Esu Loksound V4 L .... Has Anyone Any Experience Of It?

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beavercreek

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ESU have recently brought out their 'inbetween' sound decoder the V4 'L'. (comes between their Loksound v4 and Loksound XL v4)
It is a lot cheaper than the XL and can handle up to 3 amps.
It can use all of the XL v4 sounds and has 9 function outputs including pulsed smoke generator.
It is smaller than the XL.
This would probably cover all of LGB locos and is a lot cheaper than the Massoth XLS.

If it is as good as their XL (V4 and past V3.5) then it is a steal in comparisons to other makes.

Has anyone used them?
 
I don't have much experience with ESU. Looking at the website it would seem that to connect it one would need a separate adapter board that only has solder connections and increases the cost.
Or have I missed the point? Likely!
 
They come supplied with the connector board but if you are happy to solder the wiring to board they look good.
As Mike says the other decoders ESU produce are very good so there's no reason to think that these would be any different. After a non exhaustive search ( just flicked through my favourites) I see Digitrains have them in stock for £113. Other suppliers may have them or be cheaper tho!
 
I have one here, they will be listed on the website soon. Will post some pictures tomorrow. I will be selling them for £110 programmed with any suitable sound from the ESU website. I believe some British sounds are available at an extra cost (TBA).
 
Good on you Mark!

Yes there is the included adapter board which requires soldering but it also looks like a screw adapter board may be coming.......

At around £110 for a smallish (size-wise), twin sound output (for two separate speakers), with facility for adding volume control, fully featured sound decoder (inc adapter board) with a wide library of excellent sounds, 9 function options, 3 amps headroom and also the facility for a 'keep alive' cap pack, I would see Massoth having to think again ....... ( I use predominately ESU sound decoders but also have some Massoth, QSI and a couple of Digitrax).

I bought quite a few of the V3 and V3.5 ESU XL sound decoders from a guy in Germany who was upgrading a fleet of locos to the new V4 version, and I got them for an average of about £65.... but had those not appeared, and the 'L' version had came along earlier, I would have been 'cock a hoop' for being able to DCC/sound equip my smaller USAT and Aristo locos and obviously as well as the LGB jobbies, for a pretty reasonable price.

On the face of it, this has got to be one of those good value all in one packages that arrive all too infrequently to our hobby.

ESU's sound programming and CV programming software is also very good, easy to use and in english too!
 
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muns said:
I have one here, they will be listed on the website soon. Will post some pictures tomorrow. I will be selling them for £110 programmed with any suitable sound from the ESU website. I believe some British sounds are available at an extra cost (TBA).
Click to expand...
Great news, Mark! Hope you're getting quite a few in, I can see them being popular, I may well have a couple myself...... For those of us who aren't that great at fine soldering, would you be able to fit a wiring harness to the adaptor board for a suitable extra charge?

Also, is this decoder a direct plug-in for the new M/LGB interface as an alternative to the MFX or an XLS-M1?

Jon.
 
t
Zerogee said:
Great news, Mark! Hope you're getting quite a few in, I can see them being popular, I may well have a couple myself...... For those of us who aren't that great at fine soldering, would you be able to fit a wiring harness to the adaptor board for a suitable extra charge?

Also, is this decoder a direct plug-in for the new M/LGB interface as an alternative to the MFX or an XLS-M1?

Jon.
Click to expand...

This does not plug into the Marklin G1 interface - ESU have a version of the XLv4 for that (multi pin connection - same price as the screw terminal version).

As for the wiring harness then I suspect that could be arranged based upon requirements.
 
Thanks Mark! I guess I could probably manage the soldering if I tried, but it's good to know that the professional option is there too! Presumably the adaptor board is nothing but the plug sockets and the contact pads, no actual components on it to be damaged by ham-fisted soldering attempts....?

I should have realised about the Marklin interface, from the size of the decoder and the double-pin rows.....

So, the big question - do you know when you will be getting some of them in?

Jon.
 
I installed a XL V4 into an old LGB2085. the biggest problem is that to set the various CV must use Esu software because sone function are based on a Matrix tab and you can't calcolate the CV value manually!
So i normally use Uhlenbrock 77100 or 77500 with SUSI sound module.
 
I am not familiar with the Uhlenbrock but have used several XL4 decoders. All the CV's I have written have been made with a Massoth Central Station.
If you know what value the CV should be then there should be no problem IMHO.
What controller are you using and what CV's do you need to program ?
 
Zerogee said:
Thanks Mark! I guess I could probably manage the soldering if I tried, but it's good to know that the professional option is there too! Presumably the adaptor board is nothing but the plug sockets and the contact pads, no actual components on it to be damaged by ham-fisted soldering attempts....?

I should have realised about the Marklin interface, from the size of the decoder and the double-pin rows.....

So, the big question - do you know when you will be getting some of them in?

Jon.
Click to expand...

Sorry Jon, missed your questions.....

I will be getting a phone call when they are back in stock with the UK distributor and expect to have some ready for Stafford.
 
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