Locomotive Address; Turn On The Sound - Rapido Trains FL9 Manuallines

for download on the FL9 page in the Support section of our web site.
WARNING: If you have purchased a sound-equipped FL9 and you operate your trains
with a Model Rectifier Corporation RailPower 1300 DC controller, stop what you are do-
ing immediately. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. The RailPower 1300 is notorious
for voltage spikes and it WILL destroy your locomotive. There is no "if" about it. We will
not repair any FL9 destroyed by a 1300 or any other "train set" DC controller. "Train
set" DC controllers should not be used with sound-equipped locomotives.

LOCOMOTIVE ADDRESS

Your Rapido FL9 comes from the factory with a decoder address of 3. We suggest if
you are using DCC control that you first test that the locomotive responds on address 3.
Once you have verified that the locomotive is responding you should assign it a unique
address (we suggest the road number of the locomotive) before going any further. This
can be done either on your programming track (recommended) or on the main if your
system supports programming on the main. Be aware however that if you do program
the locomotive on the main and you have any other locomotives on your layout assigned
to address 3 (the normal default address for new locomotives) that ALL of them will likely
also be changed to your new address!

TURN ON THE SOUND

Press F8. Your locomotive will start up. If you press F8 when the locomotive is already
moving, it will skip the startup and the sound will just turn on. Press F8 again to turn the
sound off.
Note that if you are listening to your FL9 idling nicely and then you select another en-
gine with your controller, your FL9 still thinks F8 is pressed so it will keep idling along.
However, if you then select your FL9 again or someone else selects your locomotive's
number on his or her controller, the controller "forgets" that F8 was pressed and the FL9
will promptly shut down. You or he or she will need to press F8 again.
We're still using "he or she." We really hope the three female New Haven model rail-
roaders in the world appreciate it and will consequently buy even more Rapido stuff.
We're talking about you, Kathy.
You can change some CV settings to have the prime mover always on, but we caution
that having your entire locomotive fleet rumbling away at one time is both a drain on
your power and on your sanity. To make your FL9 "always on," use a programming
track (or LokProgrammer) and input the following (in order):
CV31=16, CV32=2, CV387=32
If you are operating with sound on a DC layout, the sounds won't come on until the volt-
age is up around seven volts or more. This is normal.
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