# anyone tried ESU Locksound 3.5xl



## Enginear (Jul 29, 2008)

I apologize in advance if this is a double post. I got no reply in the sound column. I had installed a NCE 4 amp decoder into a USA sd40-2 and it ran good. I upgraded to a ESU 3.5xl sound decoder and it sounds great. It does not run great. It pulsates bad on either dc or dcc. I considered changing cvs like for the back emf but I have not. I have since switched to MTH DCS control and this engine just sits in the box. 
Has anyone installed this decoder? what was your results? Did you adjust for the usa motors? Joe


----------



## Peter Osborne (Jan 5, 2008)

Joe, I've used these sucessfully in several Bachmann and LGB engines, but not tried USA. I know that USA motors have a reputation for having a high amp draw, so it could be that the decoder is overloading and reseting. You may want to keep the NCE and add a Phoenix P% to provide the sound. Overall I've been very happy with the Loksound XL but I did buy the programmer which makes settiing them up a lot easier. I'm standardiizing on Loksound except for my Aristo locos which have the socket that the QSI unit plugs into. 

Good luck figuring this out. 

Peter.


----------

