LokSound v5 Decoder Brake Function Configuration

Apoorva, the IndianRailModeler from the groups.io forum for LokSound decoders, recently replied to an email concerning brake function configuration for v5 LokSound decoders. It is a good summary explanation of the configuration. The discussion below concerns the Brake functions settings located at the bottom of the Brake Settings sheet of the Decoder pane for the appropriate Sound file for your engine. It is shown in figure 1.

All three braking functions in Loksound 5 decoders work the same way. All three functions allow the user to set a deceleration rate by setting the appropriate value in CV’s 179, 180 and 181 (for Brake 1, Brake 2 and Brake 3 respectively). 

<Author's Note>
Brake 1 is the Independent Brake, Brake 2 the Automatic Brake and Brake 3 the Dynamic Brake. All three are installed by default in sound files, The only issue is brake 2. It is installed by default under Function 30. Most throttles can't reach that high since they only have 28 functions available. There are exceptions, e.g. the Android app Engine Driver. Brake 2 can be moved to a reachable function and that is explained here.

Figure 1 Brake function settings 

The braking rate CV value reduces the deceleration time set by CV4 based on the following formula:

Time to stop from max speed in seconds = (255 - CV)/255 * (CV4*0.879) where CV is the value set in CV179 or CV180 or CV181.

Associated with each brake function is a Max Speed CV, ie. CV181, CV182 and CV183 for Brake1, Brake2 and Brake3 respectively. When a brake function is activated, the decoder ignores the throttle speed step setting and sets an internal Speed to the value set in CV182, 183 or 184 depending on which of the 3 brake functions is activated. If the internal speed set by the throttle speed step is more than the target value in the Max Speed CV, the locomotive will slow down as per the respective brake setting.

Thus CV’s 182, 183 and 184 specify the speed (in terms of throttle Speed Steps) at which the braking will be deactivated once the speed is reached. The locomotive will continue at this constant speed as set in CV’s 182, 183 once it is reached. 

An example to illustrate the effect of CV’s 182 for Brake 1 is as follows. CV’s 183 and 184 for Brake 2 and Brake 3 function in the same manner. Assume CV182 [Brake 1] is set to 18 (equivalent to an internal Speed of 36 or Speed Step 4/28 in a linear speed curve). If the locomotive is running at a speed equivalent to Speed Step 10 (or any Speed Step higher than 4) and the Brake 1 function is activated, the locomotive will slow down up to the internal speed = 36 and hold it’s speed even while the Brake 1 function is still active (braking sound will still be playing) provided the throttle is maintained higher than speed step 4. If the throttle is reduced below speed step 4, the locomotive speed will decelerate again based on the Braking setting upto that throttle speed. Alternately, if the locomotive is already moving at a throttle setting of less than Max speed setting (ie less than speed step 4 in this example), invoking Brake 1 will have no effect on the speed, as long as the throttle setting is not changed. If the throttle is reduced to less than the locomotive speed, braking will be initiated till the speed corresponding to the new throttle setting is reached. If on the other hand, the throttle is increased to any speed step greater than 4, the locomotive will accelerate up to to the speed set by CV182, ie. speed step 4, and hold there. No further increase in speed will occur.

To be able to bring the locomotive to a complete stop when a brake function is activated, irrespective of the throttle setting, the associated CV 182, 183 or 184 has to be set to Zero or one has to reduce the throttle down to zero. If there are multiple brake functions active at the same time, the Requested Speed will be set to the lowest brake max speed control CV setting among the active brake functions.

This functionality of the Brake function gives the possibility to build braking control logics which would allow for two effects:

1. Use the Max Speed CV as a Speed regulator to simulate a train going down hill at a constant speed either under brake application or dynamic brake application
2. Use the throttle to function as a braking lever by setting CV182 (or 183 or 184) to 126 (maximum value). Now the slowing down of the locomotive is controlled by the throttle, and allows the user to select upto which speed to slow down to by simply setting the throttle to the desired speed step. Note: braking sound will still be active until the brake function button is active, and to get the appropriate braking sound, a slight modification will need to be made to the braking soundslot.

I am sure users will/can think of other uses of this feature.

Hope this helps explain the braking function.

Apoorva 

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LokSound 5 Automatic Break Set and Release Sound

This topic of automatically playing the releasing/setting sound of the independent brake when a locomotive starts/stops came up recently on the LokSound groups.io forum. The solution to this is relatively easy depending on what came with the locomotive sound file you are working with. There are a couple of cases. For those that may not familiar with the different brakes on locomotives this short read will bring you up to par. Service Brakes are also known as Train Brakes.

<Note>
This discussion has nothing to do with the Automatic (Train) brake. It deals solely with the Independent brake sounds.

The Easy Solution
First the easy one. In this case the file already includes the brake set/release sounds and has them enabled via F17. They are just not automatically employed. Utilizing the LokProgrammer, open the sound file, we will use the example file S0821-LS5H0DCC-Diesel-EMD-8-710G3A-T2-LATE-EXH-T-V6-R6.esux. Once opened, go to the Decoder Pane and then the Function Mapping sheet. Look down to F17 and across the page to the Sounds column. There it is, [29] GP40 26L Brake Set/Release Automatic 1. See figure 1. 

Figure 1 Sound Slot 29

The [29] tells you it's located in Sound Slot 29. The only issue is it isn't automatic in the default case. The Conditions column says F17 has to be pressed for it to work. Are you going to remember that every time you run this engine?

Here's the solution. In the Conditions column click on the drop down, scroll to F17, select that dropdown and click Ignore. Scroll up to F8 click on the dropdown and select On. See figure 2. 

Figure 2 Function 17

What this does is tell the Brake Set/Release Automatic brake function to turn on as soon as you start the prime mover. Now the brakes set and release sound will play without you having to do anything.

