Need BELL volume CV

[MarkInLA]

I am sorry some of you feel I didn't appreciate just your input alone. I did..
It's only that with all your suggestions it was John C's, right or wrong, I was looking for...It's that in the NCE manual there is a list of CVS which do this, that, and the other thing..And I've successfully used them to modify locos.
Isn't CV 116 chuff rate ? What about loco direction correction to match screen direction read out ? Why would whistle become short instead of lingering, by changing (I forget) a CV value ? Yes, the CVs are IN the loco's decoder..But when I had the NCE manual I called up their CVs and it did the trick for each, separately, as I'd remove the 3-4 only other locos first then use whole layout as 'Program Track' for lone loco on the rails..
Maybe it's because all my 4-5 DCC locos just happen to be Bachmann which just happen to all use Soundtrax Tsunami decoders but that I wouldn't be as successful with a loco not by Bmann which happened to have LokSound, say..Is this what I've been experiencing and what many of you have been getting at ? If so, I do (I think) get that, guys and gals.....M 

[tehachapifan]

Yes, you got it! Different decoder=different CV's (generally speaking).

For example, CV116, while you cited as being the chuff rate in your Tsunamis, is listed an automatic uncoupling CV in at least some Zimo decoders.

[peteski]

There is a set of CVs defined in the NMRA specs that are to be the same on all decoders, but some manufacturers stray slightly from that too. But as far as sound configuration goes, each manufacturer uses different ones for different purposes. Since sound decoders are complex, some manufacturers use indexed CVs (which increases the range of availabel CVs, since that many are needed for the complex functionality.

I own the NCE Power Cab and I didn't even realize or remember that its manual actually calls out some sound CVs.  Seems silly since that is not very helpful for all the sound decoders.

[MarkInLA]

PHONE THE NEIGHBORS ! WAKE THE KIDS ! THIS IS AN EXTRAVAGANZA YOU DON'TA WANNA MISS !! (quiz: Who said that to who ?)

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME THAT I'D COMPLETELY FORGOT !! I'M 73 NOW. I'M NOT SENILE AND AM VERY HEALTHY.
BUT MY MEMORY IS NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE IS WHY I REPORT THE FOLLOWING:

~ I've not, until about 2 weeks ago, had any contact with mine or anyone else's NCE throttle for nealy 8+ years.. In this time I forgot that the CV numbers and values I did deal with were on a separate sheet from Soundtrax or Tsunami which either came with locos or I'd printed out online.
It came back to me tonight; picturing myself standing near my last layout programming a loco up on the main line, flipping through page after page looking for this or that explanation or list of what CVs did what, not in the NCE manual like many of you were telling me !!!
I'm sorry it took this amount of effort to get my brain to kick in !!!
~ I was sort of half right in my guess that all locos having Tsunami and Bmann all have same CVs/values...as tehachapifan and peteski cite, and which you'd been trying to get me to recognize (literally re-cognize !) finally...

I did in fact get that bell way louder earlier tonight with CV130 in a Bmann 4-6-0 !! Now where'd I store that Soundtrax sheet, damn it!!
M

[peteski]

Mark, this is 21st Century - no need to look for a paper copy of the manual.  You will find online manuals for Bachmman decoders here: https://soundtraxx.com/reference/factory-installed-decoders/bachmann/  You should be even able to print a hard copy. 

[Steveruger45]

Mark,  did you even open the three links I posted?
All the info you needed is in the first link. A cv list and what they all do.  The other two I thought you might need such as the powercab manual.
Anyhow, glad you got what you needed.

[MK]

~ I've not, until about 2 weeks ago, had any contact with mine or anyone else's NCE throttle for nealy 8+ years..

Welcome back to the hobby!   

[Maletrain]

MarkinLA, since you are just getting back into it and are trying to remember things about programming sound CVs with a PowerCab, I want to make sure you remember (or even hear about for the first time) a very relevant glitch in the PowerCab programming and how it affects the "Bell" button and some other buttons.

When the PowerCab come out of programming mode, it scrambles some of its function key assignments.  I don't remember exactly which becomes what, but I do remember that the bell, among other things, was not behaving properly when I did it and I got confused - thinking that it was because I did something wrong.

The fix is to simply power-down the PowerCab and restart it.  The usual procedure of powering down just the decoder after programming by tipping the loco so that it loses all contact with one rail for a few seconds will not correct this glitch in the PowerCab programming exit. 

So, if the bell seems to be doing crazy things, among other crazy things, after you finish programming its volume, just power done the PowerCab and restart it to see if that puts things back to normal.

The reason I was being careful in my response to your OP question was that I could see there was some confusion, and changing the wrong CV can make similar things happen as what this PowerCab glitch does.  So, I wanted to make sure that we knew what the correct CV is for your particular decoder to keep things from getting even more complicated and hard to figure out from afar.

