9
F40PH Diesel Operating Manual
Note:
Once the brake feature is activated and the engine is running, it is possible that the
brake sounds may not occur if the transformer throttle setting is not set high enough before
throttling down. We recommend that after activating the brake feature, you run the engine
at no less than 14 volts before throttling down to approximately 8 volts or less to ensure that
the brake sounds occur.
Note:
After activating the brake feature, whenever you stop the engine by either turning the
transformer throttle off or by entering neutral, the brake feature becomes disabled and
must be reactivated using either of the two methods above.
Note:
If the brake feature is activated using method number 1 from either forward or
reverse and you interrupt the throttle to enter neutral and leave the throttle on, you may
activate another ProtoSound feature in this engine; Passenger Station Announcement.
See the section later in this manual on Passenger Station Announcement.
TIPS ON USING THE SQUEAKING BRAKE FEATURE
Because the squeaking brake feature always plays for approximately 3 seconds, it is
possible that the brake sounds will play longer or shorter than what visually seems
prototypical. You will find that by practicing with the brake feature, you can quickly
determine how quickly to throttle down and what speeds and voltage settings give you the
most prototypical braking effect.
Typical users will find the feature to be a very realistic way to simulate the sound of an
engine slowing down for curves, crossings or coming to a stop at a station, side track or
switch yard.
As mentioned above, you will find that initially your engine may continue to
play the brake sounds once your engine comes to a stop or that the sounds stop
prematurely before the engine comes to a complete halt. For example, if you simply run the
engine and turn the throttle off quickly, the brake sounds will likely continue playing even
though the engine has come to a complete stop. This annoying effect can be eliminated by
simply practicing with the brake feature. In no time, you will quickly learn how to “feather"
the throttle to keep the engine moving while the brake sounds play and then turning the
throttle off just as the sounds stop. Remember that once you stop the engine, you should
turn the throttle to the off position if you don’t want to activate the Freight Yard Sounds
feature described later in this manual.
PASSENGER STATION ANNOUNCEMENT (PFA)
ProtoSounds is equipped with operator controlled passenger station announcements,
hereby known as PFA. This easy to use feature plays digitally reproduced passenger
station sounds whenever your engine stops at a train station on your layout. No additional
wires or modifications are needed on your layout to enjoy these amazing sound effects.
The sounds themselves are randomly generated and randomly “shuffled” on the
ProtoSounds software chip. This gives the system the ability to produce different sounds in
a different order each time the PFA feature is enabled. These different sounds are heard
each time you cycle the transformer throttle from on to off in the same manner that you
would cycle the throttle to enter the various states of forward, neutral and reverse. The
entire PFA sequence is designed to simulate the arrival, disembarking, embarking, and
departure of a train entering and leaving a train station. The sounds include public address
arrival and departure messages, passenger disembarking and embarking sounds,
conductor voices and general train station ambient sounds. Each is described in more
detail in the following sections.
