Sound in a dummy?
- Thread starter CbarM
- Start date
First, you would need power pick-ups on the wheels.
After that its pretty simple. Connect the power to the Tsunami power input leads and mount a speaker in an enclosure.
I'm not sure of the best way to set-up the Addressing and CVs but my though is to have the Tsunami on a different DCC address than the powered unit. Then set-up your control system to 'MU' the powered and dummy units.
Or have both units on the same DCC address. Then the powered unit would react to the motor commands and the dummy would react to the sound commands.
After that its pretty simple. Connect the power to the Tsunami power input leads and mount a speaker in an enclosure.
I'm not sure of the best way to set-up the Addressing and CVs but my though is to have the Tsunami on a different DCC address than the powered unit. Then set-up your control system to 'MU' the powered and dummy units.
Or have both units on the same DCC address. Then the powered unit would react to the motor commands and the dummy would react to the sound commands.
Actually this is a portion of a subject I'm doing some research on now, and thinking of the best way to place it into forum discussions. I've been trying ti find as many other discussions of this subject, and I'm a little surprised there are not as many such inquiries into the subject.
In your case of a 'dummy' installation I'm assuming you want to make use of the big extra space in the dummy to mount good size speakers at least, and the decoder itself perhaps. At any rate it is a dummy loco so it need not have electrical pickup if you don't desire it. If your powered loco already has electrical pick-up, and you place the decoder itself in the dummy loco, just run the 2 pick-up wires to the decoder in the dummy. Then run 2 power wires for the motor back from the decoder back to the powered loco and perhaps several wires for the lighting effects.
...no need to 'consist' the powered loco and the dummy, the dummy is a dummy...no power
One of my projects will be a 'fuel tender' car like the CSX one that was run between two powered locos. I want to do two experiments with that situation, both where the decoders and the speakers are all located in the fuel tender car that runs between the two locos.
One case will be two DCC/sound decoders (one for each loco at either end) that operate speakers located at both ends on the tank-car fuel tender. In the second instance I hope to limit the full function Tsunami decoder to just one unit that powers the motor for the lead loco and the speakers for both locos, then just a simple motor decoder for the trailing loco.
Then utilizing the 'reverb' function available on the Tsunami decoder will allow for the two powered locos to appear to be two distinctive locos soundwise, even though there is only one 'sound decoder'
In your case of a 'dummy' installation I'm assuming you want to make use of the big extra space in the dummy to mount good size speakers at least, and the decoder itself perhaps. At any rate it is a dummy loco so it need not have electrical pickup if you don't desire it. If your powered loco already has electrical pick-up, and you place the decoder itself in the dummy loco, just run the 2 pick-up wires to the decoder in the dummy. Then run 2 power wires for the motor back from the decoder back to the powered loco and perhaps several wires for the lighting effects.
...no need to 'consist' the powered loco and the dummy, the dummy is a dummy...no power
One of my projects will be a 'fuel tender' car like the CSX one that was run between two powered locos. I want to do two experiments with that situation, both where the decoders and the speakers are all located in the fuel tender car that runs between the two locos.
One case will be two DCC/sound decoders (one for each loco at either end) that operate speakers located at both ends on the tank-car fuel tender. In the second instance I hope to limit the full function Tsunami decoder to just one unit that powers the motor for the lead loco and the speakers for both locos, then just a simple motor decoder for the trailing loco.
Then utilizing the 'reverb' function available on the Tsunami decoder will allow for the two powered locos to appear to be two distinctive locos soundwise, even though there is only one 'sound decoder'
CbarM
HO all the way!
Well IMO using another unit to sound a dummy is a dumb idea cause then you get horn n bells n everything else on both units at the same time which is not reralistic at all. I would definately want to have it as a stand alone unit and quite obviously have its addressed to the unit # on the side. That way I can consist it with anything else I want...
Well, I was making the assumption that the current powered loco has a non-sound decoder and that sound would then just be added to the dummy.
This could be an interesting discussion since there are many different ways in which to setup sound in a dummy. I listed two that I thought of but I know there must be others.
This could be an interesting discussion since there are many different ways in which to setup sound in a dummy. I listed two that I thought of but I know there must be others.
