Need help programming a Loksound decoder

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Got the really nice looking HO Rapido FL9 with a Lok decoder. It runs great and can pull 14 cars up a 3% grade by itself with no degradation of the selected speed step.

Rapido FL9

Unfortunately I know nothing about Lok decoders since this is my first. The owinery’s manual is not much help at all. I downloaded a CV Programming document but its not making sense to me. For example they are using a single CV to program multiple things. CV48 is used to select Diesel horns, steam horns, prime movers, bell type and brake squeal sounds. Info I enter a value of 16 that is supposed to be Prime mover #2 and if I enter a value of 128 I get brake squeal 2. Does the selection of the prime mover value get overwritten?

2

It’s explained in chapter 5.2.7 The prime mover, the horns, the bell frequency and the brake squeal are additive. a+b+c+d = value you enter.

That said, I don’t seem to have any brake squeal. Can someone tell me the difference between squeal #1 and #2?

3

There’s another CV that controls the brake squeal threshold - you have to be going above a certain speed before you get brake squeal when stopping.

–Randy

4

Do they add automatically or do I add them up and enter the total like CV29?

5

You provide a single value in CV48. If you add up the maximum values for the whistle (15), prime mover (48), bell (64), and brake squeal (128), you get a total of 255. Since there are 8 bits in a byte, the maximum stored value is 255.

Rich

6

To clarify, you pick the options you want, and add those numbers together to put in the CV. Yes, it is exactly like CV29.

It works like this (if you want to learn how you can have one CV number represent 4 diffeernet options all at the same time):

bit 7 bit 6 bit 5 bit4 bit 3 bit 2 bit 1 bit 0

Taking the sections one at a time:

bit 3-2-1-0, 4 bits, lets us pick a values from 0-15. 16 horn choices.

0000 = 0, 0001 = 1, 0010 = 2, 0011 = 3, 0100 = 4, 0101 = 5, 0110 - 6, 0111 =7

1000 = 8, 1001 = 9, 1010 = 10, 1011 = 11, 1100 = 12, 1101 = 13, 1110 = 14, and 1111 = 15.

bits 5 and 4, 2 bits, lets us pick 4 possible values, but they are 0, 16, 32, or 48 - you have those 4 bits for the horn to the right. Assuming horn choice 0:

000000 = 0, horn 0, prime mover 0. 010000 = 16, horn 0, prime mover 1.

100000 = 32, horn 0, prime mover 2. And 110000 = 48, horn 0, prime mover 3

Bit 6, the bell, lets us pick 2 possible options, 0 or 1. But we have those prime mover and horn bits to the right. So assuming prime mover 0 and horn 0, we have:

0000000 = 0, horn 0, prime mover 0, bell 0 or 1000000 = 64, horn 0, prime mover 0, bell 1

Bit 7, the brake squal, also gives 2 choices. But gain, we have the bell, prime mover, and horn bits to the right, so:

00000000 = 0, horn 0, prime mover 0, bell 0, brake 0 or

10000000 = 128, horn 0, prime mover 0, bell 0, brake 1.

So you string together each of the options you want. Say you want brake 0, bell 1, the third priome mover, and sixth horn:

brake 0 = 0. Bell 1 = 1. Third Prime mover = 10. Sixth Horn = 0101

The full 8 bits would be 01100101 (no magic, just what I wrote on the line above)

You can transla

7

There are two different brake squeals - a steel shoe and a composite shoe. The steel shoe has a definitive “squeal” as it stops. The composite shoe has more of a grind sound when it stops.

The brake squeal won’t activate under a “soft” stop. It is normally activated when the throttle is shut off quickly. The sensitivity can be adjusted through two CVs - 64 (switching on threshold) and 65 (switching off threshold).

Mark.

8

Of course, your task is much easier, Gary.

Just consult the manual and add up the desired values.

Don’t worry about the values assigned to the bits.

Rich

9

[quote user=“rrinker”]

To clarify, you pick the options you want, and add those numbers together to put in the CV. Yes, it is exactly like CV29.

It works like this (if you want to learn how you can have one CV number represent 4 diffeernet options all at the same time):

bit 7 bit 6 bit 5 bit4 bit 3 bit 2 bit 1 bit 0

Taking the sections one at a time:

bit 3-2-1-0, 4 bits, lets us pick a values from 0-15. 16 horn choices.

0000 = 0, 0001 = 1, 0010 = 2, 0011 = 3, 0100 = 4, 0101 = 5, 0110 - 6, 0111 =7

1000 = 8, 1001 = 9, 1010 = 10, 1011 = 11, 1100 = 12, 1101 = 13, 1110 = 14, and 1111 = 15.

bits 5 and 4, 2 bits, lets us pick 4 possible values, but they are 0, 16, 32, or 48 - you have those 4 bits for the horn to the right. Assuming horn choice 0:

000000 = 0, horn 0, prime mover 0. 010000 = 16, horn 0, prime mover 1.

100000 = 32, horn 0, prime mover 2. And 110000 = 48, horn 0, prime mover 3

Bit 6, the bell, lets us pick 2 possible options, 0 or 1. But we have those prime mover and horn bits to the right. So assuming prime mover 0 and horn 0, we have:

0000000 = 0, horn 0, prime mover 0, bell 0 or 1000000 = 64, horn 0, prime mover 0, bell 1

Bit 7, the brake squal, also gives 2 choices. But gain, we have the bell, prime mover, and horn bits to the right, so:

00000000 = 0, horn 0, prime mover 0, bell 0, brake 0 or

10000000 = 128, horn 0, prime mover 0, bell 0, brake 1.

So you string together each of the options you want. Say you want brake 0, bell 1, the third priome mover, and sixth horn:

brake 0 = 0. Bell 1 = 1. Third Prime mover = 10. Sixth Horn = 0101

The full 8 bits would be 01100101 (no magic

10

With the EMD FL9, there are only 3 choices to be made in picking a value for CV48 - - - prime mover, bell, and brake squeal. What are your preferences?

Rich

11

Honestly, I don’t know. Which is the prototype? Did they make the FL9 with all those engines?

For the horn I’m keeping the Handcock horn and brakes the metal brakes.

12

Actually, aside from a few of the steam files, all Loksound decoders only have a single primer mover file on them, so that bit is always the same. Your choice for change would be the horn, bell and brake squeal.

Mark.

13

I am not all that familiar with the various Loksound decoders, but at least some of them have as many as four different prime mover sounds. Which Loksound decoder are we talking about?

Rich