I seen a video on you tube .The guy did it on a Virginian and claims to have used a separate lighting decoder and installed micro led lights in the original ditch lights. So it can be done .This was done just after the first run was released possibly inspiring Bachmann to do it because some guy in his basement did it well .Should look him up.

That is a great idea ,but the cost involved is 10 fold of just putting a better speaker onboard the loco. Seems they are coming out with drop in TSU2  sound boards for the sound value diesels, but there is a problem right up front with that unless it includes a comparable  speaker because if a sound value board blows them up a tsu2 board will turn them into a instant smoking loco. Where is the thought process with that in the company's engineering? Not rocket science unless they want to warranty or sell many boards .TSU 2 has a very powerful amplifier .Have a few and they are awesome with the right speakers.

 Bachmann,
How about a Norfolk Southern SD70ACE and an ES44AC standard thoroughbred as a request. Funny how you do the Heritage ,but do not do the modern standard paint scheme Norfolk Southern uses at the time the Heritage  diesels were released. Kind of building a hot rod version of a car but not build the standard version. LOL!

Hello All,
My grandfather is hard of hearing and found out how to adjust the cv's.Well he likes the rumble sound of the Alco  s4 .He turns it up to around max. Sound really good ,but when the horn is blown the speaker cannot handle it all together it cracks and then gets real tinny.We replaced the speaker 3 times so far.Was thinking I could find a higher watt speaker the same size to fit in the speaker enclosure ,but not exactly sure my measurements are correct. Does anyone know what size speaker is in it exactly so it can press fit in the enclosure correctly?
  Thanks.

Use e stop to shut it down if your dcc system can be programmed to do that. It will go silent. I think  that is how I did it. You can still blow the horn and ring the bell ,but no prime mover until you throttle it up .Maybe set cv 116 between 193 and higher.


Eddy

Why don't they update them with a volume knob on the decoder so they can have something for DC since they are suppose to be dual mode? Had many at the club complaining about this to me since I am the glorified DCC /DC guy.Lucky we have dcc to do these type of things or the DC folk are hung out the dry with the decoders lack of basics.

Eddy

I had the same problem with it communicating at a distance after dropping the handheld .It got so bad there were delays in the signal .Like it slowed down in the air.  My friend a computer repair guy did a board bake that they use on mother boards that may have cracked solder joints that are intermittent connections in the circuits and it fixed it completely. He did all the circuit boards in the base and the hand held after taking all apart and removing all the parts that could be removed. He used a standard oven at 250F with the boards on a cake pan until It emitted an odor like solder flux or about 5 minutes  He said a lot of modern electronics does this because the solder they use goes not have enough lead in it so is brittle and cracks. He said this method can be used probably on many other things. Just do not touch it until cool down or leave it in any longer then when it first starts to smell .Last ditch effort worked perfectly and has not failed after a few years of much use and a habit of using the tether for the handheld controller  .

Eddy

Are you talking about the signal being weak from the hand held unit?

Eddy

Sounds like the coupling that is on the worm gear for the drive shaft cracks and slips on the worm gear shaft. I had ordered a few from Bachmann parts
.
Eddy.