The decoder and speaker arrived today, and I had some time to wire things up and test it out. The good news is, the new speaker is TINY! It fits in the nose of the loco with room to spare. The bad news is, the new speaker is TINY! It produces a timid little sound totally unbefitting such a behemoth loco. For comparison I set up the larger speaker with the smallest possible sound box, just a plate over the end of the speaker. The sound is still much louder and more vibrant than the small speaker. So it looks like I'll be doing some milling on the frame to get the extra mm of clearance I need for the big one! Additionally, the AUX1 and AUX2 function outputs are in the form of ungodly small LEDs mounted directly on the decoder board itself. I'd hoped to use those outputs for the Gyralites, but the job of soldering wires in place of the SMD LEDs is pretty daunting. Are there larger solder pads hiding somewhere connected to those same outputs? My decoder has additional pads alongside the AUX3, AUX4, and common pads but I don't see them listed in the manual:
Is the larger speaker too tall? I used an 8x12 with the shortest enclosure from sbs4dcc and the sound was pretty decent. I just made sure to use enough glue (canopy) to ensure an airtight seal. Any leaks and the sound quality suffers for sure. I used aux3 and 4 for my mars lights so you can use those pads but make sure to add in the voltage drop resistors.
The larger speaker (ESU 11x15mm) with enclosure is about 1mm too tall to fit under the angled radiators on the long hood, but it sounds much better than the SBS 8x12. Luckily getting that extra mm will be a very easy milling job that even I can handle. It turns out the extra pads on the decoder are for a keep-alive, and I'll have to solder to the tiny LED pads for AUX1 and 2 after all. I'm planning on using AUX3 and 4 for number boards and UDE light.
Success! Less than an hour with a hacksaw and Dremel, and the speaker fits like it was made for the loco: Even with the shell on, it is LOUD! I'll try and get a video later tonight.
Here's a video that almost does the sound justice: The video also unintentionally showcases a flaw in my install; I need to bend the motor contacts to make better contact with the decoder board. Every now and then it revs up and goes nowhere fast. One more thing to fix while installing the lights. And speaking of the lights, I'd planned out the wiring for them, but the board throws a few wrenches in. The headlights have their own solder pads and integral resistors, which I appreciate. AUX1 and 2 also have integral resistors, but only if I can wire to both pads of the atom-sized LEDs. I suspect it'll be easier to connect a single wire to the cathode pad, and use a separate resistor on the common anode lead (a.k.a. The Blue Wire) to effectively wire the Gyralite LEDs in parallel with the existing AUX1/2 LEDs. A little extra light blocking inside the shell and no one will know there's a light show going on on the decoder
Not completely understanding the situation, but just a caution: do not use a common series resistor for multiple leds that may be operated separately (one or both leds illuminated at the same time.) When both leds are illuminated, they will be dimmer than with either led illuminated alone. Apologies in advance if I misunderstood your plan.
Every project I touch has at least one disaster, but this was a big one. I spent most of the afternoon wiring the LEDs and programming the function CVs. Unnoticed by me, the Kapton tape holding the speaker down worked itself loose as I shuffled the mechanism back and forth between the mainline and the programming track. I gave the loco a little throttle, and the speaker dropped off the back of the mechanism and landed on the track, contact-side down. The magic smoke is gone from the decoder, and I have no idea what condition the speaker is in. Oops.
Oh man, that was a bad oops. Hopefully the speaker survived and you will be able to get what you need to get back on track. I can say I have been enjoying the progress
The speaker at least will be cheap to replace if I did blow it out. I've contacted the vendor I ordered the decoder from to ask about repairs. On the bright side, testing confirms the decoder didn't take the motor or any of the LEDs out with it. So it's just a matter of waiting the turnaround time and paying the Idiot Tax to fix the parts I did wreck.
Been there! Almost the exact same thing happened to me with my first LokSound install except, when the Katpton tape released on one side, the speaker and enclosure suddenly rolled over and the contacts hit a side of the frame, also resulting in instant decoder death. ESU was gracious enough to send me a replacement though.
Shout out to SBS for helping me with my own stupidity! A little over a week after I contacted them and mailed the fried decoder back (with a full explanation of how I done messed up), the replacement arrived programmed with the same sound files and all. After verifying the new decoder works I soldered the wires to the speaker, crossed my fingers, and fired it up. The sound is still as good as ever! And to top it all off, the 0603 LEDs I ordered for the signal lights arrived at the same time, after spending an unexplained two weeks in USPS Limbo. Now I have everything I need to get this project back on track (literally). Speaking of wiring, now that I've had some practice with how the outputs on the ESU decoder work I think I'll make some changes to my wiring scheme. The decoder has dedicated +/- pads at each end for directly attaching the headlight/taillight LEDs, with on-board resistors on the + side. However, in my experience with the first decoder the warm white 0803 LEDs I'm using for headlights lit up quite dimly. I suspect my LEDs are rated for a higher voltage/current than the 3mm LEDs ESU includes; the number board LEDs, wired to AUX3 with a resistor I'd calculated to match the LED lit up much brighter. If the ESU board works like every other decoder I should be able to bypass the ESU resistors by connecting my headlights to the common terminal (a.k.a. the Blue Wire) with my own resistors.
The front lights are finished: The five LEDs are attached to a styrene bracket that clamps between the frame halves. For the common wire I used a piece of flexible PCB (in the foreground) to simplify construction. One side has the blue wire and 3 resistors for the headlight, Mars light, and UDE light soldered to it. The other side is split into 3 separate terminals that hold the other end of the resistors and the wires to the LEDs. Soldering multiple resistors onto the PCB strip is much, MUCH easier than trying to solder them directly onto the blue wire. The whole setup is just barely visible above, sandwiched between two layers of Kapton tape. (There's a LOT of Kapton tape this time around. Once burned, etc.) The number boards use a separate resistor and common wire, only because I hadn't come up with the simpler setup when I wired that one up Here's (almost) everything in action: The number board LEDs do work, but they're mapped to F13 and my little Zephyr doesn't have that many function buttons. And remapping functions on this LokSound decoder without the LokProgrammer setup requires a PhD in DCC. And on the analog side of things, the weathering is nearly complete: I might actually have this one ready for the big Columbia train show this weekend. Fingers (and toes) crossed!
Only thing that you could have done better is realized that the bloody nose paint scheme is actually just primer so you can paint it in black widow...
Still a few small weathering and paint touch-ups left to make (and I still haven't found the correct 5-chime horn ), but it's almost ready for commute service.
