I received 3 PSX breakers and a PSX-AR and along with Sonalert buzzers. Problem is there are no instructions how to fasten the Sonalerts to the PSX boards. The pins fit as they should but they are very loose. They just slide in and come out. Am I missingsomething here? Thnx all.
Tophias,
The Sonalerts are intended to be soldered to the PSX boards.
Well that certainly explains it. So now I must ask, does it get soldered on the backside of the board? As you can tell I’m not savvy about soldering on boards.
Yes. Make sure you put it in the cirrect way. THere should be a + and/or - marking on the buzzer, according to the PSX manual the + side goes in the hole with the square pad. If you need to, put something under the buzzer ro make sure it is pressed tight against the board while sodlering - it’s ahrd to hold it, the iron, and the solder all at the same time You need a small iron with a fine tip for this sort of work, 25-40 watt iron, not much more, and definitely NOT a big soldering gun. It’s not hard with a little practice, but if you hold the iron in place too long you can damage the Sonalert device and/or the board.
Unless the unit is controlling hidden track, I don’t much see the point of the buzzer - the train that is sitting there suddenly stopped is a pretty good indication that there has been a short and the PSX has tripped. If it’s controlling hidden trackage and you can;t see the train moving anyway, it makes sense to have the PSX beep.
–Randy
Thanks Randy. 2 districts are hidden, staging yard and helix. I guess I’m just used to my Digitrax super chief command station sounding it’s 3 beeps when there is a short So I wanted to continue with something audible to differentiate from just a stalled engine. Whereas the 4 boards are already mounted and wired on a mounting board ready to do under the layout to convert from 1district (super chief) I think I’ll go ahead without the so alerts and see how things go. If I de ide to use them I can remove the whole board, remove each PSX and do the soldering
Stevert and Randy, thanks as always for your advise. I decided to go ahead and install the buzzers after all. With the assistance of my “helping hands” jig it went quite well and quick. I like the buzzers, at least in testing each board. Not too loud and now I’ll know whether it’s a short or a momentary stall. Does it really matter, time will tell. But for 20 minutes time and $4 each (X 4 circuits) not a huge investment. plus now I’m an experienced board solderer!