Adding a 1 amp sound decoder or function/sound decoder to a more powerful decoder.

[beavercreek]

I was wondering....has anyone had experience of .....
If you have a few 3 amp decoders (no sound) and you wanted to add sound you can obviously wire an 'only' sound decoder to the main decoder etc.. But what if the available 'sound only' decoders did not have the correct sounds that you were looking for?

So...

If you had something like a Galloping Goose and you wanted to add sound to a 3 amp motor decoder could a 1 amp HO/OO sound/function decoder be powered and driven from one of the function outputs on the 3amp board.
Although the Goose might only, most of the time, draw one amp so the OO/HO sound/function decoder could be used on its own, there will be times when the current draw will exceed 1 amp and may cause problems.
I ask this as there are cheap OO/HO gauge sound-decoders done by firms like Soundtraxx which have a good range of American sounds (bigger US library than Massoth etc).
An ESU Loksound XLor full 6 amp sound decoder from QSI is a bit of overkill for a Goose and also a fair bit more costly than the solution that I am investigating.

I do know that I could get rid of the motor/ function only decoder and then fork out for something like an ESU Loksound XL and download the sound for the goose. But I am trying to see if I can use the straight decoders together with low amp-rated sound decoders.

 

[lone ranger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwlN-Uu5a_I video of a galloping goose dietz decoder which is available as a micro3 sound only decoder with susi interface. don't know if that helps and here is the sound file from their site http://www.d-i-e-t-z.de/jd/mp3/micro/VT-GOOSE.mp3

 

[Cliff George]

What Jerry said.

No experience whatsoever using sound decoders for the smaller guages.

If you had something like a Galloping Goose and you wanted to add sound to a 3 amp motor decoder could a 1 amp HO/OO sound/function decoder be powered and driven from one of the function outputs on the 3amp board.

No, because there would be no DCC messages encoded in the function output.

Although the Goose might only, most of the time, draw one amp so the OO/HO sound/function decoder could be used on its own, there will be times when the current draw will exceed 1 amp and may cause problems.

I don't see why this would be a problem because you would not be attaching the motor to the small scale decoder and so its current draw on that would be much less.

I do know that I could get rid of the motor/ function only decoder and then fork out for something like an ESU Loksound XL and download the sound for the goose. But I am trying to see if I can use the straight decoders together with low amp-rated sound decoders.

If the small scale decoder will handle the voltage then you could just connect it to the track inputs. You might have problems programming with two decoders in the loco, and it would be your call if you use the same address or not. I guess that depends on if you can move the functions of the two decoders so they would be unique. They may need programming before installation.

Which small scale decoder were you thinking of using, Mike?

 

[beavercreek]

Hi Jerry and Cliff
I had considered the Dietz micro X3 and the Youtube vid does sound okay but apparently the output from the X3 is fairly small so the volume is also quite low (the vid mic was probably at full sensitivity). The X3 would need the purchase of a SUSI interface to connect to the ESU XL.
The other ones under consideration are the Digitrax 'SoundBug' (works up to 20v) or possibly a Soundtrax Tsunami 1 amp TSU-1000 board (full decoder but only the sound would be used, it works up to 27v).

 

[lone ranger]

Hi Mike Cliff uses the micro3 in his Thomas engines I think, and they are quite loud. Why not use a Massoth L chip which has a Susi interface built in (about £49) and Munns might do you a deal if your buying a few. The 2-8-2 has an L chip in and its a lot heavier than a goose
As for the Tsunami 1000 see http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips11/tsunami_tips.html < Link To http://www.girr.org/girr/...ps11/tsunami_tips.html down the page its a 1amp stall currant not continuous and its the same decoder thats in the Bachman three truck shay and it does not like more than 19v or it starts to over heat and shut down.

 

[Cliff George]

I had considered the Dietz micro X3 and the Youtube vid does sound okay but apparently the output from the X3 is fairly small so the volume is also quite low (the vid mic was probably at full sensitivity).

The ones I have are just too loud for my ears, I've had to program all of mine to be about half volume.

The X3 would need the purchase of a SUSI interface to connect to the ESU XL.

This exists? do tell us more?

 

[steinz]

Been looking at doing something similar to this ...
I like the idea of having seperate decoder and sound.
If you ran four sound cards, would you need susi quattro ?

 

[beavercreek]

The X3 would need the purchase of a SUSI interface to connect to the ESU XL.

This exists? do tell us more?

Dietz make an interface to be able to connect their SUSI Micro to non SUSI boards....... the DCC2SUSI
quote from interweb:
"DCC2SUSI
DCC decoder with SUSI output
DCC decoder to connect SUSI components
in vehicles without SUSI decoder. Connection by Kabel
Adjustable for LGB MZS1 serial (pulse train)."

 

[Cliff George]

Yes indeed Mike.

The DCC2SUSI would connect to the track power rather than any of the decoder outputs.

I'd be interested if anyone had actually used one of these?

One of the nice things about the SUSI interface is that how hard the motor is being driven is information that is transfered acrosss the SUSI bus so that sounds can be affected when coasting downhill or working hard going up. I'd imagine that with the DCC2SUSI you wouldn't get this benefit.

 

[beavercreek]

Yes indeed Mike.

The DCC2SUSI would connect to the track power rather than any of the decoder outputs.

I'd be interested if anyone had actually used one of these?

One of the nice things about the SUSI interface is that how hard the motor is being driven is information that is transfered acrosss the SUSI bus so that sounds can be affected when coasting downhill or working hard going up. I'd imagine that with the DCC2SUSI you wouldn't get this benefit.

Would it not connect at the motor out terminal of the non-SUSI driver board and then connect to the susi interface of the Micro X3 sound board?

Not sure about that as the board looks fairly complex as opposed to a re assignment of difiral paths etc.
I will contact Michael at Grootspoor to see what he knows