Bachmann Spectrum ALC-42 (Charger) - N
Information on this wiki page provides particular details about this model not found in our basic guide.
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Contents
Overview
Bachmann’s all-new DCC sound-equipped ALC-42 Charger uses Siemens Mobility’s original design documentation and authentic sound files recorded from the prototype. This model includes a TCS WOWSound® decoder with Audio Assist® for easy configuration without programming CVs, and on-board Keep-Alive® device for uninterrupted operation, even over dirty track. The WOWSound® diesel-electric locomotive sound package includes sounds for horn, bell, prime mover, air compressor, dynamic brakes, cooling fan, coupler close/release, brake release and application, and many more!
Loaded with prototypical features, the ALC-42 Charger in HO-scale from Bachmann Trains brings all the sights and sounds of Siemens' sleek new diesel-electric locomotive to your layout.
Features include:
- Siemens-approved design
- DCC sound-equipped for sound, speed, direction, and lighting control
- Dual-mode NMRA-compliant decoder operates sound, motor, and lights on DCC or DC power.
- TCS true CD-quality audio with 16-bit depth resolution at 44,100Hz
- Authentic and prototypical sounds
- Voice-guided Audio Assist® programming tool for easy set-up of almost all decoder functionality
- On-board Keep-Alive® device that keeps your engine running during power interruptions due to dirty track or loss of electrical contact
- Directional headlights with "Rule 17" dimming operation enabled by default
- Interior corridor work lights
- Directional marker lights
- Number board lights
- Steady/alternate flashing ditch lights
- TCS' industry-leading "quiet drive" Back EMF motor control for superior slow-speed performance and load compensation
- User-loadable speed table options (3-point, 28-point, and 126-point curves)
- Three select-able Throttle Modes
- Two configurable Momentum Modes
- TCS' new and exclusive Function Pagination System
- Die-cast frame
- Separately-applied windshield wipers, grab irons and other detail parts
- Realistic top speed (limited in some cases by track voltage)
Specific Features
The ALC-42 "charger" is at its heart a WOWDiesel decoder but has had some customization to make it specific to the ALC-42 Charger locomotive. The information below details where CV’s and operation differ from the standard Diesel decoder.
DC mode operation
When operating in DC mode, the ALC-42 Charger locomotive will sit still until a sufficient track voltage is present. Once the minimum voltage is met the locomotive will begin to move. A horn blast and bell will activate automatically. Users may trigger a grade crossing horn quill sound by quickly adjusting the track voltage up and back down quickly. The directional horn blasts, quill, and automatic DC mode bell are enabled by default and are controlled by the Automatic Sounds CV.
Additional Sound Features
The ALC-42 Charger locomotive features new sounds such as “Whoosh” and “station announcements” as well as new traction noises like “traction motor” and “traction motor gearbox." Listen for the whine of the traction motors as the prime mover spools up and the Charger takes off. As the locomotive climbs toward 125 MPH, the traction motors are drowned out as the noise from the gearbox hardware hums ever louder.
The ALC-42 Charger supports an "automatic bell" in DCC mode. After the locomotive starts the bell will play until the DCC mode automatic bell cutout speed step is reached. Please refer to the CV Addendum (Indexed CV's) section below for more information.
The ALC-42 Charger includes a brand new Emergency Brake air dump sound. This sound will play if a user presses the Emergency Stop button on their throttle, if the Brake button is pressed 5 times in a row, or if the decoder goes into emergency via the "Crew Alert" feature.
Notes on Lighting Features
The ALC-42 Charger, unlike the SC-44 Charger, does not feature the emergency strobe or flashing beacons; however, the emergency brake sound effect and operation is no different than on the SC-44 model.
Button Mappings
The values outlined below in the button mapping, sound list, and CV values are the defaults assigned to this particular decoder from the factory.
For information on how to program your locomotive using the values provided in the charts below, please see our Comprehensive Programming Guide, WOWDiesel V4 Programming Guide, and/or List of Standard CV's.
TCS Function Pagination System
The Bachmann Spectrum ALC-42 (Charger) - N locomotive supports TCS' new "function pagination" system. This makes it easy to access all 28 functions and all lighting effects on throttles with limited function access by adding an offset to the pressed function button (offset of +10 for function page 2; offset of +20 for function page 3). For example, to access function 15:
- Press function 8 twice to rotate through the function pages until the decoder announces "function page [two]"
- Press button 5 on your throttle/controller
- The decoder will activate function 5 + 10 (page 2 offset) = 15
Note: the decoder supports accessing functions above 9 at any time by pressing the corresponding button(s) on your throttle regardless of the currently selected function page.
If you have a command station which supports all 28 function buttons and would like to disable function pagination, this may be done by re-configuring the User Options indexed CV 4:19. For more information on the User Options indexed CV for Version 4 WOWSound Diesel decoders, please see Page 19 of the WOWSound Diesel Version 4 Complete Programming Guide. This document can be used in conjunction with the Indexed CV Addendum below.
