Just ordered a “Pre-owned” Kato, HO scale CPR SD90/43mac. I would prefer to install a Loksound decoder, any suggestions?
Kato locomotives aren’t the most ‘DCC friendly’ engines I’ve worked on. One of the main consideratiuons is the fact that they use bronze strips to attach the motor leads to the factory ‘light board’.
Take a look at the photos on the TCS 'installs" page to see what you’ll be dealing with:
https://drupal.tcsdcc.com/installation/ho-scale/1352
If you’re up to it you could use the TCS motherboard with keep alive and install the ESU Lok5 decoder 21 pin to that. I recently did that with a few Genesis F7s where I kept the TCS motherboard in and simply swapped out the WOWsound decoder for a 21 pin Loksound5 decoder.
As the TCS photos show as well you will have to supply your own LEDs and attach them to the existing Kato light pipes. ESU offers this sound project for an SD90:
http://projects.esu.eu/projectoverviews/search?cat=18&q=sd90
Good Luck, Ed
Ed,
Please forgive my curiosity. Why did you swap the Wow decoder for the Lok 5?
I’m aware that Loksound decoders are top-notch, but (I may be mistaken) the TCS sound decoders are (reportedly) excellent decoders as well with robust horns.
I am a fan of, both, the L-V5 and the Wow and appreciate reading/hearing feedback from modelers about their experiences with either or both of these products.
Thanks[:D]
Hi, Antonio
My first rule of sound decoders is that there is NO Goldilocks sound decoder out there. Some are better suited than others with respect to what they are capable of and/or what the users expectations are.
I’ve pretty much narrowed my general choices to using WOW Steam for nearly all my steam locomotives, Loksound (Select) V5s for first gen diesels, particularly EMD and Alco, and Soundtraxx Tsunami for later diesels and some Baldwin or Alco models. There’s a lot of overlap in my selection.
As for the swapping of the WOW Diesel decoder there were some extenuating circumstances at play here. The WOW decoder was a first generation TCS decoder and to my ear the EMD 567 sound file wasn’t quite right to my ears. In addition there seemed to be some sort of ‘glitch’ in the audio amplifier that really scrambled the sounds at random times. In one particular Genesis F7 the ‘prime mover’ would notch up to full throttle and never return to idle even when the speed of the engine was brought to a stop.
As it turns out what the cause of this ‘runaway’ prime mover RPM was probably due to the motor beginning to fail in the F7. Many of the older Genesis locomotives in my fleet are experiencing motor failures. I replaced eight motors, about half the roster, of my Athearn Genesis early runs.
ATH_DC-motor2 by Edmund, on Flickr
So when I first bought the TCS WOW diesel decoders I also purchased the keep alive mother boards. These, I’m glad to report, are compatible with ESU 21 pin decoders and still provide keep alive functio
Ed,
Thanks for your very helpful, informative post!
I understand your view about the “no Goldilocks” sound decoders. Scenario seems like “Ford vs Chevy vs Chrysler” or “Honda vs Toyota vs Nissan”. All with pros and cons
But, based on observation, I felt that Loksounds is on top of the food chain (or very close to it). My previous critique was that their horns, while accurate, were not as well pronounced as the Soundtraxx versions and I found the Wow Diesel horns to be even more “crisp”. But (to me ears) that changed with ESU’s V.4 along with related software upgrades a few years back.
I will be getting the Scale Sound speakers as the demos I’ve witnessed were impressive!
Cool to know about the decoder firmware upgrade, including the tone controls. That’s certainly an attention getter!
I appreciate your feedback on the 567 sound scheme on your 1st gen TCS Wow. I am a bit picky about prime mover and horn scheme accuracy, especially for EMD 645 turbocharged prime movers and Nathan K-series horns. I often spent a lot of railfanning time around them back in my teens.
My main “go to” sound decoders will be LokSound, especially after reading your post. I like the flexibility, including the ability to uploaded custom made sounds. But I definitely want to try at least one Wow setup.
Forgot to mention that I have a Genesis SDP40F equipped with a Tsu-2. It sounds very good but needs tweaking, which a friend of mine will help me with.
Again, thank you for your replay. Much apprecated [Y][8D]
[quote user=“gmpullman”]
AntonioFP45
I am a fan of, both, the L-V5 and the Wow and appreciate reading/hearing feedback from modelers about their experiences with either or both of these products.