Sound in 4449

[Rickenbacker 325]

How Can I put sound in a American Freedom Train Engine? And does any one know if any sound decoders have a horn and a whistle?

[simkon]

Some may, but what do you need a horn for on a steam engine, assuming you're talking about the 4-8-4. If it is the newer run, it should have an 8 pin plug so all you would need to do is maybe remove and rearrange some things inside.

[Rickenbacker 325]

It has DCC in it so how would I putin the sound

[ebtbob]

James,

        First or all,  your question about horn and whistle.   Tsunami heavy steam decoder has the SP Daylight horn as a selection.   Problem is that you can only have one sound for whistle/horn at a time.   You either have the horn or a whistle by changing the value of CV 115.
         Next problem is that the Tsunami heavy steam sound decoder has a staccato chuff like a Berkshire.   The Tsunami medium steam sounds more like a heavy steam engine,  such as what you want to use.
         Now a question for you.   Does your engine have tender pickup?   Not being an installation expert,   I think you need that pickup.  Jim Banner can you confirm this for me please?

Bob

[Jim Banner]

bob,
You don't absolutely have to have tender pickup to install sound, but it helps.  Without tender pickup, a momentary loss of contact that would only cause a headlight blink with non-sound DCC can cause loss of sound followed by a start up sequence with a sound decoder.  Installing tender pickup is not that hard.  I like using Kadee #5 coupler springs for picking power off the backs of wheels but another alternative is to substitute a tender that already has pickups.

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As far as whistle plus horn is concerned, some steam locomotives were fitted with both.  I had it in mind that with the Tsunami, that when you select the alternate whistle type, it could include a horn but now Bob has me wondering.  When it comes to Tsunamis, I am still in the steep part of the learning curve and suffering from information overload.

In my opinion, the best way to install sound in a locomotive that already has DCC is to remove the existing decoder and install a sound plus motion decoder.  The Tsunami has quite a sophisticated motor control, complete with back EMF speed control and I believe some of the special sound effects are tied into that BEMF.  BEMF also allows excellent chuff synchronization without having to add a cam, contact or magnet.  Just remember that you will most likely have to remove capacitors from the adapter board or from across the motor when you install a non-Bachmann decoder.

The motion only decoder you remove can always be installed in another locomotive, sold on eBay, or given to a friend.

There are cheaper ways of installing sound than the Tsunami, and we can go into some of those too if you want.

Jim

[Chris350]

The one Tsunami installation that uses the two whistles is for the Intermountain Railways Southern Pacific AC-12.  The steam whistle is assigned to F 2 and the airhorn to F 3.  It's a matter of remapping the function assignments.  Not a simple matter where Tsunami decoders are concerned, as they are complex little units.  This decoder is why I have a JMRI Decoder pro installation and a Locobuffer connection to my Mac.  It's some much less complex when done through a GUI, than by twiddling dials and trying to remember what each CV value defines.  I like the Tsunami decoders, by the way, although they have, as Jim B said, a steep learning curve.

[Rickenbacker 325]

James,

        First or all,  your question about horn and whistle.   Tsunami heavy steam decoder has the SP Daylight horn as a selection.   Problem is that you can only have one sound for whistle/horn at a time.   You either have the horn or a whistle by changing the value of CV 115.
         Next problem is that the Tsunami heavy steam sound decoder has a staccato chuff like a Berkshire.   The Tsunami medium steam sounds more like a heavy steam engine,  such as what you want to use.
         Now a question for you.   Does your engine have tender pickup?   Not being an installation expert,   I think you need that pickup.  Jim Banner can you confirm this for me please?

Bob

yes it has tender pickup. It is the newest model. Would MTH HO have a sound decoder? Because the have a horn and a whistle.

P.S. how do you take the shell off the tender?

[Chris350]

Would MTH HO have a sound decoder? Because the have a horn and a whistle.

P.S. how do you take the shell off the tender?

As far as I know MTH doesn't market stand alone decoders.  Soundtraxx (samples here) makes a Tsunami with 4449 sound effects including both air horn and steam whistle.  It most likely comes with the appropriate functions linked to function keys on your controller.  If my SP Cabforward is any indication, it ought to be factory set to F2 whistle and F3 air horn.  The choices are TSU-1000 heavy steam or TSU-1000 SP Cab forward.  The cab forward decoder can be programmed to either articulated engine sounds or "normal" engine sounds.  Both of these have the 4449 whistle and air horn.  Both will do a 4-8-4

[Rickenbacker 325]

I got the soundtraxxx. 2 things.
1. does it come with a decoder
2. How do I take the shell off?

[Chris350]

I got the soundtraxxx. 2 things.
1. does it come with a decoder

Does what come with a decoder, the engine? or the Soundtraxx unit which is both a sound system, and a motor decoder....

2. How do I take the shell off?

Have you looked at Product reference-->Diagrams on the left sidebar of this forum?

[Rickenbacker 325]

I got the soundtraxxx. 2 things.
1. does it come with a decoder

Does what come with a decoder, the engine? or the Soundtraxx unit which is both a sound system, and a motor decoder....

2. How do I take the shell off?

Have you looked at Product reference-->Diagrams on the left sidebar of this forum?

I found how to take the shell off in the tender. And have put in the Soundtraxxx. Have not tried it yet.  Also what company makes a good fan driven smoke machine? and is small enough to fit it the engines front?

[lmackattack]

you may run into fitmint issues if you want a smoke unit like the MTH or BLI units have.

the other issue is that tsunami aux output may not give the voltage needed to operate a smoke unit. you may need to add a relay and use a 12v power source that is controled by the relay? you would louse alot of weight adding all this stuff and traction may be an issue then?