My next project after i finish my Bachman 2-6-6-2 DCC sound
conversion will be an older Athearn Uboat
I found this thread with some photos of a 40-2 conversion but are there any others
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/144152/1601766.aspx
My first thoughts are to make a dummy loco the sound unit
and put the decoder in the powered unit
My question is why? There is plenty of room in there for a motor and sound decoder…
David B
A good 1/2" by 1" oval speaker packs plenty of wallop and fits in most any engine.
Well I found out if it take the thick plastic glass out of the cab a high bass circular baffle will fit
inside the cab of the dummy
Pointed down
or pointed horizontally
down the length of the shell
Though I’ve been gradually getting rid of my old Athearn blue box units, I have a U33B (SCL) that I bought new some years back. Its had almost no running time. I’ve decided to weather and detail the body, keep it powered, install LED lighting, and install a Lok Sound unit with a high bass speaker using the method recommended by CMarchand. I’m going to drop in a spare motor that came out of a P2K SD45 that, fortunately, has a low current draw.
Nice thing about the old Athearn U-boats is that due to the radiator housing structure, the excess hood width is not as noticeable as it is on the Blue Box EMD hood units.
Ok i give up who is CMarchland
I see Loc Sound makes 2 decoders for this loco
And several for the later dash series
| 72845 | GE FDL-16, 16 cylinders, with turbo charger, 2chime air horn |
|---|
Hi C&O,
CMarchand is a fellow forum member whom is also a good friend of mine. Below is one of his threads:
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/80499/1300038.aspx#1300038
He’s been in the electronics field as a career for over 30 years and is a well known DCC expert here in the Tampa Bay area. Just drop him a PM if you have any questions. He installed the LokSound system in my Genesis SD45-2. The sound is great and the motor control smooth.
I"ve only heard the Diesel Tsunami GE U-Boat on YouTube, but I was impressed. Especially since the famous “chug-chug” throb of the prime mover was quite audible. I’m considering getting a Tsunami for my Genesis FP45.
Unfortunately, in my case, the Diesel Tsunami doesn’t come with the appropriate horn for the Seaboard Coast Line U-Boats, which for me is important. Carl took a prototype sound sample of a Leslie RS5T-RR0 horn, carefully edited it and uploaded into my SD45-2. The surprised looks on peoples faces when I actuated the horn with an NCE controller at a club one day said it all. [8D][tup]
While waiting for the decoder to show up i changed the lighting from the old
huge athearn bulb to a pair of grain of wheat bulbs
one for the lower hood and one for the upper lights and number boards
and as you can see the cab remains dark
This would actually be a good fiber optic application
time will tell if the bulbs melt the plastic
I just tucked the upper bulb under the plastic lense insert
then taped it in place
NIce going C&O. You got rid of the traditional “Engine crew getting fried in the cab” look that’s been synonomous with Athearn Blue Box units for decades [:o)][:P][;)][8D].
Yesterday I spent some time wiring up an 8 pin receptacle
like this
http://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/product.php?productid=999002983&cat=174&page=1
So that when i get the decoder i should be able to just plug it in
Now I have to figure out where i can place a speaker
Here is a sound sample for the Tsunami
For this loco
http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=dp7
If you use LEDs instead of grain-of-wheat bulbs, you will not have to worry about melting the plastic. You will also get a lower current draw, effectively infinite life, and a more powerful straight-ahead beam of light.
I’ve just put a Tsunami into a Proto GP-9. I’m really happy with it.
Well all that is true but i didn’t have any LEDs but i did have some 16 volt bulbs
and i also didn’t have any resistors and am not sure which ones the Tsunami uses
No ifs, ands, buts, or “ho-hums” about it…That’s a chugging GE U-Boat! [8D][tup] That brought back some fond memories. Thanks for the link C&O. Nice job, Soundtraxx!
Regarding LEDs: Minatronics Yeloglo White (Ultrabright 3mm): Part # 12-310-05 Cost $7.95 Comes with 5 LEDs and appropriate resistors.
Neither of the two values of resistors the Yeloglo LEDs come with are appropriate for DCC. Use 1K ohm. I use the Yeloglo LEDs exclusively, and by the time I am done converting my locos I will have a small bundle of those resistors they supply.
–Randy
Good to know Thanks Randy
I wrapped the wires with some painters tape to clean up the mess a bit
I Drilled 2 holes and cut 2 notches for the wires to slide into the holes on both locos to connect the speaker in the dummy engine to the speaker in the powered loco
After sliding the wires in the notches to the holes when the body is placed back on the frame the coupler pocket closes the end of the notch trapping the wire in place
I used Micro connectors for the wires but would have had to Drill really big holes for them to pass thru
The notches are just slightly bigger than the wire and don’t look too bad
Sorry the picture is blurry but you can see the holes and the slots run from the opening for the coupler pocket over to the hole
once in place The wires don’t look too bad
Here a view from the side
Finished the install and shot a short video of lash up
the sound coming from the dummy loco is just different enough to make it sound like 2 different
locos
I used a High base 1 inch circular speaker in a round inclosure in the dummy
pointed down the length of the shell front to back
The powered loco has a smaller rectangle speaker pointed down from the top of the shell at the back end of the shell
You can see the number boards are lit but the cab is still dark
Those V16s must have pistons the size of garbage cans to make a chugging sound like that
After I shot the video I increased the momentum to make the engine rev up a little more before the loco moves
GE prime mover nomenclature doesn’t lend itself to easily telling the physical size of the diesel (neither does EMD’s new one), but EMD’s old one was easy - 645-series is 645 cubic inches PER CYLINDER. Somewhere I still have the issue of Car adn Driver from the 80’s where they did a ‘road test’ on a GP50 and explained the displacement and horespower in terms of how many Corvettes it was. Big engines liek that are just amazing. Now, where’s that Youtube video of the GE throwing a rod… look that one up, it’s pretty impressive.
–Randy
When doing some research on which decoder to buy
I found this