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Offline jerdenberg  
#1 Posted : 01 January 2022 21:34:47(UTC)
jerdenberg

Netherlands   
Joined: 10/01/2005(UTC)
Posts: 1,011
Location: Den Helder, Noord-Holland
As part of my fascination with Union Pacific in the 1950s, I purchased the Märklin UP PA's (37610/49610, road numbers 600 and 601), but also the Trix version: Trix 22301 is PA 602 with RP25 wheels and a standard 8-pin NEM pocket (no decoder), which I bought for it having a different road number than the Mä's; at the time, I did not want to convert the Trix PA to 3-rail in view of its RP25 wheels, but I changed parts between it and the Mä New York Central PA from the 29570 starter set, so that the chassis from the starter set loc, outfitted with Trix body parts, became a 3-rail UP PA 602, and the chassis of Trix 22301, outfitted with Mä parts, became a 2-rail NYC PA.

Later, out of curiosity I decided to try and convert Trix 22301 to 3-rail [by changing pickups, a little rewiring and adding a LokPilot 2] to see how its RP25 wheels would behave on the layout, and that went fairly well: the wheels did not cause problems (except for some well-known wobbling on switches, where the wheel flange is expected to carry the loc over the heart piece), but the LokPilot managed to make this loc a lot less noisy than the notoriously loud Märklin PAs.

Confident after my experience with Trix 22301 I then bought, quite cheaply, the Trix equivalent of the Mä 37610/49610 combination: Trix 22805, with the same road numbers; in addition to the different wheels (RP25 in 22805), the Trix pair has a different decoder than the Mä version: no sound, and either all lights are off or all lights are on, with the Mars light flashing by default. Upon conversion to 3-rail, I noted that the decoder in Trix 22805 seems to control the motors slightly differently than that in Mä 37610/49610, as 22805 ran a little less noisily than 37610/49610.

Thus, three mechanically identical PAs (except for the RP25 wheels on the Trix ones) produce three different noise levels depending on decoder. In addition, the LokPilot seems to do a better job of making movement smooth, especially at low speed.

Below is a link to a short video showing, decoderwise, Märklin (the starter set loc in disguise), Trix (lead engine of 22805 singly), and LokPilot 2 (Trix 22301):

Effect of three different decoders on running noise in essentially identical models

I am tempted to throw out the Märklin and Trix decoders and replace them with LoPis (no need for sound effects as four trains running with a total of about 200 cars produce enough noise already …)

Jeroen
Figomima division, UP; mostly figment of my imagination yet.
thanks 5 users liked this useful post by jerdenberg
Offline DaleSchultz  
#2 Posted : 01 January 2022 23:32:46(UTC)
DaleSchultz

United States   
Joined: 10/02/2006(UTC)
Posts: 3,997
well, they are Diesel motors, so perhaps the noise is appropriate!

Interesting observations.
Dale
Intellibox + own software, K-Track
My current layout: https://cabin-layout.mixmox.com
Arrival and Departure signs: https://remotesign.mixmox.com
thanks 1 user liked this useful post by DaleSchultz
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