Loksound to replace railsounds board?

Vacuefactor,

Just curious.  Define "Light Years".

In which specific ways are they better?

Mike

Not a chance if you're talking about TMCC/Legacy command mode for the Lionel locomotives.

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

Vacuefactor,

Just curious.  Define "Light Years".

In which specific ways are they better?

Mike

Startup sounds, “gravelly” diesel idle/ rumble, model specific horn…

check out the emd 567 file

http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads...28ff3db12c00a6473b46

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Not a chance if you're talking about TMCC/Legacy command mode for the Lionel locomotives.

Thx.  That’s what I figured.  Are the decoders dc only?    

The problem is, the decoder has no idea what to do with the TMCC/Legacy commands that are sent to the Lionel sound boards in the serial data stream.  It's truly a square peg in a round hole scenario.

@vacuefactor posted:

Startup sounds, “gravelly” diesel idle/ rumble, model specific horn…

check out the emd 567 file

http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads...28ff3db12c00a6473b46

Largely everything in your opinion I guess.

It looks like I'm going to have to do a side-by-side comparison in order to check it out.  Time to head to my LHS.

Mike

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The problem is, the decoder has no idea what to do with the TMCC/Legacy commands that are sent to the Lionel sound boards in the serial data stream.  It's truly a square peg in a round hole scenario.

Thx john.  Doing a freelance rebuild of an F3, and the thought just crossed my mind since it’s all apart….what else could I do to make it even better   Wishful thinking…  

@vacuefactor posted:

Thx.  That’s what I figured.  Are the decoders dc only?    

LokSound decoders require a DCC system to be fully accessible.

Rusty

Switching to Loksound (or any DCC decoder) is a full switch over to a new control system. You would need to incorporate a DCC system into your layout with appropriate power management. I’ve seen layouts that operate both TMCC and DCC, just not sure if you can use both systems on the same track at same time. I think its an either/or type of deal.

DCC and 3 rail is not a bad thing to consider. If the day comes that all this proprietary control stuff goes extinct, DCC will be there for us to convert to.

@Ryan Selvius posted:

DCC and 3 rail is not a bad thing to consider. If the day comes that all this proprietary control stuff goes extinct, DCC will be there for us to convert to.

OTOH, that day is way in the future, why anguish over something that's many years in the future, if it happens at all?

John, I agree. I’m going to enjoy my TMCC and Legacy stuff as long as I can. I’m fairly young (age 34) so I expect at some point in my lifetime, these systems will disapear along with the parts. Its nice to know that DCC will most likely be a constant in the model train world and the features and sounds keep getting better. Always nice to have a contingency plan

Doesn’t PS3 have DCC built in?

Sound decoders that are dual-mode will work on DCC or DC, in a limited capacity.  It might work powering the decoder from the DC motor output. Many sound decoders have a keep alive for the sound to keep it from cutting out over dirty track, insulated frogs, etc.  I've not tried it myself, just thinking out loud.

Brendan

The ESU decoders require a special (fairly expensive) ESU LokProgrammer set that will only work with files generated by ESU.  It is possible however to program them with Decoder Pro software, but you still need the proprietary sound files.

John

I am currently in the process of converting my O scale diesels to Loksounds. I do have a large fleet of of TMCC/Legacy locos. SO to get around I'm going to be using Airwire900 for the time being to control these selected units. I use a Bridge rectifier that's recommended in their manuals to convert the AC to DC power.

I've been preaching for sometime now that we need a "converter board" similar idea to what the CVP (Airwire900) offers. This board converts commands from the TMCC remote signal to convert those commands into a DCC signal for the decoder. Which is what the Airwire system does...

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Doesn’t PS3 have DCC built in?

DCS/PS3 is a clunky version of DCC.

I run a mixed layout, DCC/Conventiona/Legacy/TMCC.  The LokSound decoders can be run on AC track conventionally, and the L and XL decoders come set up as such out of the box.  For a diesel you could just install and go without needing any other configuring of the board.  I run my PS-3 locomotives in DCC only, not as nice as Legacy, but good enough for me.