You can install the decoder and speaker in a dummy engine with track pick-ups. You will need to install a 100 ohm resistor across the motor terminals if you plan on doing any programming though. You also need to activate the speed table and set ALL speed steps to 0. This prevents the resistor you installed from recieving any track voltage and overheating (unless you use a 10 watt resistor). The sound will still respond properly to each speed step, but no voltage will be applied to the resistor which is replacing the motor load needed for programming.
Mark.
Mark.
I'm now seeing some errors in my thought processes for a dummy sound unit. I had thought that if you were installing a combination DCC/Sound decoder in a dummy unit that you would have to hook up the motor control wires to at least one powered loco so the decoder could 'read' the power it was supplying to the motor in order for it to detect the accel/decelerations, etc.
Instead the decoder is being programed to deliver those accel/decel signals without actually having to deliver them to a motor...correct?
I imagine this might be different if the decoder is a more modern 'BEMF', back emf one??
You won't get the horn and bell in the dummy unit if the dummy unit is mu'd with the lead unit. Powered unit is 1234 and dummy unit 5678. With 5678 mu'd to 1234, the bell and horn are only activated on 1234 because that is the controlling address. All engine sounds work on 5678 just as they do on 1234 as it is receiving the same motor control signal - not the same horn and bell signal.
You CAN activate the horn or bell in the dummy unit along with the lead unit if you want by programming the proper CV's to tell the dummy engine which functions you want to control when in a consist.
When the two engines are in a considt, everything is controlled by the lead engine's address (1234). If you want to control the functions on the dummy unit, just dial up its address and contol any of the functions.
Mark.
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Or you could just program it to the same address as the lead unit. No consisting needed.
If you did that, then the horn and bell WOULD be blowing and ringing in both units.
Mark.
kbkchooch
"retired" conductor
If they are both sound units, this is true. But I think the OP is thinking about a dummy sound loco that can be used with several different non-sound units. Kind of an easy way to add sound to several units cheaply.
That is, I think that's what he's after.
If they are both sound units, this is true. But I think the OP is thinking about a dummy sound loco that can be used with several different non-sound units. Kind of an easy way to add sound to several units cheaply.
That is, I think that's what he's after.
In other words the lead loco would have just a DCC motor decoder, while the 'dummy' would have either a 'sound only decoder', OR a full DCC/sound decoder with the motor control portion turned off (not connected). Is that a correct discription?
Iron Horseman
Well-Known Member
I like sound in dummy units because there is much more room to work the speakers and get them sounding good. Generally one has to:
1. Get power off the track.
2. Get the power to the sound decoder.
3. Build the speaker enclosure.
4. Connect the speaker.
As with all sound installations step #3 is the hard one.
The units I've done are F units where the sound is in the B unit. I connected a brass frame to the axles of the wheels to draw the power off. I soldered a wire on those frames to take up to the decoder. In addition I put micro plugs at either side to pass power to the unit in front and rear of the unit. This means power pick up is from all 16, 24, or 32 wheels depending on whether it is an AB, ABB, ABA, or ABBA lashup.
In the photo below the speaker enclosure consumes most of the space. The decoder is the white blob at front. It is an old Soundtraxx DSX sound only unit. You can see the power take off plugs hanging there by where the couplers would be in the front and rear (I use coupling bars instead of working couplers).
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Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
If they are both sound units, this is true. But I think the OP is thinking about a dummy sound loco that can be used with several different non-sound units. Kind of an easy way to add sound to several units cheaply.
That is, I think that's what he's after.
That is the impression I have gotten as well. Which is why I've answered as I did. If he has sound in the lead and trailing unit, why put sound in a dummy at all?
I've done this very recently to a Stewart F3B dummy. I used an old Digitrax soundbug I had lying around, but you can do the same with a Tsunami. Sound-only decoders cost much less, though. You can use a motor/sound decoder, but as we used to say in the nuclear power industry, "it's an expensive way to boil water". If you do use a motor decoder, simply put a resistor across the motor leads while programming, then remove it.
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Then you could give the dummy its own address. To use in a consist, you'd have to have the dummy as the "lead" unit so you could still control all the sounds. The "trailing" unit would respond to speed/direction control as normal. You's just have to make sure that the "default" direction would be the "trailer's" forward direction so the headlight would still work in the consist.
Now if you wired in headlights in the dummy, it wouldn't matter about the default direction of the consist.
Now if you wired in headlights in the dummy, it wouldn't matter about the default direction of the consist.
