For the noise you might try a bit of lubrication on the especially on the using grease on the gears (I use Trix). Your test track might be dirty try cleaning it this may also explain your light situation as full voltage is not reaching the lok. I found out digital is less forgiving then then older analogs.

It would be normal for a non speed regulated Lok to go slower on curves: this happens on the prototype as well.

I believe some of the early Delta chips did not have constant lighting.

Some? None of the early Delta chips had constant lights - the lights were connected to the motor outputs.
The Delta Controller 6604 could not control F0.

hello HO

and thankyou so much for this really useful ( to me anyways ) reply!. -))

the way the lights behave would be in keeping with the thinkg that they are connected to the motor power outputs - they vary exactly in intensity to the motor speed ( and noise! )

and now that you mention it, YES! - i can imagine the sound of a speaker being drowned out by the current motor noise - why didnt i think of this? ... makes perfect sense now!

But, you mention a new decoder and a new motor - this is possible?

would it be fairly straighforward to do or beyond my own abilities - i like to learn to do new things, and i didnt pay too much for this loco soid be happy to use it as a test bed if it meant i learned from it.

what new decoder and motor would you recommend for the 460 loco - one thats quieter and smoother running at low speeds especially - the current motor runs great at faster speeds but at slower speeds it varies in speed a lot and the dim lights as low speeds would be great to be able to bring up to date.
and if the new motor were quieter, then perhaps sound would be worth considering! -)


Mike C - thanks to you too for your reply - the lights go up and down in brightness according to the speed of the loco on my digital system - i wasn not expecting this - and of course with the loco parked, the lights go out completely.

Hi!

I actually have one of these locomotives. I also had the same experience you are having. But that is the nature of delta decoders I'm afraid. After having debated on how to convert it I finally settled for a lokpilot v3.5 and a 5* motor. It is now a great runner and lovely to look at.

For replacing the motor but using another /Sound)-Decoder, You need:

- 60941 High-Efficiency Motor Conversion Set (~ 22€)

plus one of the following Sound-Decoders:

- 60947 Märklin SoundDecoder mSD (60€)

- Esu LokSound V4 M4 (~99€)

- Doehler&Haas SD21A-4 (~63€)

So, with sound, You need to invest between 80€ and 120€

Hi,
be carefull! If Your loco has the drum collector motor (what I've seen it does!), You need the motor kit 60941!

All Sound Decoders, I listed above, have enough aoutputs to support red rear lights and two Telex couplers. The Esu may have the best sound and has a automatic function for the Telex (Coupler walz), which doesn't exist for the mSD. But for the Esu LokSound V4 M4 mtc21 You need additionally the mtc21 adapter board (~15€). This is included in the Märklin mSD decoder set.

So, best sound and function may provide Esu - for the highest price! The mSD is a good value option with less function (no Telex walz), medium quality sound but very user friendly price and much easier to program than the Esu.

With programming I mean to configure the mapping of Functions to AUX-Ports, like pressing F2 will activate the Telex on side 1 and so on.

If You have already a Central Station 2 (CS2), you can update the Sound file with the CS2 very easily or create Your own sound projects of a mSD Sound decoder.

For Esu and all other sound decoder brands, You need a special hardware, to modify the sound projects.