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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Oct 11, 2019 18:04:55 GMT -8
In a moment of monumental tightwadism I decided to add a dcc ready SD40-T2 to my two sound units. Later, I decided to add a Loksound 5 unit to it. That has led to some interesting and fun things, designed and made my own speaker box with my 3d printer and wired it to the electronic board. I nearly totally disassembled the shell to strip the paint, 90% alchohol does a great job.
But I digress: a couple of questions regarding the sound installation come up in my mind..
1: An online youtube from soundtraxx shows wiring the speaker wires to the S+ and S- pads on the factory board. I did so with little issue, but the new Loksound #58429 LokSound 5 DCC Decoder 21MTC "Generic Sound" decoder has 2 brown wires that are shown in the package insert to be for speaker(s), with the Speaker wired to the factory board should the brown wires be disregarded? Cut down?
2: Scaletrains insert says the factory sound units have Power Pak, keepalive, function on the board, does this exist on the dcc ready board?
3: Is there either a Scaletrains or Loksound page that describes installing the unit? My inset seems to lack a whole lot of information on doing it besides the DIP pin feature.
4: Why would you ever want to go through all the trouble when the sound unit is readily available....I guess to pretend not to be a solely open the box and plug it in guy.
Thanks for any answers.
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amsnick
New Member
Home of Dcoder Buddy
Posts: 15 
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Post by amsnick on Oct 14, 2019 3:43:28 GMT -8
Hi Karl, If you haven’t started the process, I think my Decoder Buddy V5 will make your installation of the 21-pin V5 pretty straightforward. Labeled pads for all the soldering etc. nick@nixtrainz.com for any questions. www.nixtrainz.com |
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Oct 14, 2019 5:04:21 GMT -8
Thanks Nick, I've a couple of your boards here for other projects, the Scaletrains has a plug and play setup for adding the 21 pin board, my only real question is if you disregard the brown speaker wires on the V5 decoder.
I am excited to try the Decoder Buddy soon.
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Post by canrailfan on Oct 14, 2019 6:18:18 GMT -8
Hi Karl,
The pin-out for the Loksound 5 DCC 21MTC decoder (58429) shows the speaker outputs on pins 9 and 10 of the connector. These are right next to the index/missing pin.
Check for continuity between these pins and the Speaker connections on the Scaletrains motherboard. If you have continuity then plug in the decoder, connect your speaker to the motherboard and test the unit. If everything works then you can safely clip off the brown leads.
Hope this helps.
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Oct 14, 2019 6:33:38 GMT -8
Thank you. George from Soundtraxx’s video putting a Tsunami in a ST SD40 shows him connecting a speaker to the S+ and S- pads on the SCALETRAINS board. I’ll check as you suggest before cutting or powering up.
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Post by Mark R. on Oct 14, 2019 9:56:21 GMT -8
ESU provides the brown wires in case speaker pads aren't readily available in your installation. In your case, you can remove the brown wires and solder to the mother board.
Mark.
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Oct 14, 2019 14:43:27 GMT -8
ESU provides the brown wires in case speaker pads aren't readily available in your installation. In your case, you can remove the brown wires and solder to the mother board. Mark. Mark, Thank you! I had pretty well figured that but not beyond a shadow of doubt. |
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Nov 7, 2019 4:22:01 GMT -8
ESU provides the brown wires in case speaker pads aren't readily available in your installation. In your case, you can remove the brown wires and solder to the mother board. Mark. Mark, Thank you! I had pretty well figured that but not beyond a shadow of doubt. An email from Scaletrains a few days after this thread confirmed that the speakers are wired to the board and the brown wires can be removed as Mark said. |
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Post by bnsf971 on Nov 7, 2019 5:32:25 GMT -8
Mark, Thank you! I had pretty well figured that but not beyond a shadow of doubt. An email from Scaletrains a few days after this thread confirmed that the speakers are wired to the board and the brown wires can be removed as Mark said. Karl, if you have good eyes (or an optivisor), the speaker pads on the board are marked with an “S+” and “S-“. If you’re only using one speaker, polarity isn’t that important. |
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Post by riogrande on Nov 7, 2019 7:11:04 GMT -8
What speaker(s) are you using? I think the ST tunnel motors come with cube speakers s a cube type speaker can be used. Some, who didn't like the quality of sound from the factory installed speakers replaced them with iPhone speakers, which can be had for a few dollars each. I ordered a 4 pack to have on hand.
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Nov 7, 2019 13:44:20 GMT -8
I’m using a pair of 16mm X 9mm X 3mm speakers I picked up from Digikey a few months ago. <$2.50 each. I have them mounted in a custom 3D printed enclosure mounted in the area the factory speakers should be mounted in. They are wired in parallel and yes the soldering pads were easy to find.
With other projects in the bench I’ve not tested them.
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Nov 9, 2019 17:36:50 GMT -8
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Post by Mark R. on Nov 9, 2019 17:57:30 GMT -8
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Nov 9, 2019 18:18:28 GMT -8
OK
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Post by nebrzephyr on Nov 10, 2019 7:00:56 GMT -8
Thanks guys for the specs on speakers.
Bob
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