I converted a 3rd F-M Erie Built to DCC with LokSound Select decoders and thought I’d post a few project pictures and a video for any interested. I blew it on the project pics as I wiped my camera card to take the video and I had not moved the work in progress pics to my pc. So I opened the newest conversion to get a lone shot of the completed (2nd) A unit shown below.
The Select is the 6Aux version, hard wired in. The headlight is a 3mm warm white LED with 1k reistor. The speakers are a quad set (for 8 ohms) of 13x18mm Knowles Grands (recently discontinued) in a 0.040" styrene box (9mm height).
The sound file is the F-M 6 cylinder 38D. The Erie Builts had a 38D-10, which I assume is a 10 cylinder version? A neat feature of this sound file is a random cold start failure, which if occurring, then begins a 2nd start which succeeds. And the diesel (prime mover) sound slot playback speed CVs are adjusted slightly so the 3 units do not stay in sync, presumeably making more distinctive (vs unison) sounds at a given time. I have the sound CVs turned down a bit, still a bit too loud at idle, but these units when rev’d up and running do not increase sound volume (compared to idle) as much as most other type Select equipped locos I have. But they are fun to play with.
The video is a bit long, partly due to the length of time taken to start the 3 A-B-A units up sequentially (the B unit shows the cold start failure feature). And the video is apologetically shaky, plus seems to have some wind type noise I haven’t figured out (maybe my breathing near the camera mic?). So, for what it’s worth if you take a look.
One learning on this 3rd unit concerned properly setting the wheel gauge with the NMRA gauge. Not surprisingly, some of wheels could be turned too easily against its gear. Whether cracked gears or just loose fitting, it needed attention. I did not expect to find these ge