Trigger Input on LM ???

[JRad]

Does the RailPro have a trigger input on their Locomotive Modules?  I will be using the LM-3S-G module which has a pin labeled INPUT, but no where (that I can find) is that documented.

I run primarily steam outline locomotives and I would like the chuff to be perfectly timed to cylinder movement / driver rotation.  My current system uses Phoenix Sound boards, all of which support a Chuff input. All of my locomotives have a chuff trigger which is usually just a SPST switch.

I have a few other technical questions, but I'll save them for another day.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to a RailPro noob!

[William Brillinger]

The input channel is for future development.
I suggest contacting Tim Ring at Ring Engineering and inquiring about getting it functional.

Cheers,

[JRad]

Thanks Bill.  My LM came in yesterday and I have been playing around with it on the bench driving a speaker and a locomotive truck.  On one hand I am very impressed with the sound. The Shay ULT sound is awesome and I have a few Shays that will get Railpro before too long. Steam Light and Steam Heavy are OK, but when you reach a point in acceleration, the pitch of the chuff becomes unnatural, like speeding up a record.

I started playing around with the speed table and chuff percentages, but find that I really need to get the board in a loco before I can do anything meaningful with those settings.

I will give Ring a call after I have a little more experience and can ask meaningful questions.  It seems like us steam guys need to stand up and be noticed in order to get sounds on par with the awesome diesel sounds.  From what I have read, the "input" will take a lot of programming to implement and I  assume Ring needs to see a market to make it worth his while.

[William Brillinger]

I think you're on the right track JRad!

[KPack]

FYI, there is a ULT Heavy Steam sound file coming.  According to Ring it is the most complicated sound file they have done.  Currently Ring is focusing a lot on production of hardware, and steam sounds/software.  They have several diesel recordings that have been put to the side until more steam sounds are released. 

I too would love to see the input wire finally programmed to accept a chuff input.  It would be so much easier to do that than to fiddle around with speed tables and chuff rate.

-Kevin

[Mr. E]

This is awesome news KPACK!  I am interested in old steam and that is the one thing that was a red flag for me.  I listened to the two steam files over and over.  I decided that what was there was good enough for me to start. I was hoping that in the future Ring engineering would flesh out the steam files like the diesel.

I will now be looking forward to this new heavy steam file.  Do we have any indication of when it will be completed?