I know Lionel modern air whistles and diesel horns won’t work with MRC Pure Power tranfomers, but has anyone tried Lionel trainsounds with a MRC transfomer?
Thanks in advance
Mark
Wrong!
My MRC PPD will operate post war and modern air whistles, as well as all of the new electronic sound systems.
When I said MRC won’t work with a modern air whistle, I meant less than full throttle which seems to be the case with my MRC 130. I like the idea of shutting off trainsounds and still having bell and whistle.
Mark
I don’t have to run full throttle with my MRC PPD to blow any type of air whistle.
Jim,
I’m a bit confused by your last reply, and am hoping you can clear the fog for me.
When you first got your MRC PPD you posted an informative thread entitled “My New MRC Pure Power Dual Controler”. You shared that your modern air whistles needed between 15-17v to sound “a faint whistle at best”, etc. You also shared that the modern railsounds needed the voltage to be over 10v to work correctly.
Do you still find those voltages to be needed for sound when running trains with the PPD?
I realize that 15-17v might not be full throttle, but it’s enough to shoot some of my trains off the layout.
Chris
Chris, when I first got my MRC PPD, I was also just starting to collect post war items, and had not yet learned to service any of my locos or tenders. So it did take the 15-17 volts to make the whistles work. But since then, I’ve cleaned and oiled the motors in those tenders, and replaced or resoldered wiring when needed, and they now perform better at the lower (~13V) voltages.
The modern whistles (I think I have 4 of them) - some do well at lower voltages than others. I have a K-Line whistle tender that takes a lot of voltage to make work. And I’ve found that to be the case with any transformer. The best performer of that bunch is the PE tender.
The Railsounds, Trainsounds, and Williams True Blast electronic systems work starting at around 9 - 10 volts.
In conventional mode, RailSounds devices need a nine volt battery to work properly at lower voltages. If you run in Command Mode and keep track voltage above 12 volts, the battery is optional.
I don’t know about TrainsSounds. Modern horn/whistle (aka electronic horn/whistle) should be fine at any voltage above 6-7 volts.
Jim, Thank you for sharing. It is much appreciated. I don’t know that I would have thought of maintenance for a mechanical air whistle and the effect of power draws.
Chuck, Thank you for sharing about the voltages for the various sound systems.
Enjoy,
Chris
My experience with Railsounds in conventional mode is that it takes about 9 volts to get it started from a power-off position. But once the train is running, the sounds stay on at lower voltages, as in a slowing to stop scenario.
I don’t keep a battery in my tender.