CAN I ADD SOUND TO BACHMAN DCC LOCOMOTIVES?

[FRANK V9]

I HAVE A BACMAN DCC STARTER SET WITH EZ COMMAND AND I WANT TO ADD SOUND TO THE LOCO'S. I ALSO NOTICE BOTH LOCO'S ARE VERY NOISY. THEY GROWL A LOT, ESPECIALLY AT LOW SPEEDS. CAN ANYTHING BE DONE ABOUT THIS?

[FRANK V9]

I HAVE A BACMAN DCC STARTER SET WITH EZ COMMAND AND I WANT TO ADD SOUND TO THE LOCO'S

- I ALSO FOUND BOTH THE LOCO'S TO BE VERY NOISY RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. CAN ANYTHING BE DONE ABOUT THIS. THEY GROWL A LOT, ESPECIALLY AT LOW SPEEDS . BY THE WAY, IT IS HO SCALE

[Jerrys HO]

Frank,

Unless you have the knowledge to add sound, it may be difficult for a beginner. Most starter sets have DCC boards in the diesels which would require replacing the board and finding a good location to fit the speaker (may require milling the frame and drilling holes).
I prefer to purchase the sound equipped loco's and Bachmann has provided some excellent choices...

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,26987.0.html

I'm not into the steam so I could not help you there but I did purchase the Sound Value 2-6-0 and it's awesome!!

Jerry

[Jerrys HO]

I HAVE A BACMAN DCC STARTER SET WITH EZ COMMAND AND I WANT TO ADD SOUND TO THE LOCO'S

- I ALSO FOUND BOTH THE LOCO'S TO BE VERY NOISY RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. CAN ANYTHING BE DONE ABOUT THIS. THEY GROWL A LOT, ESPECIALLY AT LOW SPEEDS . BY THE WAY, IT IS HO SCALE

Most are. Some noise may go away during break in. Some of the noise may be the shell vibrating or just a noisy decoder. I replced most of my decoders so far with NCE or Digitrax decoders to upgrade the performance of the loco.

Jerry

[bapguy]

What loco models do you have? Run the loco's at slow speed in one direction for about 20 minutes, then half speed for 20 minutes then full speed for 20 minutes. Reverse  direction and do the same procedure. This will help the noise level go down. Replacing the decoder with a good one will help as well. I put in sound in a GP30 DCC on board loco with very little modification.  Joe

[rogertra]

You can add sound to practically anything, if you have the skills.

Cheers

Roger.

[Doneldon]

Frank-

The short answer is "yes." The long answer is you can put sound in anything but your grandmother's rolling pin. The next question is, "Is t worth it?" The answer to that one is probably not for a newbie and maybe not when you have an entry-level model which will still be noisy after you put a sound decoder in it. The drive line noise will compete with the sound you want so you'll have to run at full volume and then you'll have even more noise than you have now.

I don't think you want to do that. I see from your initial posts that you already have to yell to be heard. (ALL CAPS is a convention which indicates yelling.) Seriously, it's not worth putting an expensive sound system into a noisy loco unless you have the skills, time and inclination to do a lot of work. You'll be better off in the long run if you save some money and get a loco with sound installed. And, please, stop yelling at us!
                                                                                                                                                                                 -- D