's been a while, but I finally got loaded! My first attempt at a load.. My second attempt (supposed to be beet cars).. Third attempt in process. Working on a four car set of wood chips. This has been fun, might try getting loaded more often!
Hi Freddy. Curious on your model that came with DCC/Sound. Are there and sound ports to help get the sound out of tender? I turned the master sound and all the aux sounds up to max value on the NCE. It's hard to hear the whistle and chuff etc. The whistle is really hard to hear. For comparison I put my new BL SD70 Ace on there; Paragon 4 sound I think it is off hand. It has plenty of sound to the point where I'll probably need to turn things down. Its speaker is mounted below and looks to be more external mount so big difference there. You can't do anything like that with the FEFs nice tender, too much for running gear. The only other problem I seem to have is the bell. On the main button that says "Bell", it does more of a startup sound when you push it. But the bell works fine like it is supposed to when you hit one of the numbered buttons below. I haven't explored the mapping mode yet, curious if you can map the main bell button, or if re-mapping is just for the numbered buttons below.
I never took the tender apart or really closely inspected it as all the work I did was in the engine part. Curious the issue you are experiencing with the bell/startup. I know North American locomotives are usually programmed differently than Euro... for instance the bell on NA steam is F1 while that same F1 is driving sound on/off with Euro. Looking at the decoder mapping I pulled from my FEF I see that f1 is indeed mapped to the bell and f8 turns on/off the driving sounds (chuff/boiler hiss). I have no experience with NCE controllers but I wonder if that is swapped as if it were expecting a Euro programmed loco? Or maybe it is trying to be smart and assumes the driving sound has to be on to operate the bell on F1 so if F8 is not active then it first activates it after which it now allows F1 operation. Sound Volume Settings I did adjust up my chuff sounds as it was low for me too. If you want to try setting individual sounds rather than master volume here is the list of CVs for adjusting those. I always check the setting first before I make changes so I'll note the defaults as well: Whistle - CV 275, default 128, max 128 Chuff - CV 259, default 99, Max 128 Chuff - CV 267, default 99, Max 128 Boiler hiss - CV 443, default 128, Max 128 If you download the ESU loksound5 manual from this page https://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/instruction-manuals/digital-decoders/ there on page 93 is a table for the steam sound where I got the information from above. I've confirmed that they match up with the programming from the settings I got from my loco so that should help you dial in things better if needed. Note: I did all my settings via a lokprogrammer and I see that I upped the volume for the chuffs from 128 to 160 when I compare to the default settings in the original decoder file I downloaded from ESU. In the above table I indicated 128 is max but that may be a difference from actual CV settings and my interface... not sure. If you are in fact already at 128 then try upping those and see if they remain by checking the CV value again afterwards. Typically most CVs allow for as setting up to 255 so their 128 max might be a misprint. Finally if you are still having issues you may want to look at the speaker in the tender. Again I haven't been in the tender so not sure if there is a baffle but if so you'd want to check if that is fully seated to the speaker. Little gaps will dramatically affect how things sound. Tinny is a pretty good indicator of a bad seal. They may also be using a crappy speaker system and I have to think that is a possibility as this is my first and only Kato sound equipped loco from the factory and I had to make adjustments to get it more to my satisfaction (I think I left it as "good enough" lol). BLI has always been good sound-wise for me too. If after everything you are not happy I would suggest swapping out their speaker with your own baffle/speaker (provided there is room). I've had very good results using loksound with steam and a SoundTraxx 810155 Mini Cube 2 "Sugar Cube"-style Speaker with Baffle - 13x9x8.5mm. I put this setup using the same FEF sound file kato uses in a lifelike berkshire and that thing makes some impressive noise so I know the sound file is fine. Hope this helps.... sorry for the long response.
Ok, thanks. I think the cube speaker would help a lot, and easy swap out. There isn't a baffle inside tender, it is sealed pretty tight when it's closed up. I was just curious yours being already installed if it was different. 1 and 2 are the bell and whistle, I don't remember which was which I was up late messing around. On this decoder 8 is mute. I'll see if any of those CVs work, the list I have are lower digits on the Digitrax. The way it is, the sound is almost pointless, but on the positive it's DCC controlled now.
My apologies, I had it in my mind you were using ESU even though you said digitrax. Doh! I'd be surprised if much of anything I said decoder wise translated over to yours. If volume settings don't get you what you want I'd definately try that speaker though. They are about $15 so won't break the bank to try one.
No worries, I appreciate the help. I will update on how the cube speaker sounds with it. Thanks for the model number on the speaker, made it an easy order.
A blast from my past. I almost completed this U50 back in ~2010, but I was never happy with how the details or paint turned out. I figure 14 years of extra practice is enough to give it another try!
Freddy-Fo, With your expertise, do you know anyone who is using a Digitrax sound decoder? Originally, SoundTrax was the most popular sound decoder, more recently ESU has been popular. However, I have heard very little information about the Digitrax sound decoders. But, I think they may have been one of the earliest sound decoders to offer downloadable sounds? - Tonkphilip
Please don't make it too nice or I'll hate looking at all the U50's I have . This reminds me, forgot all about it, when you got home or later did the PCB strips show up. I didn't have a tracking number to check. Sumner
For better or worse this shell has already been battered with the ugly stick; if I can make the cracks, dents, and gouges less obvious I'll be happy. And with everything on my plate I totally forgot to mention, the PCB strips arrived safe and sound, thanks! Just in time for a couple of space-limited builds I'm working on, too.
Lots and lots of little styrene rectangles: Atlas has upgraded their 50' mechanical reefers a bit over the years, but they still can't be bothered to put the fuel tanks on the underframe. Enough is enough, I say: Only half a dozen or so more cars to go...
Speaking of trucks and couplers, I got the fuel tanks installed and painted on the first batch of 3 PFE reefers, and while I had them apart I brought them up to current fleet spec (body-mounted couplers, metal wheels, and over NMRA weight). In the foreground is a car with the tankless factory underbody. I have the tanks built for it, but I'm always a little hesitant to rework a fully weathered car. Maybe I'll tackle that when I get around to addressing the duplicate road numbers in the set!