To disable Function Pagination, set the values of the Indexed CV as follows:
- CV 201 = 4
- CV 202 = 19
- CV 203 = 144
- CV 204 = 251
| Button Mappings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Function Button | Sound Action | Light Action | Dual Enabled | Page and Button |
| 0 | None | Headlights | Yes | Page 1 Button 0 |
| 1 | Bell | Blink Ditch Lights | Yes | Page 1 Button 1 |
| 2 | Horn - Long Blast | Blink Ditch Lights | Yes | Page 1 Button 2 |
| 3 | Horn - Short Blast | Ditch Lights (on/off) | No | Page 1 Button 3 |
| 4 | Whoosh | Number Board Lights | No | Page 1 Button 4 |
| 5 | Train Brake | Strobe Light (on/off) | No | Page 1 Button 5 |
| 6 | Startup/Shutdown | Marker Lights (on/off) | No | Page 1 Button 6 |
| 7 | None | Dim Headlights | Yes | Page 1 Button 7 |
| 8 | 1x Press Mute/Unmute 2x Press rotate light/sound mode or page 4x Press Audio Assist™ |
None | Yes | Page 1 Button 8 |
| 9 | Dynamic Brake | Corridor Lights | No | Page 1 Button 9 |
| 10 | Manual Notch Up | Ditch Lights Blink | No | Page 2 Button 0 |
| 11 | Manual Notch Down | Emergency Strobe (on/off) (or with 5x brake press or with E-STOP function) | No | Page 2 Button 1 |
| 12 | Coupler Close | None | No | Page 2 Button 2 |
| 13 | Coupler Release | None | No | Page 2 Button 3 |
| 14 | Brake Release | None | No | Page 2 Button 4 |
| 15 | Traction Motor Blower | None | No | Page 2 Button 5 |
| 16 | Momentum | None | No | Page 2 Button 6 |
| 17 | Crew Alert | None | No | Page 2 Button 7 |
| 18 | 1x Press Mute/Unmute 2x Press rotate light/sound mode or page 4x Press Audio Assist™ |
None | No | Page 2 Button 8 |
| 19 | Random Whoosh (on/off) | None | No | Page 2 Button 9 |
| 20 | Grade Crossing Quill | None | No | Page 3 Button 0 |
| 21 | Forward Quill | None | No | Page 3 Button 1 |
| 22 | Reverse Quill | None | No | Page 3 Button 2 |
| 23 | Stop Horn | None | No | Page 3 Button 3 |
| 24 | Rotate Bell/Horn | None | No | Page 3 Button 4 |
| 25 | Windshield Wipers | None | No | Page 3 Button 5 |
| 26 | Station Announcements Departing | None | No | Page 3 Button 6 |
| 27 | Station Announcements Arriving | None | No | Page 3 Button 7 |
| 28 | 1x Press Mute/Unmute 2x Press rotate light/sound mode or page 4x Press Audio Assist™ |
None | No | Page 3 Button 8 |
| Random Sound Mapping | |
|---|---|
| Random Sound Generator |
Sound Played |
| 1 | Air Compressor |
| 2 | None |
| 3 | Dust Blower |
| 4 | Whoosh (When enabled with F19) |
CV Addendum (Standard CV's)
The ALC-42 Charger follows the motor and lighting CV's as described in TCS's Comprehensive Programming Guide. Listed below are the CV's that have been modified for the Charger decoder.
| CV Number | CV Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| CV3 | 6 | Acceleration |
| CV4 | 6 | Deceleration |
| CV13 | 247 | DC Mode lights |
| CV29 | 6 | Configuration CV |
| CV35 | 16 | Light output 1 mapped to F3 |
| CV36 | 16 | Light output 2 mapped to F3 |
| CV39 | 16 | Light output 3 (brown wire) mapped off of F3 |
| CV40 | 64 | Light output 4 (pink wire) mapped to F5 |
| CV41 | 64 | Brown wire mapped to F11 (Red emergency strobe) |
| CV49 | 8 | Front headlight uses Rule 17 |
| CV50 | 24 | Rear headlight uses Rule 17 |
| CV51 | 10 | Light output 1 is a Ditch light |
| CV52 | 11 | Light output 2 is a Ditch light |
| CV53 | 36 | Light output 3 (brown wire) is a single pulse strobe 1 (red emergency beacon) |
| CV54 | 27 | Light output 4 (pink wire) is single pulse strobe 2 (white strobes) |
| CV61 | 41 | Configuration CV |
| CV63 | 10 | Ditch light blink holdover time |
| CV117 | 221 | Ditch light blink rate |
| CV123 | 0 | So Rule 17 does not dim on F4 |
| CV124 | 76 | Ditch lights blink (F0-F6) on buttons 1, and 2 |
| CV140 | 255 | Increase red strobe blink rate to about 2 seconds |
| CV142 | 255 | Increase white strobe blink rate to about 2 seconds |
| CV158 | 4 | Enables Rule17 dimming on F7 |
| CV159 | 32 | Ditch lights blink (F7-12) on button 10 |
| CV182 | 134 | Disabled motor delay (motor changes speed right after throttle is changed, no delay), activate automatic control of the white strobes. |
| CV189 | 0 | Dynamic brake min speed set to 0 |
| CV190 | 10 | Rate of deceleration from Dynamic Brakes |
| CV191 | 10 | Dynamic Brake speed decrease (in speed steps) per press of the dynamic brake button |
| CV248 | 8 | Sound Set Revision Number: First Run = 8 |
CV Addendum (Indexed CV's)
The ALC-42 Charger follows the motor and lighting CV's as described in TCS's WOWDiesel Programming Guide. Listed below are the TCS Indexed CV's that have been modified for the ALC-42 Charger decoder.
