A Dumb Question about ESU Sound Levels

[peteski]

What???!!!  No spinners?

Don't you know?  On donked golf carts, those are considered in bad taste. 

[MK]

Sorry, I'm behind on my reading of Donked Digest.

[peteski]

Sorry, I'm behind on my reading of Donked Digest.

LOL!  I only heard about it from a friend: Chris333. 

[milw156]

@Steveruger45,

Gotcha!  Makes perfect sense, except what happens if a third locomotive is in the consist?

DFF

What about making F0 inactive while in consist? Never tried it, but SEEMS logical.

[jdcolombo]

When I consist LokSound-equipped locos, here is how I do it.

The NKP typically ran three-unit consists on its trains.  I do this too, and "hard" consist each locomotive by setting them to the same address (the address of the lead locomotive).  My consists have sound (ESU LokSound) decoders in the front and rear engines, but not in the middle engine (I use a LokPilot V.4 in that one, which makes it compatible with Drive Hold).  So Loco1 (lead) is set for forward running, and F0 turns on the headlight.  I remap the rear light to F3 (I don't use the coupler sound anyway), so that light only comes on when/if I press F3.  Loco 2, the middle loco, is set for forward running, and I disable the lights completely (just eliminate the entries for physical connections in the F0, Forward and F0, Reverse function mapping table).  The rear loco is set up for reverse running, with the same light setup as the front loco.  If the consist is running "forward" and F0 is on, only the front engine's headlight is on.  If the consist is running in reverse (for example, I do a runaround move so the consist order is reversed), the rear engine's light is on and the "lead" loco's is off. 

Now comes the cute part.  On the front loco, I set up F1 (bell) and F2 (horn) to work only if F7 is off (e.g., the logic here is F1, not F7).  On the rear unit, I set up the horn and bell so that they come on only if F7 is on.  So if my consist is running in the "normal" direction, F1 and F2 operate the lead loco's horn and bell.  But since F7 is off, those buttons do not operate the rear loco's bell and horn, since I have its function keys set up so that the bell and horn operate only if F7 is on.  But let's say I do a run-around move and now I'm running the consist "backwards" with the rear loco now in the lead.  I press F7 when doing this, which disables the bell and horn in the "normal lead" loco, but enables it in the rear (now the lead) loco.   If I run the engines in "normal" direction, I turn F7 off, which re-enables the lead loco's horn and bell.

Admittedly, I don't break apart my consists, which would make this setup useless.  But for me, it works great.

John C.

[peteski]

When I consist LokSound-equipped locos, here is how I do it.
The rear loco is set up for reverse running, with the same light setup as the front loco.  If the consist is running "forward" and F0 is on, only the front engine's headlight is on. 

How do  you reverse it? Simply be setting the reverse bit on CV29?

[jdcolombo]

How do  you reverse it? Simply be setting the reverse bit on CV29?

Yep.  CV 29.

John C.

[Steveruger45]

@Steveruger45,

Gotcha!  Makes perfect sense, except what happens if a third locomotive is in the consist?

DFF

Hi Dave, well since this is my first weekend off work for a while i thought i would play a bit more to figure this center third loco mapping out.  I have it working great.  First i want to put my lokpilot non sound loco as the center loco with the lead and rear locos being loksound in a consist.  I still want to run the center loco on its own with a sound car on occasion too, so i want to keep individual loco characteristics the same as before.  As individual loco when F13 is not pressed it behaves as normal with directional lights. With F13 pressed/activated when in consist no lights come on at all.

Let me explain:
To do this and keep all lights off when in consist I found i couldnt use the F14 key as the lokpilot doesnt have an F14. Also the mapping map is a little different.

So first thing was to remap the lead and rear loksound locos to F13 instead of F14 with exactly the same mapping they had before on F14.  I just deleted the rear ditchlights that were assigned to F13 by default as i dont use them.

