Large Scale Central

Sierra Sound question.

Electronics Power and Sound
#1

A question to the sound gurus.

I have a Sierra board in a shared self contained tender. I cannot get it to stop blowing the crossing whistle. This one has a volume switch so I pressed - to enter the setup and proceeded to step #14 which is the whistle control method.
I tried the 3 choices that is the
F2 lite On = voltage control default.
F2 Flashing= sensor switch as trigger.
F2 Off= sensor switch as control.

I have the tender on a test track with a voltage meter attached and at about 7 volts the crossing whistle blows then it does again at 13 volts. It doesn’t matter which mode the whistle is set for it still blows at 7 volts.
I thought the board was reverting back to the default but when I went back to step #14 F2 was blinking as I left it.

Any ideas? If possible I would like to stop the crossing whistle all together or at least stop it at the low 7 volts. Thanks.

#2

Step 19 is for whistle sensitivity. You can adjust that to make the whistle less sensitive to track voltage fluctuations. I had to make this adjustment, so that my Climax would quit blowing its whistle all the flippen time.

The battery starts charging at around 7 volts. Are you sure your battery is good? Maybe the battery is causing some kind of voltage fluctuation that is triggering the whistle

#3

That might have done it Dave. I checked the batteries which were low and then I changed the whistle sensitivity and on my test track it blows crossing at 13+ volts and not at 7 which is much better. I use this tender behind my geared locos so if I hear the crossing whistle at 13 volts that is probably too fast for a geared loco to be moving. I haven’t tried it on the open track yet but hoepfully it is fixed.
Thanks Dave.

#4

Todd, you are welcome. I have a Sierra in several of my locomotives. When the whistle starts blowing, I know I need to clean the track. Sudden voltage fluctuations will trigger the whistle.

#5

I thought by setting the whistle to have the F2 lite either Flashing or Off which I thought meant it would not read the track voltage but some other means to sense when to blow would work but that wasn’t the case. It seemed to always pick up its cue from the track voltage no matter what I did in Step #14.

I will try it outdoors maybe today. If it keeps blowing is there a way to shut it off entirely? I thought it was step #14 with F2 set to Off?
Thanks again.

#6

Todd, supposedly setting step 14 to “off” should work, but you know how these things are. Sometimes they have a mind of their own.

#7

I am in your group; the newly acquired GP38-2 D&H 7314 continually blows the horn, when sequence completed - again and again. Can not see any lights and tried charging from run and plug-in but ‘no’ change.

I hate to have to go into the engine, but guess I have to, change battery and reset to higher voltage as well.

Great timing Todd, I’ve been sitting on this since I put the unit into service!

#8

One thing guys. When my Climax, or F3 start that shi behavior, it can be an indication that the wheels, or track is dirty. On my Climax, it could also be an indication that power pick ups are getting flaky again. So you may want to clean the wheels, check the power pick ups and test it on a clean piece of track, just to see if that helps.

#9

Hi Bob and Welcome to the banging ones head against the wall thread.

I agree David that dirty track and voltage fluctuations really confuses the Sierra.
I had the tender behind the Climax last evening and it was chugging along just fine and I didn’t hear that whistle once but when it pulled into my train yard and started shuttling back and forth the silly whistle was blowing crossing with each direction change and at very low volts. I scotchbrited the tracks and I’m going back in and going to try to shut that whistle off.

#10

If you remove the battery the Whistle will stop blowing! LOL

#11

You can replace the battery with three 2.7 volts Supercaps (2.85 volt peak) wired in series and never need to worry about it again.

#12

Todd,

What size Supercaps do you suggest?

Doc Watson

#13

Something in the 6-10 Farad range and the three in series simply replace the battery. I don’t even use a resistor to limit the current and found it works best without one. Be sure the working voltage is at least 2.7 volts. This will give ~1-1/2 - 2-1/2 minutes of sound after the power is cut. You can leave the charging jack in place, but you will never use it again. Also, you can leave it turned on and never worry about running down the battery and ruining it.

I’ve done this to a few Sierra units and have had no problems at all.

#14

Todd

Where do you get your supercaps?

I have not seen the 6-10 farad ones.

Tom

#15

ebay

#16

Thanks Todd. Ready to place my order.

Doc Watson

#17

Does your sierra have reed switches to activate the whistle and or horn?

Terry

#18

Mine does, but I don’t use them.

#19

Same here.

Doc Watson

#20

Mine works all off voltage.
I finally got that crossing whistle to stop blowing all together. I think when I was reprogramming it I was exiting the procedure incorrectly and the board was reverting back to the default.
Anyways now I have been bitten and I want sound in all my engines and of course money hinders that.
Someday.

Thanks for the help guys