[SmallHaul]

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Scott, excavators generally operate with the throttle set to the optimum rated engine speed for the best hydraulic performance. Since everything on an excavator is hydraulically driven, including the tracks and swing motor, there really isn't any need for the engine to idle down, unless the operator wants to run it slower for more precise operations that don't require a lot of hydraulic force and speed, like laying pipe or something similar.

The way that I would mix the sound on a model would be with the pump motor channel, or on a separate channel with a toggle switch or knob, so the engine speed could be controlled by the operator. Simply put, if the pump is running, the engine sound should be at an elevated RPM.

This could get a little tricky if you are one of the guys who likes to mix the pump speed with the valves and stick movement, throttling back the pump motor to conserve power when you aren't using the hydraulic functions. If the sound unit is mixed to the pump motor, then the engine RPMs would fall off when the hydraulic sticks are in neutral, which may not be as realistic. Having the sound mixed to a separate channel would allow the operator to have direct control over the engine RPM, and yet the pump can go idle when the sticks are at neutral (in example when you swing the base but don't need to position the boom, stick, or bucket) and the machine will still sound right. Likewise, when using the tracks and traveling.

Putting the sound control on a knob for an excavator seems like a good idea, i'll have to try that on the next machine. Thanks Nathan.