I have been reading threads all night about putting a sound decoder in a Kato AC4400. It seems people are split 50/50 on MRC 1644. However almost every thread was several years old and the most recent one was from early last year. What is the status now? If you wanted sound in an AC4400, which decoder would you choose and why? Thanks
as far as i know nothing has changed so far. the mrc1644 is the only pnp sound decoder for the ac4400
Actually Sandro, I read you were having troubel with one of these units. How'd that turn out for you?
i assume these decoders don't like short interuptions aka dirt on the track. this caused several hangs so far. sound still works but there's no way to control the loco. it just sits with its prime mover idling. resetting the decoder on the programming track helps but then you need to repeat all the programming. currently i try to find a way to add a capacitor to the decoder. not sure though if this will help. otherwise it is really amazing what kind of noise/sound this small speaker is able to deliver. unfortunately it is not possible to completely turn of the sound if you don't want it. there should be a function to turn on/off the sound. similiar to light. anyways, for a first-of-its-kind it is a really cool decoder. but it will still have to proof its reliability compared to my few digitrax ones.
Doesn't programming all sound CV's to zero turn off the sounds? CV55 for diesel rumble volume especially. I removed MRC 1645, also a sound decoder, and can't remember if zero was low sound or no sound. Ben
I have done two of these in SD70's. One in a Kato and one in an Athearn. The Athearn is mine, the Kato was a customers at the shop I work at. Niether has had any issues although intalling them does require a little extra tinning on the rear connections of the decoder board in the Athearn. Both loco's are run on both DC and DCC. I had to mill a pocket in the Athearn frame to make room for the speaker, the Kato was a drop in. The Kato loco sound was noticably louder than the Athearn for some reason. It may be the pocket I milled for the Athearn vs. the large open space available in the Kato loco. My only wish is that I could find an oval speaker to fit to get a bit more sound out of mine. The Kato install was plenty loud. MRC says you can go to a lower impedence speaker to get more volume but I can't find one small enough yet.
of course sound can be programmed to be silent. but turning on/off would be easier. just don't like to reprogramm it every now and then
The instruction sheet says clicking F8 three times will shut down. Is that just sound or all operations? Ben
This is the shut down sequence so you hear the prime mover shutting down and everything that goes with it so the engine just sits there until you push any funtion to bring it back to life and listen to it restart.
So it is all or nothing, is it? I think F0 will shut off the sound in the Challenger which has an MRC decoder, but I haven't run mine in so long that might not be right. Of course programming CV55 to turn off sound in OPS mode only takes a few seconds. Ben
I have two of these installed in Kato SD70MAC's, They are an easy install (drop In) & I agree that the sound is very good from such a small speaker. The Kato AC4400 would have an identical installation. Although, I am very gratefull to MRC for producing these decoders & giving us drop in sound in N scale. I realise they are the first generation of PNP sound in N scale, but I have a few small gripes about these decoders. 1) The decoder is very sensite to dirty track & sound drops back to idle when contact is lost. 2) The loco has 2 x selectible prime mover sounds, one is suitable for an EMD 645 turbo prime mover, ie; SD40-2 & the other is from an EMD 567 prime mover ie; GP7/9 etc. I confirmed this by email with MRC. There is no way that the sound replicates a GE AC4400's FDL16 type chug chug. 3) The MRC decoder had a strange kind of inbuilt speed curve selection, with only 3 pre-programmed & non-adjustible options. (Linear speed control, slow change at slow speeds or faster change at slower speeds)..... This makes it difficult to MU these decoders to digitrax & get good speed matching Apart from these issues, which I belive will be fixed as the product develops, I thing they are great innovation for N scale diesel runners.
mu-ing with digitrax is impossible as you can't programm such a weird speed curve into a digitrax decoder.... well, you can but it's a pain. the only ac4400 with sound currently is just used to make visitors smile. as said, they are extremely sensitive to dirty track. even going over a turnout stops the loco most of the time. i will not wait for version 2 of these decoders from mrc. i will wait for digitrax n scale sound decoder. if they never come then be it.
I have to give my 2 cents on this issue. I have 8 of these decoders now. They are all junk! They have been in to MRC 3 times and none of them work correctly Not even on a brand new track and a brand new NCE DCC system. Dont buy them dont use them they are trash. "jumps off the soap box" Sorry but I have wasted hundreds of dollars on these sound garbage decoders. Laters SD
I also have one in an SD-70MAC. The sound is loud and ok to my ears (what do you expect from such a small speaker?). The problem I have, like the others, is the stopping. When it loses power, even for a second, it starts a whole idling and then ramping up process all over again. Some have suggested that this is caused by the motor pads on the decoder not getting good, consistent contact with the chassis slots, but I'm not convinced since it seems to happen at the same points on my layout. Does anyone know if there is a way to reprogram the CV's so that the startup process doesn't begin again everytime there's a slight power drop?