Now on the center non sound lokpilot loco I set up the map as follows:
For the two lights rows
Conditions:-Forward, F0, Not F13. Conditions sub menu:- Driving-ignore; direction-fwd; F0-on; F13-off; all the rest -ignore. Physical Output = Front Light(1)
Conditions:-Reverse, F0, Not F13. Conditions sub menu:- Driving-ignore; direction-rev; F0-on; F13-off; all the rest -ignore. Physical Output = Rear Light(1)

For the two F13 rows
Conditions:-Forward, F0, F13. Conditions sub menu:- Driving-ignore; direction-fwd; F0-on; F13-on; all the rest -ignore. Physical Output = Front Light(1)
Conditions:-Reverse, F0, F13. Conditions sub menu:- Driving-ignore; direction-fwd; F0-on; F13-on; all the rest -ignore. Physical Output = Rear Light(1)

pictures of the function map below.

[davefoxx]

@Steveruger45,

You're not going to believe this, but I found that if I have F14 on (F13 in your case now, on all locomotives in the consist) and then I press F0 on only the middle locomotive, it turns the headlight on the middle unit off!  I have no idea why this works, but it does.

For example, I have three locomotives ready to be consisted.  All lights off.  Consist the three locomotives.  Let's say that the middle unit is facing backwards.  Press F14.  Only the lead unit's headlight comes on.  Press Direction (put in reverse), and the lead locomotive's headlight goes off, but the middle and rear units' headlights come on.  Press F0 on only the middle unit (not the consist), and the middle locomotive's headlight goes out.  At this point, only the rear locomotive's lights are on.  Press Direction (put in forward), and only the lead locomotive's headlight comes on.

Note: If the middle unit is facing forward in the consist, you don't have to change direction; I only used that to show how the effect works in both directions.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[Steveruger45]

Hi Dave
Thanks and yes, I actually stumbled across a similar effect as you describe today albeit not so thoroughly investigated as you have done. I didn’t want the lights to come on the center loco at all in consist and thought I had done something wrong in the mapping.  Also I want to get to a “consist light config” by pressing one button. F13 once and done. I also stumbled across that selecting the lights on button on the lead loco in consist switches the lead locos light off with the way it’s set now which I think actually an unexpected plus.
Now I’m balancing sounds to suit my ear better similar to what you and JC has done, adjusted a bit to suit my locale and ear.
This mapping thing and lokprogrammer stuff is getting very addictive.   

[davefoxx]

I agree that the mapping and LokProgramming is addicting.  When I get back home tonight, I’ll post my sound volume settings.  I’m curious to see your settings, too, for comparison.  That might help us continue tweaking these things to be somewhere between prototypical and pleasing to the ear in our respective train rooms.

DFF

[RBrodzinsky]

The other thing to remember about LokPrograming functions is you can create OR conditions by having the same physical output mapped to two different functions, on different rows. For even more fun, there are also the Alternate function outputs, where you can use different effects on the same physical output.

[Steveruger45]

Thanks Rick,
Just when I thought I was getting my head around understanding this intriguing stuff you just showed I still have an awful lot more to learn and that makes this whole thing even more interesting and addictive. 

[davefoxx]

The other thing to remember about LokPrograming functions is you can create OR conditions by having the same physical output mapped to two different functions, on different rows. For even more fun, there are also the Alternate function outputs, where you can use different effects on the same physical output.

@RBrodzinsky,

Yes, I look forward to learning more about this type of programming as well.  In fact, I screwed up the programming in my ScaleTrains C39-8, as, from the factory, the class lights (F5) are white, green, red, and off.  I accidentally F-ed that programming up while tinkering with the LokProgrammer, and I haven't figured out how to put that function back.  I have been only able to get one color and off at a time. 

DFF

[RBrodzinsky]

Well, there is always the “cheat”: download the project file into LokProgrammer and look.  LOL

It is always a good habit, with the LP, to read in all the settings in your decoder into the project file and save it. That way you have a default fall back.  Any changes you make, save that project with a different name.

I also always read back the motor settings after auto tuning the BEMF and getting all the speed matching, etc., done. And then rewrite the CV data, with the “make default” checked, so that the decoder can be reset to the way I have it tuned.