MRC AC Sounder?

Well, the 8 ohm won't hurt it, try it and see if it's any louder.

I agree that the included MRC speaker is not loud enough.  I install the AC Sounder in my Williams locos using the Williams speaker, and the sound is loud enough for me (after programming with the remote). 

I looked online at Bachmann Williams and found the sound unit, but unfortunately no information on the rating of the speaker.

Has anyone replaced their AC Sounder speaker with something else?

YEs I have found via All Electronics a 50mm 4 ohm speaker with a much bigger magnat and louder sounds:

http://www.allelectronics.com/...4-OHM-SPEAKER/1.html

for $1.25 ea you can't go wrong!

I have used these speakers in all my 50mm round speaker applications which are:

• Most MTH dummy diesels
• Atlas O FM and F and GP7/9 applications
• Lionel dummy diesel applications.

Only atlas O Alco century, gp 35, sd35, sd40, gp60 use an oval speaker in their fuel tank thus a more expensive 4 ohm oval speaker that fits in the OEM speaker area.

The 8 ohm, 1 watt speaker worked fine.  Now to play with the Sounder remote and change the prime mover sound.

The sounds are definitely louder using the larger, 8 ohm 1 watt speaker.

Anyone able to change the sounds on these when running via DCS?  I had to hookup my Z750 yesterday to access the remote menu and it's iffy at best when trying to settle on which sound is best.  I think I'm not giving it enough time to run thru the sound sequence before I hit the buttons.

DCS should have no effect, the remote talks directly to the sounder using RF.

John.

I guess "we can't always get what we want" (in my best Mick Jagger voice)

When the AC Sounder and ERR CC were in my Williams E7, I first ran it thru DCS in Conventional and I could press the DCS handheld button to make the horn/bell work (that's what I remember anyway and I'm sticking to it).

When I finally woke up and realized I could run the E7 thru DCS in TMCC mode (duh) I think that's when the horn/bell would no longer work thru the DCS handheld.

I thought maybe I was doing something wrong (it's been a while since I had the AC Sounder in an engine) now that I've put the setup in my RK RS3, but I guess it is what it is.  It'll have to do until I can get the RailSounds Commander board.

Yep, in command the track voltages are ignored.  I thought you were using the little MRC remote control.

I was using the MRC remote for horn/bell John, just thinking out loud

The sound is fine when the engine is sitting still, when the train gets up some speed the noise of 5-6 cars going down the tracks tends to drowned out the prime mover, but I'm beginning to think that's not so bad.  The horn is loud enough as the train is moving, but I need to choose another bell as the one I chose isn't loud enough even when sitting still.

Is there a simple component that can be used to boost the voltage to the speaker?

Alan

Alan, not sure, John may know.  I would think you'd have to change something on the Sounder board to do that.

I played around with it last night and got louder sound out of it simply by, well, playing around with it.  Getting the remote into "Program" mode is touchy IMO.  I kept getting 3 "Program" voice announcements instead of 2 like the instructions say.  I'm sure it's "pilot error" on my part, not giving enough time in between button pushes.

The space in the Railking RS3 is limited, I enclosed the Sounder board in a piece of 3/4" heat shrink tubing and cut a hole for the antenna wire plug, then placed it on top of the ERR CC board.  The wiring also runs along this path and I taped it all down with a piece of electrical tape.

You'd need to have an amplifier, but I don't know of a single component that will do it.  There are plenty of small audio amplifiers around, so it's certainly possible.

I used the existing speaker in my Custom Trains FM H24-66 to get a little extra volume out of the set-up. This was two years ago, and no malfunctions yet!   I like these units.

Update...

I ran the RS3 this afternoon, along with my newly painted Legacy GP9 and my RailKing NW2.

The RS3 is so loud I couldn't hear the NW2 startup, I can't believe using the MTH 8ohm, 1 watt speaker has made such a huge difference.  Somebody ought to tell MRC

It's actually too loud for me, so I'm going to go back into the remote program and try to get it at a level I'm happy with.

Does anyone know how to enter program mode using an AC transformer such as a ZW or CW-80. Step 3 of the instructions refers to tapping the direction button repeatedly, but that does nothing. I can't get it to enter program mode.

I'm finding the AC sounder to be a real POS  in both the old and new varieties.  Can't program the new one for anything, even with the remote.  Had it back to MRC for repair...fixed one item, broke three others!   Moving on to other options at this point.

Somewhere out there, somebody owns at least one non-defective MRC AC Sounder, which can be coaxed into "Program Mode". I saw one functioning on a YouTube video. Hopefully, when I get the remote, it will work where all my transformer programming efforts so miserably failed. Wishful thinking perhaps, but then again, the MRC logo is "Technology Perfected".

I installed an AC Sounder a few weeks ago for a friend. It was barely audible when first installed, but we put an improvised baffle on it made from a cardboard tube and that put the volume up to a level appropriate to a small home layout without a lot of competing sounds. When the guy got home he made a better enclosure for it and he tells me the sound is just fine for his needs. 

Can't help you with the programming - that's the only one I've ever installed and my friend liked the first sound package, so we didn't try to reprogram it. 

Thanks. I too increased the volume of my AC Sounder by using the existing larger speaker in my Williams diesel. The sound was much improved. But, I'm stuck with one horn/prime mover because I can't program the card using the method detailed in the instructions.

I called Doug at MRC, and his answer was to send me a remote. Hope that works.

I had a couple of these some time back with one remote.  The remote worked fine to program them, very easy.