Seach results were few on the topic of crossing bell sounds.
The circuitron offering is IMO overkill in size aside from being mechanical and pricey. And Dallee has apparently stopped making the plus-$100 current sensing unit with bell sound based on only one left in stock dubbed “last one”.
Anyone know of a source or sources for digital bell sound units to pair with cross buck signals?
Check this site. I have a few of his circuits and they work as advertised.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/CircuitIndex.html#Signals
I used a home type doorbell a number of years ago from a hardware store. A little dome type with a hammer pulled my an electromagnet. Cheap enough. It is circuit 9.
Rich
I have been using the ITT sound board from George Solovay. Not long ago I noticed that he had upgraded the sound file and I asked if he would upgrade mine if I send it to him.
George sent me a whole new board (GL 300-1) without charge! Great service. The new bell sounds are clearer with less background noise.
http://ittproducts.com/GL.html
Mine is wired to a trigger off the Grade Crossing Pro from Logic-Rail but there are pretty decent photocell or IR detectors found on Ebay.
Hope that helps, Ed
ED,
Sure is a small World…I was in the same unit, HDQTRS Btry 6BN 32nd 8’’ self-propelled arty Tuy Hoa Vietnam 1967 with George Solovay…Radio Teletype operator/Repair/Team Chief…He was the Senior Repairman. Very likeable and intelligent guy. Spent a lot of great moments there with Him. I will have to get in touch with Him…I’m sure He will remember.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
I’ve used several kits from Bakatronics and they work very good. They have a “small bell” sound module but not a description, could be a ding dong bell.
http://www.bakatronics.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=567
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
A friend gave me a REAL one. It operates on 12 volts, so I hooked it up to my Rob Paisley (Cogeco) grade crossing circuit. To my amazement, it worked. I took it off, because first of all it’s kind of loud, and second I didn’t know how much current it would draw and didn’t want to burn out the board. One day, I’ll get a relay and a power supply just to have it for laughs.
i can imagine that sound driving me into divorce court. Not and has mention what the dog would do
The Circuitron is big because if it were smaller, it would soundliek one of those “attention” bells on sales counters - ie, not very much like an actual grade crossing bell. Size matters which audio. Electronic ones can be good - you can even use one of many small MP3 player circuits - they hold a few secodns of sound, not your entire music library - and store recording of a real one. The synthesized ones are a distant third in quality.
–Randy
Thanks for the suggestions. At least I know there ARE options available. Having read some to the site offerings I’m leaning hard toward digital sound where the volume can be more easily adjusted vs. a mechanical bell thumped with a solenoid core.
That’s amazing, Frank. I hope you and George get a chance to chat over old times!
Regards, Ed
The wife has already started that procedure! I’ll end up on my feet and I’ll love building another railroad, but this one is almost at the end of the line.
It had nothing to do with a crossing signal, rather another kind of “belle.”
Just a follow up with my decision, which was the ITT GS 300-1 bell module paired with a 8 ohm 2" speaker also from ITT.
I found a 2-pack 120 VAC wall plug in w/regulated 2 amp 12 VDC output power supply on Amazon for $12 to power the bell and crossbuck LED flashers. These power supplies come with a banana plug adapter to provide a screw terminal connection for the DC output … and the adapters screw connections are marked + and -.
After a lot of debate with myself (grin) I opted for ‘keep it simple’ DPDT toggle switch actuation for the (3) road crossing signals and bell modules for my layout which is my in-progress last build.
Two of the signals are within 4 feet of each other that would have cost a bundle for bi-directional current sensing control where, at my age (77), longevity is a factor relative to want and need in terms of cost. Plus, it’s just me running the layout with only rare visits by my great grand kids to “see the trains run”.
As for ITT sound modules, I browsed through the massive list of sample sounds available, with some of them really hilarious if you’ve never visited the website…
Whatever system you use for the bell, be sure to include a “kill” switch, especially if it’s possible a train might stop blocking the road. That ‘ding ding ding ding ding ding’ can get annoying pretty quickly.