Gilloverland Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 A quick question before I mess up my locos... I have a few sound fitted locos, mostly Loksound V4 with Olivias sounds and my latest 2 are Zimo 645s with Paul Chetters Standard 4 and 9F sounds. I want to alter some CVs to limit the top speed of the locos as my 3 year old son has proven more capable of 'driving' the trains using my smartphone / Z21 set up, however some can exceed whats sensible for 24" radius curves! Is it a single CV to change or do I need to adjust a few to produce a 'curve' and if so, will I throw out the sound project / chuff to wheel revolution ratio? Many thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliebanger Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 A quick question before I mess up my locos... I have a few sound fitted locos, mostly Loksound V4 with Olivias sounds and my latest 2 are Zimo 645s with Paul Chetters Standard 4 and 9F sounds. I want to alter some CVs to limit the top speed of the locos as my 3 year old son has proven more capable of 'driving' the trains using my smartphone / Z21 set up, however some can exceed whats sensible for 24" radius curves! Is it a single CV to change or do I need to adjust a few to produce a 'curve' and if so, will I throw out the sound project / chuff to wheel revolution ratio? Many thanks The usual way to restrict top speed is to use a lower value in CV5. This is fine for non-sound decoders and has the desired effect. Does this affect the sounds on a sound decoder? Yes, usually; the extent determined by how much the top speed is restricted and diesels suffer more than steam due to way the sounds are constructed. If the maximum voltage (CV5) is set lower than the motor's capability, any sounds assigned to the upper speed steps are usually ignored. . For your ZIMO decoders, there is another way, which will not 'top slice' the sounds. Leave CV5 well alone. CV57 is the voltage reference. The intension is to allow the decoder to attempt properly regulated speed if you don't have a properly regulated power supply. (so if the voltage drops on sections of your layout, the decoder attempts to compensate a to allow constant speed). A useful side effect of this, however, is that by setting the value in CV57 quite low, (possible range is 0-255, values below 100 begin to be effective in reducing top speed) the top speed is restricted, but the full range of sounds are still played. The decoder recalculates the threshold points so, in effect, the sound changes are compressed into a narrower band of speed steps. BTW, this is also a good technique to get diesel engines at full thrash on short layouts and/or at low speeds. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilloverland Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share Posted April 11, 2015 The usual way to restrict top speed is to use a lower value in CV5. This is fine for non-sound decoders and has the desired effect. Does this affect the sounds on a sound decoder? Yes, usually; the extent determined by how much the top speed is restricted and diesels suffer more than steam due to way the sounds are constructed. If the maximum voltage (CV5) is set lower than the motor's capability, any sounds assigned to the upper speed steps are usually ignored. . For your ZIMO decoders, there is another way, which will not 'top slice' the sounds. Leave CV5 well alone. CV57 is the voltage reference. The intension is to allow the decoder to attempt properly regulated speed if you don't have a properly regulated power supply. (so if the voltage drops on sections of your layout, the decoder attempts to compensate a to allow constant speed). A useful side effect of this, however, is that by setting the value in CV57 quite low, (possible range is 0-255, values below 100 begin to be effective in reducing top speed) the top speed is restricted, but the full range of sounds are still played. The decoder recalculates the threshold points so, in effect, the sound changes are compressed into a narrower band of speed steps. BTW, this is also a good technique to get diesel engines at full thrash on short layouts and/or at low speeds. Thanks Paul, this is exactly what I was after and will have a play with Zimo chipped locos later. ... I'll leave the Loksound chips for the moment as I have more important things to do like setting the 'chuff' rates. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trade Member legomanbiffo Posted April 11, 2015 Trade Member Share Posted April 11, 2015 Fortunately Loksound chips have no such shortcoming. Simply adjust CV5 to give the desired top speed and all of the sounds are scaled accordingly. I always suspected this was the case but never actually checked so I did so before posting. Sure enough you can still hear every engine notch at the correct proportion of the reduced top speed (ie half throttle still produces half engine revs the same as it would if the top speed is set much higher). I normally set CV5 to the desired maximum and CV6 to half of that, to give a linear speed curve. I would recommend the same if you want a reduced top speed overall. Bif Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliebanger Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Fortunately Loksound chips have no such shortcoming. Simply adjust CV5 to give the desired top speed and all of the sounds are scaled accordingly. I always suspected this was the case but never actually checked so I did so before posting. Sure enough you can still hear every engine notch at the correct proportion of the reduced top speed (ie half throttle still produces half engine revs the same as it would if the top speed is set much higher). I normally set CV5 to the desired maximum and CV6 to half of that, to give a linear speed curve. I would recommend the same if you want a reduced top speed overall. Bif Bif, Lol. It's not a shortcoming, it's a feature. It allows me to.... oh no, I can't tell you that, it's a trade secret. Kind regards, Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilloverland Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Thanks to both of you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trade Member charliepetty Posted April 17, 2015 Trade Member Share Posted April 17, 2015 Rolls Royce of Skoda. You takes you pick! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliebanger Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Rolls Royce of Skoda. You takes you pick! And pays through the nose? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor_37260 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Fortunately Loksound chips have no such shortcoming. Simply adjust CV5 to give the desired top speed and all of the sounds are scaled accordingly. I always suspected this was the case but never actually checked so I did so before posting. Sure enough you can still hear every engine notch at the correct proportion of the reduced top speed (ie half throttle still produces half engine revs the same as it would if the top speed is set much higher). I normally set CV5 to the desired maximum and CV6 to half of that, to give a linear speed curve. I would recommend the same if you want a reduced top speed overall. Bif Bif/all My tupence worth - I'd agree with the above. I recently purchased the latest SWD Lok 4 U Drive 47 to evaluate it. Out of the box it's very good sound and drive ability wise and a big improvement on their earlier 47 version/s. However I was not that happy on how responsive it was on a short - 9ft ish run. As supplied CV5 was 200 and CV6 was 88 - changing these to 120 and 60 made a big difference, it now sounds like a loco working hard pulling a load with all notches useable etc but can still be stopped in a short distance and come to stop idling with careful use of the speed steps or by using F8 it drops back to idle/coasting from any speed/notch It also has a very useful "shunt feature" this is not the normal half speed/ no inertia mode etc, with the loco stopped and idling, pressing F15 releases the brakes (assuming F5 is on) the loco sets back slightly and then pulls forward again slightly and stops the brakes then being reapplied. Provided you use Kadee's (and you've stopped over the magnet) this gives auto uncoupling by just pressing F15 - works a treat ! It may ? work with other coupling types also. Ideal for running round stock at a terminus or shunting etc. Ken Edit : Is it as good as my RE Zimo 47 hmm jury's still out on that one.............................Lol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliebanger Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Bif/all My tupence worth - I'd agree with the above. I recently purchased the latest SWD Lok 4 U Drive 47 to evaluate it. Out of the box it's very good sound and drive ability wise and a big improvement on their earlier 47 version/s. However I was not that happy on how responsive it was on a short - 9ft ish run. As supplied CV5 was 200 and CV6 was 88 - changing these to 120 and 60 made a big difference, it now sounds like a loco working hard pulling a load with all notches useable etc but can still be stopped in a short distance and come to stop idling with careful use of the speed steps or by using F8 it drops back to idle/coasting from any speed/notch It also has a very useful "shunt feature" this is not the normal half speed/ no inertia mode etc, with the loco stopped and idling, pressing F15 releases the brakes (assuming F5 is on) the loco sets back slightly and then pulls forward again slightly and stops the brakes then being reapplied. Provided you use Kadee's (and you've stopped over the magnet) this gives auto uncoupling by just pressing F15 - works a treat ! It may ? work with other coupling types also. Ideal for running round stock at a terminus or shunting etc. Ken Edit : Is it as good as my RE Zimo 47 hmm jury's still out on that one.............................Lol Ken, Your ZIMO decoder can do something similar. Have a look in the Small Decoder Manual under 'Coupler Waltz'. (ZIMO decoders are not made in China, but in Vienna, the capital of Austria and of a famous dance, so the name's a little 'in' joke). You can assign the buffer up/coupler sounds to synchronise with it too. Kind regards, Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 You can adjust the transition window(s) between notches on Hornby TTS diesels within posted limits (see the manual for details) but if you limit loco top speed outwith these parameters then yes you will affect the sound, although I expect you could still manually up notch/thrash regardless. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor_37260 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Ken, Your ZIMO decoder can do something similar. Have a look in the Small Decoder Manual under 'Coupler Waltz'. (ZIMO decoders are not made in China, but in Vienna, the capital of Austria and of a famous dance, so the name's a little 'in' joke). You can assign the buffer up/coupler sounds to synchronise with it too. Kind regards, Paul Aye that Gennie has come out of his bottle once more ! nice one - will have a look into that at some point Thanks Ken Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor_37260 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 You can adjust the transition window(s) between notches on Hornby TTS diesels within posted limits (see the manual for details) but if you limit loco top speed outwith these parameters then yes you will affect the sound, although I expect you could still manually up notch/thrash regardless. Hornby TTS - now we really are comparing Rolls Royce's with a Skoda ! Lol !! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliebanger Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Hornby TTS - now we really are comparing Rolls Royce's with a Skoda ! Lol !! Ken, There's really no need to talk about ESU that way. Lol Kind regards, Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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