A Little More Work

Now, what if your sound file doesn't have an Automatic Brake function included with it? Uh-oh this is going to be difficult. No it's not!

When you first opened the Sound File and went to the Sound Pane you should have the template files on the right. If not, they are located here under the LokSound Template Pack heading. Download and install them and then tell the programmer where they are located by using the Tools menu and Program Settings of the LokProgrammer software. Restart the Programmer. Now you should see them. 

What we are going to do is copy that sound slot to the templates and use it wherever we want. Utilizing the S0821 sound file select the Sound Pane. Click on Sound Slot 29 in the left column, click on the directory you want to copy the sound slot to on the right (the author created a 'My Sounds' directory using Windows). The right pointing arrow in the middle should light up. Click it and the sound slot is copied to your directory. See figure 3.

Figure 3 Copying a sound slot file

Now you're going to do the opposite and copy the saved sound slot file to an empty sound slot in your Sound File that doesn't have the Brake Set/Release Automatic brake sound. 

In the Sound Pane of your sound file, on the left, click on an empty sound slot where you want to put the brake function. Now on the right, click on the Brake Set/Release Automatic brake file you saved to the templates. The left pointing arrow should light up. Click it and the file is copied into your sound slot. You now have the automatic sound in your sound file and can activate it according to the procedure under "The Easy Solution".

Customizing
If you want to change the brake sound in the states of the sound slot file or the prototype's brake sounds are very different than the ones you have it's an easy drag-and-drop exercise. Remember, all sound files have the WAV files needed to simulate both applying and releasing the independent brake. It's easy to move those files around. Remember, though, that in this example the names will match because we used the Automatic  brake from the same engine. With two different sound files they will usually be different. Don't get confused!

To start, load the Sound File you added your Brake Set/Release Automatic brake to, open the sound slot file for the Independent brake (sound slot 11) in the sound pane. Click on the Apply state. Look on the top left and in the Sample drop-down you'll see the name of the WAV file for applying the brakes. Make a note of the name. Do the same for the Release state. Now open the sound slot you put your Brake Set/Release Automatic brake sound into. In the list of WAV files in the lower right scroll until you find the Apply WAV file you made a note of. See figure 4.

Figure 4 The Independent brake Apply WAV file

Once you find it, drag and drop the file on to the Apply state of the Brake Set/Release Automatic brake. Do the same for the Release state. Now save the file write it to the decoder and test. You're done! 

Hopefully you learned a lot with this article. In any case the main rule, as always, is have fun!

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Problems With Some New Scale Trains GP40s With ESU Factory Sound

On the LokSoundUsers group of the groups.io forum user verberkmoesk reported a problem has come up with some of these locomotives. He said:

This topic has been covered before, however this is a slightly different issue I think.  I recently purchased a scale trains GP40 with factory sound. Now I have learned from experience and this forum that the power pack can cause problems with programing.  I first encountered this with my rapido GP38's. I use the lok-programmer.  My practice has been to start by making sure the capacitors have had time to fully discharge.  I then put the locomotive on the programming track.  I make all the changes I want and then hit the program button.  If I need to make more changes I make sure the capacitors are discharged before doing anything further.(usually necessary after I test the changes made).

 

In this case, when I first tried the locomotive on the layout, I didn't have my laptop handy and made a few changes by programming on the main.  Mostly just selecting a horn and adjusting some of the volume settings.  Usually, single CV programming hasn't caused issues.

 

Later, I put the locomotive on the programmer to set it up how I like it and immediately noticed an issue as it took an excessively long time to read the CV's.  it finally did, however, when I made my setting changes and tried to program I got an error message.  I forget the exact message but something along the lines of unable to program.  

The weird thing is the locomotive runs fine on the layout and still lets me make individual CV changes like selecting a different horn.  But I can't seem to use the programmer.  

Has anyone else had this issue specifically?  Any suggestions?

Another user, William Warren, replied with the following information:

Hi, I received 4 ST GP40’s that had the same issue that you are having. 

I called ST and talked to Josh in customer service. The solution is a simple fix.

Remove the couplers and lift the shell off the chassis and look for the dip switch’s next to the decoder. Remove the kapton tape and pull the switch’s down. 

Put the shell back on and the couplers on and you should be good to go.

Josh told me that a number of GP40’s shipped from the factory with the dip switch’s in the wrong position. One extra note. If one of your units is a BN unit be careful. It has 2 wires for the gyro light and the red flashing beacon attached to the M\B (a short leash).

Hope this helps.

William 

So if anyone reading this has had similar problems (it is isolated to ESU decoders only), try this fix first.

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LokProgrammer v 5.2.17 Released By ESU 2026-02-05

A little late with this one but this appears to be solely a bug fix update.

Version 5.2.17:

==============

- Bugfix:

  * ESU digital interior light 2.0

    - new firmware version 5.1.8 -> buffer time was too low when PowerPack capacitor was installed. 

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Woodland Scenics New Just Plug Sound System

This author hates to bring this to the forefront of model railroading this soon but the implications are excellent! Woodland Scenics has just mentioned that they are bringing a sound system to the model railroad layout world for background sounds based on the Just Plug system they have for layout lighting. This is just about all they have said.

There is a short (36 sec) YouTube video that they call a teaser (and it is) located here.

If this system turns out to be as good as their JustPlug lighting system, this author IS IN! His entire layout utilizes the JustPlug lighting system and it only took two days to wire the complete thing!

He knows he's getting ahead of himself but the only thing he is curious about is whether or not the system will have a control unit of some sort to turn sound on or off. With their lighing system you control everything by on/off switches.

Time will tell and he will update this article as things progress.

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