I installed a MRC 1820 decoder in my Athearn PRR RS3
Using an NCE Power Cab I got it programmed for the long address and the unit runs forward and backward–the light works per direction selected–the horn works
There are no engine sounds and the bell doesn’t work
I checked CV 49 and no value comes up but I entered 0 for Sound ON ( it says Horn is always On which it is ) 1 is for sound off
I set CV 55 to 3 max diesel rumble
Still no sound but the horn
Any ideas ?
CV49=0 should be sound OFF and =1 should be sound ON. I think the manual was wrong for this.
If all else fails try a factory reset (CV125=1) and start over.
Peter
Check the wires going to the speaker.
David B
Did a factory reset and it works now BUT the sound is very low
Set the rumble and bell for max and still low
You can hear it start up and rumble at low speeds but increasing speed the noise from the wheels on the cars overwhelms the engine sounds
You don’t have speaker leads it is board mounted
It is a small speaker but the horn is very loud and distinctive
The engines sounds at any decent speed is inaudible at least to my 75 year old ears
Hardly worth the effort and $$$$
And installation was tedious
Talking off the clips and then reinstalling the wires and clips on the new board was not easy
Soldering in a Tsunami on my 2-8-4 was easier
MY MTH FA 1 SOUNDS GREAT
The processor in the MRC sound decoders are very simple and can not do multiple sound slots at once. When you blow the horn all the other sounds stop and full amplification goes to the horn slot. The engine rumble and other sound slots have to share the amplifier while still trying to be audible. The sharing of the amplifier is why some sounds are quieter and others are louder.Another reason for low sound is the size of the speaker. You don’t have a choice with that decoder and the integrated speaker. The larger the speaker the better the low frequency base sound such as diesel rumble.
Unless MRC has changed the software of there decoders in the past couple years there is no read back of CVs either on the program track or mainline with Railcom. I could never get an MRC to read back CVs.
You reused the plastic wire retainers? I throw mine away and solder to the pads. It is a whole lot easier and makes a better connection.
Pete
Yeah your right
I should have soldered the wires
The biggest problem with those sound boards is the fact the speaker has no enclosure. A speaker in free-air is as inefficient as you can get. Sound waves from the front cancel sound waves from the rear and the resulting sound is very weak.
If at all possible, see if you can remove the speaker from the board and mount it into its own sealed enclosure - that will greatly improve what sound quality there is. Unfortunately, the sound quality of the MRC board isn’t all that great to start with, but getting that speaker into a sealed enclosure will help.
Mark.
The biggest problem is it’s really a junky decoder. I have one too. SOunds are HORRIBLE, the horns are REALLY bad, and even MRC cannot tell you which fo the 32 horns is which type of horn - they “didn’t catalog them” according to the email response I got. So let me get this straight, you recored some 32 prototypicaly horns but neglected to mark down which recording was which model horn? Not worth the space it takes up, and I’m not going to attempt to resell it, I can’t inflict that on some other unsuspecting modeler and keep a clear conscience.
Like foods I don;t like, I DID try one, I have it currently installed because I haven’t bothered to go back to the plain motor decoder yet. SO this is not heresay from reading posts, I have the decoder and it is HORRID. Hasn’t died though, I dunno about long term reliability, but I doubt I will find out.
–Randy
I uploaded a video
Bob,
I have the same loco and decoder that I’ve had since both first came out about 3 or so years ago.
You are correct that when it is running at speed the sound in hard to hear but then I have volume set at 1 as I found the idle and slow speed too loud at 3.
The motor control on mine is as good as the Digitrax motor decoder I had in this unit until the MRC sound unit became available.
No it isn’t the best quality sound but then it didn’t cost $100.
CN Charlie