Auto-bell/whistle in DC mode. Can DCC do same ?

[MarkInLA]

Hi.
I never took it this far on my last layout..: Am I correct that some DCC locos can, when switched to DC mode, toot the whistle automatically ?
Not sure if I'd even have it, but can a DCC/Sound loco, remaining DCC mode, be programmed to do the same ? I can see it being a nice thing at times giving a toot or two in an automobile/people laden Indust. area shunting cars back and forth across the same street, warning people at a  road with no crossing gates, allowing us to concentrate better on our throttle & coupler duties...
Folks, I ask you, for your own sanity, to not expend energy spelling out the procedure to me if it does exist...
If the time comes I want to I'll get the directions from you then..Just curious if it exists. Maybe it's even in the NCE manual I now have online thanks to one of you, earlier..
Thanks, M 

[NDave]

Don't think it's exactly what you're looking for, but Soundtraxx's Tsunami 2 (Steam 2) can be programmed to automatically blow the whistle whenever the loco starts (three toots in reverse, two longer when forward) or stops (a single toot). It can also be programmed to auto ring the bell for a user set time after starting to move, or to ring continuously when moving in reverse. (I haven't yet figured out how to enable these auto features in a consist)

[peteski]

Folks, I ask you, for your own sanity, to not expend energy spelling out the procedure to me if it does exist...
If the time comes I want to I'll get the directions from you then..Just curious if it exists. Maybe it's even in the NCE manual I now have online thanks to one of you, earlier..
Thanks, M

Mark, you really need to forget about the NCE Power Cab manual.  It is for the DCC system, not for the decoders.  All the functions/features you have been asking about lately are all features in the decoder, and have to be set up by configuring the decoder itself (not your Throttle/Command Station/Booster).  The manuals you need to immerse yourself in are the decoder manuals.

[MarkInLA]

Yes I get that, p ! But it still needs to be known how/where on the encoding throttle [in this case NCE], what buttons, if any, need to be hit, or programming category needs to be up on its screen, along with whether or not a decoder in an engine is capable of performing the activity/any activity...
You know as well as I do just because it's in a decoder you sometimes still have to know how to turn it off and on..
Thanks again, M

[RBrodzinsky]

Mark, I think you have things backwards. The command station can basically only send a few commands: set speed step to (0-14,0-28, or 0-128), set direction to forward/reverse, and turn on/off functions 0-28. Yes, some command stations can remember a sequence of commands (routes / macros) and consist decoders together, but the actual commands to the decoders all come back to the three categories listed above: set speed, set direction, turn a function on or off.

The more detailed and nuanced programming you are asking about happens completely in the decoder.  And it is in the decoder programming, not the command station, where you tell the decoder “if F7 is turned on, make the pink light on Aux4 blink and ring the bell” (as an absurd but valid example).   It is the capability of the decoder, not the command station, that determines what can and cannot be achieved.

That decoder programming is done by changing CVs in the decoder, by using the Command Station’s Prog mode.  And, yes, some command stations, due either to age or firmware errors, cannot access all the functionality of some of the newer decoders.

To answer your specific question: yes, some decoders can sound a whistle automatically. The Soundtraxx example is one method; ESU allows you to sound the whistle randomly with no manual interaction. But all of these are programmed in the decoder and are independent of the command station in use. 

That is the whole point of DCC. The behavior of the loco is independent of the command station used, since all command stations must, by standard, send the same commands to each decoder.

Now, if what you are really asking is “is there a way to program my command station/throttle to automatically send a certain command (or series of commands) at a fixed or random interval?”, it would be only the more complicated and programmable throttles, such as JMRI. Even then, that programming must match what is in the decoder, since it will say, basically, “turn F7 on/off”. What the decoder does when F7 changes state is up to its programming.

[peteski]

Yes I get that, p ! But it still needs to be known how/where on the encoding throttle [in this case NCE], what buttons, if any, need to be hit, or programming category needs to be up on its screen, along with whether or not a decoder in an engine is capable of performing the activity/any activity...
You know as well as I do just because it's in a decoder you sometimes still have to know how to turn it off and on..
Thanks again, M

Mark,
you really need to read up on all of this in . . . specific decoder manuals.  American sound decoders pretty much universally use F1 for bell sound, and F2 for horn/whistle (on any throttles, on any DCC system, since those functions are defined inside the decoder.  That is as far as the standard goes.  But of course, most good quality sound decoders are capable of having any sound mapped to any function, so you for example remap bell to F9 and horn/whistle to F4 (and since those mappings reside again in a decoder), they will work that way on any DCC system you ran those locos with.

