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The Loksound5 Fx is designed for that purpose. Easy to do for diesel, maybe more difficult to get the chuffs in sync for steam. When using a lighting kit for pickup you probably have to add a stay-alive to the decoder. Never connect the speaker outputs of different decoders, so never wire two or more decoders to one speaker. With the Loksound5 it is technically possible to have multiple projects on one decoder and swap between them by just changing a single CV even on the fly with PoM (or, depending on number of projects, by F-key(s) ). But who will do such a multiple project?

z21.

Richard is right. If you are still unsure, have a look here and compare visually: https://www.esu.eu/en/products/former-products/loksound-v35/ If you look closely at the photos you will discover the 21 holes for the 21mtc interface.

LED mode refers to the different dimming curves between bulbs and LEDs. Especially with stronger dimming, LEDs behave differently and this is taken into account. It has nothing to do with max output voltage or max current. Resistors or similar circuits are still needed.

In my opinion the decoder is fine and it is just a matter of controller settings.

Depending on the version, the Trix Mobile Station usually can send different digital protocols to the track. Please search the user manual. The digital protocol that the controller is sending out for a certain loco address should match the protocol the decoder is able to receive. I recommend to set both controller and decoder to DCC only. For ESU decoders this means CV47 = 1, for the controller please search the manual.

Although I don't think that this is the root cause, just for explanation: "128" is just the label for this mode. In fact, there are only 126 speed steps available.

Address checked? (Avoid all from 100 to 127). CV29 set correctly? Speed step settings (controller vs. decoder) identical? After CV8=8: short power cut carried out? Digital format (controller vs. decoder / MM or DCC) identical? Are other unused modes properly disabled?

HI, glad it worked. Well, ESU is strongly focused on MAERKLIN users and on multiprotocol decoders so all references and default values are matched to these products (which are not the best from my technical point of view). I think ESU is scaring off a lot of UK customers with this. Things get better if you use V5 pure DCC decoders but these are unfortunately not easily available within Europe.

If the locos are well matched you should not alter any driving characteristics so CVs 2 to 5 should stay as they are. Nothing easier than this (presuming the drive sound is there where it usually has to be and that the sound flow was set up correctly): 1. WRITE CV31 = 16 & CV32 = 1 2. Then READ CVs 261 & 262 3. Add 4 (or similar, as you like) to the actual values of CVs 261 & 262 4. Write back CVs 261 & 262 with the new values. The sound of the engine will now being played about 3% faster. Try this first and see (hear) how it works. CV 22 is valid for up to F14 You can find functions above F14 in CVs 109 & 110. So if you want to have F13 active just add value 64 to CV 22. F17 is in CV 109 so add value 4.

I think one of the major problems is that ESU use a motor frequency of 40 kHz which is way too high in my opinion (example Zimo = 20 kHz, D&H = 16 kHz) so I always reduce CV9 to 16 (kHz) after setting CV2 = 1. Then do the autotune on the layout which gives you correct CV53 (BEMF voltage), and then reduce CV52 by one third.

First, although nowhere officially pointed out, both D&H and Zimo have a default value of 1 for CV2 while ESU has CV2 = 3 as a default which makes very slow running impossible. Second, both D&H and Zimo set the internal reference voltage automatically while ESU CV53 (reference voltage) refers to the BEMF instead of track voltage. Third, ESU is using ultra-high motor frequencies which sometimes causes problems with components on the loco's internal board so you can set this frequency to a lower value e.g. CV9 = 16. So you have to set CV2 = 1 first and then set CV9 = 16 and then do the autotune feature to set CV53 correctly (or estimate CV53 by multiplying track voltage with efficiency of motor which can be between 30% and 90% so 60% would be good for a first trial). With these settings I have extremely smooth and slow running on ALL my locomotives.

As Bachmann usually uses re-branded decoders it might be helpful to read CV8 to identify the manufacturer.

That is correct. If you are more interested in the details, you can download the ESU programmer software and look under 'decoder, motor settings'. Scroll down and you will find a sketch next to the corresponding values. Nevertheless, the decoder will always determine an average of the two motors. If these are very different, there can be problems. A workaround can be to reduce the strength of the motor control by slightly reducing the K value and the control influence.

That's why you can adjust both BEMF measuring time and sampling period on good decoders.

In some cases ESU uses packaging that requires the back to be "unfolded" to see the instructions printed on the inside . . . very unusual way . . .

Most decoders designed for OO gauge (maybe except the very 'cheap' ones) will have no problem with two motors. To be on the safe side you can activate a motor current limiter on the V5 with CV100 (actually intended as a motor protection). Just program value 230 in CV100 (which is 90% of the maximum value 255) and the motor current is limited to 1.35 amps (which is 90% of the maximum 1.5 amps).

CV 122 bits 0 & 1 ??

Do you use any address from 100 to 127?

Any pickups must be connected only & directly to the black and red wires of the decoder. Grey and orange wires must be connected to the motor only, nowhere else, not even chassis.

That reads as if you finally connected the track voltage via the motor directly to the decoder output? Most of the decoders can't stand this.

This is exactly how my car lighting works. The difference is that at the end only a few LEDs are attached (in pairs of 2 in series). I use a larger capacitor (6,800 µF) with a resistor-diode combination. A voltage of rail voltage minus 1.4 volts is always applied to the capacitor. What is the voltage in your circuit? Maybe your 5V voltage regulator is overloaded? 15 watts means a lot of heat that is generated in the buck and these components usually have a protective circuit. Maybe it will shut down, or is it already blown?

Another example of a sound that "sounds" pretty good but that is sooo wrong from a technical point of view. . . which brings us back to the starting question of this thread.

Rail voltage is square just in theory. On the oscilloscope you can see rounded edges, peaks and some sines. I'd try a capacitor behind the rectifier to smoothe this.

Did you check the function mapping?