[Maletrain]

OK, with enough searching, I found my experience with that PowerCab glitch.  To save others from tearing out hair, here it is:

My question on the NCE group list:

I just received an new ScaleTrains Dash9, and checked it out on my test track with my NCE PowerCab.  It worked perfectly when tested on short address 3.  However, when I changed the long address and activated it on the programming track, something weird happened.  The "Bell" button on the PowerCab stopped turning the bell on and off, and instead, it toggled the headlight.  The Headlight button also toggled the headlight.  The Horn, F0, F1 and F2 buttons continued to perform properly, "playing" the horn, and toggling the headlight, bell and horn.  And, as expected, the PowerCab display reverted from displaying the current draw and displayed the clock, after I did programming on the programming track.

 But, wait - after I powered-down the PowerCab and turned the power back on after dinner, all was suddenly right with the world.  The "Bell" button once again was toggling the bell, and the PowerCab display was back to displaying the current instead of the clock. (Yes, I was still using the long address.)

Dave Heap's response:

The messing up of the Bell button (and possibly other F key effects) and temporary loss of Recall slots after using Program Track mode are two other known bugs in Power Cab firmware. I'm afraid they're not fixed in V1.65B. As you discovered, it needs a power cycle to rectify these.

[tehachapifan]

Mark, glad you got it sorted-out!

DCC is in a world of its own and DCC/sound sometimes seems like its in a different universe. It can be confusing...and sometimes very frustrating...but it can also be very rewarding.

I too have forgotten (sometimes relatively simple) things about DCC sound programming if I hadn't done it in awhile, even if I was really well-versed in it at one time.

I find that, with some of the more sophisticated (and complicated) DCC and sound decoders, I often need to fully-immerse myself in the manual for long periods of time before I can finally grasp how to proceed with certain programming. If I don't then continue to do it with some regularity, I will forget and will need to immersing myself in the manual again somewhere down the road. I'm doing this right now with a Zimo sound decoder. Amazing decoders but, man, you should see the manual!

[MarkInLA]

Firstly, thank you to everyone who offered help to me. I'm sorry I didn't grasp immediately what you were trying to get across..

Steve. Yes I did open that info..Prob was I don't go on line at home as I deem that TV time only far as staring further at a screen.
So I'd either have to have copied it all by hand or print it out..I failed to do neither..Apologies.

But NO ONE answered the quiz question I wrote at 2:40 this morning !! 

[MarkInLA]

Addendum:
I didn't know until this very thread that CV numbers and functions varied from one brand decoder to another..
I thought it was universalized so that no matter what throttle make and what loco make, they all had the same CVs with the same functions..
Again, I must have come to believe that subconsciously since all my locos were all Bmann,..never experiencing a different outcome from a CV via a different maker such as Atlas, B'way Ltd., et al. where I would have eventually found that out ! (I do own other makes but they remain analog)...M 

[peteski]

Addendum:
I didn't know until this very thread that CV numbers and functions varied from one brand decoder to another..
I thought it was universalized so that no matter what throttle make and what loco make, they all had the same CVs with the same functions..

As I mentioned earluer, NMRA DCC standard defines bunhc of CVs and that is part of the DCC standard.  But that was defined long before sound decoders were even conceived, and with sound all the manufacturers roll their own.

You also keep saying that CVs and throttle are related. They are not.  CVs are electronic registers located inside decoders.  Throttle has no idea about CVs in the decoder.  Those CV settings define the way the decoder behaves or responds to information sent from the throttle/command station/booster over the track.

The DCC system can be used as a tool to program those CVs inside the decoder when you put the DCC system in either service model (uses programming track) or OPS mode (programming on main line).  What you are doing then is using your throttle as a tool for programming the CVs in the decoder.  The DCC system itself does not know or retain any of those programming command or settings you used to program the CVs inside the decoder.

But programming all those CVs gives you flexibility to set up the decoder to respond certain way to the commands it receives them the throttle through the DCC system.  If you press F2 on the throttle, it sends "turn on function 2" command over the track.  If F2 function is mapped (earlier, usng whatever CV settings had to be used to map F2) to bell inside the decoder, then that "turn on function 2" command will activate the bell.

[MarkInLA]

peteski. I admire all your advice and such. But you're incorrect about saying I "keep saying". I do not..I've always known the CVs are in the decoder in the locos, not in the throttle, which is the encoder..There are tho, standardized CVs such as CV 8 (to-8) for returning decoder to factory default. But I' sure you know that...
Thanks to all for the all the input,
M 

[MK]

No no, sir.
I'm asking what CV in the NCE PowerCab controls the bell; all bells; their speed/their vol. 

I think one of your earlier post confused everyone.  You said the CV you are looking for is in the command station/throttle.