Weekend Update 11/1/20

[C855B]

Ha! Unique color, that's for sure. With their plant on the CN/ex-IC south of Chicago, we see scads of their cars through here.

I'm curious, however - how did you happen to be familiar with these cars? Is there that much soybean farming where you are? That's all Incobrasa does from what I can tell - process soybeans into diesel fuel.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Anyone getting tired of F40PH posts yet? Not me! Here is the first of my Wutter/Loksound 5 projects.

This thing is earth shattering loud. Like O scale loud. I still need to remap functions and change some of the sounds around but hot damn does this thing sound good.

The speaker is a Sobertron 8x15mm with a custom enclosure. Oh the occasional beep you hear in the background is from a fire alarm I somehow managed to loose behind drywall when finishing the basement several years ago. 

And the lighting effects are great with the lights down low:

[mu26aeh]

Ha! Unique color, that's for sure. With their plant on the CN/ex-IC south of Chicago, we see scads of their cars through here.

I'm curious, however - how did you happen to be familiar with these cars? Is there that much soybean farming where you are? That's all Incobrasa does from what I can tell - process soybeans into diesel fuel.

They show up at Ag-Com on a regular basis here on the Hanover Sub.  1-2 cars or a whole string of them at a time.

[peteski]

Anyone getting tired of F40PH posts yet? Not me! Here is the first of my Wutter/Loksound 5 projects.
This thing is earth shattering loud. Like O scale loud. I still need to remap functions and change some of the sounds around but hot damn does this thing sound good.
The speaker is a Sobertron 8x15mm with a custom enclosure.
And the lighting effects are great with the lights down low:

Nope - not tired. Looks great! This is the Kato unit I assume.
Will you post some installation info/photos in the DCC forum?  How did you light up the strobes?
Of course if it was connected to a train, the engine would be revved up all the time (to drive the HEP generator), right?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Nope - not tired. Looks great! This is the Kato unit I assume.
Will you post some installation info/photos in the DCC forum?  How did you light up the strobes?
Of course if it was connected to a train, the engine would be revved up all the time (to drive the HEP generator), right?

Here is my post in the Kato Loksound board thread:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=50310.msg684917#msg684917

I didn't see a way to "activate" HEP mode in the F40PH sound file. I will either need to assign the throttle notches manually to the speed steps or use Drive Hold to keep the sound at constant revs while changing speed, if it can even do that. It would be sort of a reverse Drive Hold (Throttle hold?).

Programing sound decoders is not my strong area. The fact that Loksound 5 uses totally different default function mapping for the sounds and AUX over Loksound 4 is also a hurdle.

Seriously, how hard is it for the industry to consolidate on default settings for decoders? Like F1 should always be horn or bell or ditch lights, etc. I really have to take an inventory of all the functions of all my decoders and remap everything to match up. It's frustrating because I use a lot of NCE, BLI and ESU decoders, but also have Digitrax and TCS for specialized installations. I think I even have a few MRC sound decoders for specific engines. All have totally different settings

[altohorn25]

I did some weathering this afternoon on some of my N scale Santa Fe motive power.  A Bachmann S4 switcher, a Kato RS2, and an ABBA set of Micro Trains FT's.   The FT's have drawbars installed between each unit, windshield wipers, and a true scale coupler on the lead unit's pilot.

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[peteski]

Here is my post in the Kato Loksound board thread:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=50310.msg684917#msg684917

So no detail photos of the strobe LED installs?  Did you just glue the LEDs directly under the Strobe lens mounting posts, and since those are translucent, the LED placed there illuminates the strobe lenses?

I didn't see a way to "activate" HEP mode in the F40PH sound file. I will either need to assign the throttle notches manually to the speed steps or use Drive Hold to keep the sound at constant revs while changing speed, if it can even do that. It would be sort of a reverse Drive Hold (Throttle hold?).

That is really surprising, since that unusual behavior is a very prominent feature of F40PHs. I'm surprised that the person who created the sound project did not know that. Or maybe it is not possible to simulate that behavior in a decoder?  Considering how configurable ESU decoders are, I would find that surprising.