Some decoders features special sounds (like RR crossing sequence of whistles/toots), but that is not universal. All of this is covered in the manuals that are written for every decoder.  As the saying goes, RTFM.

[Maletrain]

Hi.
I never took it this far on my last layout..: Am I correct that some DCC locos can, when switched to DC mode, toot the whistle automatically ?
Not sure if I'd even have it, but can a DCC/Sound loco, remaining DCC mode, be programmed to do the same ? I can see it being a nice thing at times giving a toot or two in an automobile/people laden Indust. area shunting cars back and forth across the same street, warning people at a  road with no crossing gates, allowing us to concentrate better on our throttle & coupler duties...
Folks, I ask you, for your own sanity, to not expend energy spelling out the procedure to me if it does exist...
If the time comes I want to I'll get the directions from you then..Just curious if it exists. Maybe it's even in the NCE manual I now have online thanks to one of you, earlier..
Thanks, M

Trying to get back to the original question:

I have never really thought much about automating sounds, because (1) to me, the idea or operating the train means that I am responsible for knowing when and how to use whistles, bells, etc., and (2) I would not want the whistle to blow for every stop and start I need to do while switching, especially those unprototypical hitching moves to make couplers uncouple at a magnet and then shove the cars back with delayed uncoupling.

That said, I did spend some time looking at automating a whistle in DCC mode for a Soundraxx decoder, mainly because the OP asked, but with the added incentive that it might be useful for some club open-house displays.

Soundraxx decoders have some pre-programmed capabilities to do sounds and other functions. Those functions are mainly cued by in DCC mode by actions like slowing down (turning on the bell), manually activating a grade crossing routine (whistle, bell, lights) and turning them off after a delay, etc.  However, there is a feature called Fireman Fred that, when the locomotive is stopped, will randomly make sound like blowing down the boiler, oiling linkages, etc., at random intervals, with the probability of each being adjustable via CVs.  But, I did not find anything that would  automatically blow a whistle at random intervals while the train is running.  The designers of that decoder could have programmed something like that for DCC mode, but, so far as I can tell, they did not.

The NCE PowerCab does not seem to have a macro capability for automatically sending commands like "blow-the-whistle" to a decoder on a random basis while keeping track of time.  Again, there is probably a way that the designer could have made that happen, but it was not done.

So, about the only way I can see to randomly blow the whistle while the train is running in DCC mode would be to have a "throttle" that is automated to send the "blow whistle" instruction to the command station at each of the times that the whistle is to blow.  So, you basically need a computer that is acting as a person with a throttle sending the commands to blow the whistle to the command station each time the whistle is programmed to blow. 

JMRI is a computer program that interfaces with NCE and Digitrax DCC command stations through a USB connection.  Whether or not JMRI has layout automation features already programmed into it that can blow a whistle at  intervals specified by a user, I don't know. Other might be able to tell you whether or not, and if so, how.

Another possibility might be a cell phone throttle program that connects to the DCC command station through a Wifi interface.  Both NCE and Digitrax now have simple Wifi interfaces that plug directly into their command station buses, like a throttle.  But, you would need to find a cell phone throttle program that provides an automation feature for blowing the whistle at user-specified intervals.  I don't use those, either, so somebody else would have to tell you if they are available.  Of course, the way the Internet app development community works, these days, getting on a website that deals with such apps and asking for a feature just might get somebody to add it to their existing throttle app, if there isn't  such a feature already available.

This is as far as I am motivated to think about this.  Wishing you luck in finding a solution.  If you do find one, please update this thread and tell us what it is - there may be others who would benefit from your efforts to find this sort of automation capability.

[MarkInLA]

I am not planning on having automated whistle or bell sounds at all. I agree the one running the train should always do that manually as part of the experience. I was only curious as to how that worked for those who do want it to occur automatically...
Thanks much for all the in depth replies just the same..M