PRR I1 decapod with sound

[nstars]

It took more than 15 years, but my Key PRR I1 finally had its rebuild to get it in running order. It now has a Maxon coreless motor inside in the locomotive. At the same time a Tsunami medium steam was installed in the tender. Great to hear the genuine banshee whistle.

Marc

[Dave V]

[jdcolombo]

Very nice!

The Banshee is VERY distinctive!

John C.

[pjm20]

Man that is awesome! Nice job! Can you send that to BLI for inspiration? 

[nstars]

Man that is awesome! Nice job! Can you send that to BLI for inspiration? 

I agree we need more from BLI. So buy the M! to make it a succes! BTW I did order the M1, but depending on the sound quality I may change the decoder

Marc

[Iain]

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Holy crap!

[davefoxx]

Eric,

That Decapod sounds sweet!  Man, you are really making it tough for me not to pull the trigger on a Bachmann "Seaboard Air Line" 2-10-2 that I found online just this morning.  I wasn't even in the market for a steam locomotive, but Chris333 posted a link for Dave V. to The Favorite Spot, which caused me to come across this locomotive in their stock.  Further research found this video by Top Hobby Trains of a similar 2-10-2 with their professionally installed Soundtraxx Tsunami DCC decoder with sound.  They have the SAL locomotive in stock, too.  Soooooooooo, tempting . . . although it's about $400.00 shipped. 

I'm no SAL steam expert, but I like it.

DFF

[eric220]

Are you using the tsunami for the motor control too? You're tempting me to try my tsunami medium steam decoder again, even though I had to pull it out of an L1 because of overheating. I'm hoping it might go better in a lighter brass engine.

[nstars]

Are you using the tsunami for the motor control too? You're tempting me to try my tsunami medium steam decoder again, even though I had to pull it out of an L1 because of overheating. I'm hoping it might go better in a lighter brass engine.

Eric,

There is only one decoder in the locomotive. The Tsunami is used for both the motor control and the sound. We like to run the steam loco's with F11 as brake enabled and this is only possible with Soundtraxx decoders.

Marc

[djconway]

How did you sync the drivers with the chuff?

SWEET!

[nstars]

How did you sync the drivers with the chuff?

SWEET!

I normally adjust the chuff rate by eye. In most cases I don't adjust the speed range. In my opinion the chuff rate is only important for slower speeds. It is very difficult to see if the chuff rate is correct at high speeds. And don't forget, most people tend to run their locomotives too fast, which would result in most cases in a chuff sound which is not very realistic, even with a Tsunami. We have had n-scale locomotives with a true synchronized chuff rate (using a switch on a driver) and I can tell you that only then you will really hear how fast most people run their engines.

Marc
 

[peteski]

I normally adjust the chuff rate by eye. In most cases I don't adjust the speed range. In my opinion the chuff rate is only important for slower speeds. It is very difficult to see if the chuff rate is correct at high speeds. And don't forget, most people tend to run their locomotives too fast, which would result in most cases in a chuff sound which is not very realistic, even with a Tsunami. We have had n-scale locomotives with a true synchronized chuff rate (using a switch on a driver) and I can tell you that only then you will really hear how fast most people run their engines.

Marc

Same phenomenon can be observed when remotely running an N scale train using a live-feed engineers-view camera mounted in the locomotive.  What looks like a proper speed for a freight train to the engineer looking at the video (around 40 MPH) looks like a slow crawl if the same train is observed by a person watching it as an observer standing in the layout room.

[tony22]

OMG! OMG! OMG! Marc this is fantastic. It took me almost as long to put Lenz Silver Minis in my two I1s. You have sound! Could you detail out a bit how you did this? Which Maxon motor did you use? How hard was the motor swap-out? How did you run the decoder wires to the boiler? Which speaker did you use? 

[tony22]

Bump, hoping that Marc has a chance to give us a bit more info.