My original question about this locomotive is below. What got me trying to figure it out was the fact that there was no horn sound. Bell yes, coupler and other sounds but no horn. Pressing the number 2 button does nothing. So I thought if I would do a reset of the decoder that may put all the little molecules, atoms and neurons back in their proper place. I programmed CV30 to a value of 2 and that did reset it and it ran under adddress 3… but with no sounds at all. I program the address back in and the sound came back minus the horn.
If anyone has seen this before please let me, and a few others, know. I’m baffled.
Jarrell
I’ve acquired an older Proto 1000 RS3, no paperwork no documentation. The loco does have sound and when I placed it on my programming track and read CV8 it gave me a value of 11, which tells me the decoder was made by NCE. Using decoder pro to determine the decoders maker shows that it’s NCE, but it listed a ton of possible numbers under that name, not a specific number. I wasn’t aware that company made sound decoders but I’m not an expert on decoders either. I took the shell off but saw nothing, number wise, that would help me. I did note the speaker was installed firing down which I thought was a little odd. Again, I’m no expert on decoders or their installation.
Anyway, does NCE make sound decoders and if so, how can I find documentation on it, something that will help me with setting cv’s etc.
If CV8=11 on the Programming Track, the motor decoder is NCE. If it is a used locomotive, the previous owner must have added a sound decoder like what BLI did with its Blueline decoder, using a sound decoder but needing a motor decoder. In this case, a non-sound decoder was installed and also a sound decoder. What other explanation could there be?
I don’t believe the 1000s did come with sound either. The previous owner probably did install the decoder. When I place the unit on my Zephyr’s programming track and do a read on CV8 the value shown is 11 and that’s NEC’s number. But they don’t make a sound decoder.
Thanks Rich. I’ll pop the hood on it sometimes today and get a photo and upload it. It’s not possible a previous owner could have written a new value to CV8, is there? If that’s the mfg ID number then surely it can’t be changed by an end user.
Unless my eyes deceive me, I see two decoders there. The larger one on the left would be the NCE motor decoder and the smaller one on the right would be a sound decoder.
The second is a sound only decoder. Digitrax has their soundbug line which is the most widely used to my knowledge. I could not positively identify your specific decoder.
Try this the NCE decoder has a 8 pin plug on it. Disconnect it then put the engine back on your programming track and see if it see’s the sound only decoder. That should tell you what manufacturer it is. — Ken
In the early days single unit decoders that had sound did not exist. you had to installa motor decoder and a separate decoder. That is why why you have two decoders.
In the early years of DCC there were several manufacturers who made sound-only decoders that were meant to be piggybacked onto a motion-and-light decoder. Literature at the time recommended that as the “Cadillac” option, since early sound-and-motion decoders weren’t all that great.