Programing sound decoders is not my strong area. The fact that Loksound 5 uses totally different default function mapping for the sounds and AUX over Loksound 4 is also a hurdle.

Seriously, how hard is it for the industry to consolidate on default settings for decoders? Like F1 should always be horn or bell or ditch lights, etc. I really have to take an inventory of all the functions of all my decoders and remap everything to match up. It's frustrating because I use a lot of NCE, BLI and ESU decoders, but also have Digitrax and TCS for specialized installations. I think I even have a few MRC sound decoders for specific engines. All have totally different settings

Unfortunately, there is no common programming "language" for sound decoders - each company "rolls their own". Some very basic, others very complex, and everything in between.  I also do not see that being addressed anytime soon.  To add to this problem, European decoders use different functions keys for different functions.  But some of the incompatibility is due to the fact that European locos do not use a bell.  Again, there is no consensus among manufacturers and sound project designers to follow some sort of standard in assigning functions to specific function keys. I agree that is is frustrating.

Similar problem exists in other electronic devices. Visit an appliance (microwave) section of a department or appliance store and see how different is the user interface on each brand's microwave oven.  Similar, but different.  Now put yourself in the shoes of an 80-somethgin year person used to using their microwave oven for the last 15 years.  It breaks and you replace it with a new one that doesn't quite work the same as the old one.  You'll confuse the heck out of that elderly person. They'll be cursing you for a long time while they try  to lean the nuances of the new microwave. 

[milw156]

see this youtube video from Brakeman17

He set up F7 as notch 8, which is essentially the same thing, and F4 when NOT moving for low iddle

[tehachapifan]

Curious if hitting dynamic brakes when moving would defeat the notch 8/faux HEP setting he has going on. I think I tried this with a 73100 Select Micro in My Kato F40PH and, yeah, hitting dynamic brakes pulled it out of notch 8 altogether and wouldn't go back to notch 8 when dynamic brakes were disengaged.

[peteski]

see this youtube video from Brakeman17
He set up F7 as notch 8, which is essentially the same thing, and F4 when NOT moving for low iddle

But F40PH should have his engine revving, even when stopped with a passenger train attached to it (since it heeds to provide power to the cars, even sitting still).

[tehachapifan]

Here is my post in the Kato Loksound board thread:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=50310.msg684917#msg684917

...I didn't see a way to "activate" HEP mode in the F40PH sound file. I will either need to assign the throttle notches manually to the speed steps or use Drive Hold to keep the sound at constant revs while changing speed, if it can even do that. It would be sort of a reverse Drive Hold (Throttle hold?)....

Info at the ESU website regarding that file and HEP states the following...

F26   Manual Notching Up / HEP Mode - Can only be engaged when stopped in Idle         
F27   Manual Notching Down / Standby Mode - Can only be engaged when stopped and HEP is on

[daniel_leavitt2000]

But F40PH should have his engine revving, even when stopped with a passenger train attached to it (since it heeds to provide power to the cars, even sitting still).

If Drive Hold does not work, I would probably do the flowing:
Speed step 0 - idle, 0 voltage to motor
Speed step 1 - notch 8, 0 voltage to motor
Speed step 2 - notch 8, starting voltage to motor
Then continue my speed table as normal (step 14 35MPH, step 28 70MPH) all in notch 8.
MBTA does not have DB on their F40PH engines so I can just disable that sound slot.

Here is what the light shield looks like. Basically the shield was modified to accept LEDS with as little light leakage as possible. The LEDS were glued in using Gorilla brand liquid ACC with a little accelerator. Quickly curing liquid ACC keeps it from fogging up.

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These are from my second Amtrak project engine. I have an idea for the MBTA engines which use a different lighting configuration.

[peteski]

Thanks Daniel!

[SecretWeapon]

WOW Rodger, you got it rockin'!!!!!!!!!!!!  Fantastic work!!!!!!!!!!

[kc9jts]

Got another 3 signal masts completed:



This batch includes the first dual-head mast, a build that was made vastly easier by using thin-walled stainless tubing for the mast, making the chore of threading 8 LED leads a breeze.   Now if only I could put them to work in an ops session...

Do you plan on modeling the small "repeater" signals that were on some of the sidings?