[The Sound type "Air Spitter" was re-named to "Dust Blower" in Audio Assist]
[The Sound type "Sanding Valve" was re-named to "Emergency Brake" in Audio Assist]
| Indexed CV Number | Indexed CV Value (CV203,CV204) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 3 | Default to new Charger K5LA Horn |
| 9 | 0 | Charger defaults to Traditional throttle mode |
| 10 | 80 | Reduced Global Volume of decoder |
| 11 | 0 | Only one prime mover is available in the Charger decoder |
| v12 | 255,2 | Enable all DC mode automatic sounds |
| 14 | 16,15 | F0, 1, 2, and 7 dual mode enabled (active in light and sound mode) |
| 15 | 9 | Dynamic brake notch setting |
| 19 | 208,251 | "USER OPTIONS" Indexed CV - bitwise (inclusive selection):
(0)* Enable Manual Notching audio feedback sound (1)* Automatically notch down prime mover when brakes are on (2) Mute on startup/engine auto start mute if set (3)* Enable switch/mainline mode audio feedback (4)* Enable Rotate horn/bell audio feedback (5)* Enable lightmode/sound mode audio feedback (6)* Enable Audio auto shutoff timer (7)* Digitrax bit-set simulates button 2 as toggle while in A.A. mode (8) Dual Prime Movers - Set to enable (9) Prime mover notches up with dynamic brakes (10) Reverse directional horns (11) Switching mode prime mover mechanism, if set prime mover will jump notch, otherwise it will stair step (default) (12)* Mainline mode prime mover mechanism, if set prime mover will jump notch (default), otherwise it will stair step (13) Bypass corridor light timer (14)* Enable Bachmann Function Pagination (Not available in First Run models) (15)* Grade Crossing Quill sound blinks ditch lights (Not available in First Run models) Lines marked with an asterisk (*) are set by default. First-Run Charger default values: CV203 = 16; CV204 = 251 [00010000 11111011]Second-Run and later Charger default values: CV203 = 208; CV204 = 251 [11010000 11111011] (Second Run is the same as above except disables dynamic brake notching, enables Function Pagination, enables quill blink) |
| 23 | 0 | Only 1 bell available (E-bell) |
| 32 | 10 | Notch 2 speed step (traditional throttle mode) |
| 33 | 25 | Notch 3 speed step (traditional throttle mode) |
| 34 | 35 | Notch 4 speed step (traditional throttle mode) |
| 35 | 50 | Notch 5 speed step (traditional throttle mode) |
| v36 | 60 | Notch 6 speed step (traditional throttle mode) |
| 37 | 70 | Notch 7 speed step (traditional throttle mode) |
| 38 | 80 | Notch 8 speed step (traditional throttle mode) |
| 43 | 5,0 | DC Mode start voltage – Voltage at which the engine will start making noise in DC mode, the higher the value the higher the voltage |
| 44 | 5,70 | Voltage at which the DC mode bell will stop playing, the higher the value the higher the voltage threshold. |
| 45 | 15 | Speed step in DCC mode that the automatic bell will stop playing at |
| 46 | 1,144 | DC Mode motor hysteresis – When the engine starts moving in DC mode the increased current draw may cause some oscillation, if so increase the value in this CV until the oscillation goes away. If the engine is going through a power on reset try increasing Sound CV 43 (Voltage at which the Engine will power up at while in DC mode) |
| 50 | 6 | “Switching momentum” mode acceleration value |
| 51 | 6 | “Switching momentum” mode deceleration value |
| 8 | 0,7 | *NEW FEATURE* High Horn Threshold (5mph safety switch)
Speed step at which the decoder will begin playing the High-Pressure Horn. When the speed is set to below this value, the decoder will use the low-pressure horn. A value of 0 disables this feature, and the high horn will always play. A value of 1 will only play the low horn when stationary. (Valid Values = 0-126) NOTE: This feature only applies to specific horns, and does not apply to all horn sets available on this decoder. |
Demonstration
Decoder Service and Repair
For service/repair, contact the Bachmann Service Department by visiting www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/service.php, calling 1-800-356-3910 (toll-free within the U.S. and Canada), or emailing service@bachmanntrains.com. Bachmann’s Service Department is available Monday thru Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM ET.
You can also send your locomotive to: Bachmann Trains Service Department 1400 East Erie Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19124
Please include a detailed description of your concern and complete contact information. For some service issues regarding DCC sound decoders, the Bachmann Service Department may forward your locomotive to TCS for resolution.
