Well first off, let me say I picked her up last night at the LHS and boy is she a fine engine! I got the Pere Marquette 1236 without sound. Man that headlight is bright! Runs as good as it looks, too, absolutely no motor noise. Also got the new Atlas Trainman PM caboose to go with it. Now for my question, would it be fairly easy to install sound in this beast. I know they make a sound version, but it’s $100 dollars more and after hearing the sound another P2K Berk, I don’t think QSI did that great of a job. It sounds like an NKP Berk, not a PM (which is fine because as one would imagine most people want a Nickel Plate 2-8-4, not a PM). I’ve been seriously looking into buying a Soundtraxx Tsunami for this engine, either the Medium or Heavy steam version. Would this be a big challenge? I’ve never installed sound before, nore do I know wiring that well. I would gladly pay to have someone else put it in for me but if it’s not too hard I’d like to try my hand at it. Your thoughts?
The tender should be wired for a decoder, and may even have a cutout for the speaker in the floor. A Heavy Steam Tsunami would be a good choice for this engine, but if I were you I would take a look at the tender innards first and see if there is a DCC socket and speaker cutout.
You need to also be aware that a Tsunami decoder comes with a solder-in wiring harness, so if you want to do a simple plug-n-play installation, you should also pick up a short wiring harness with the NMRA plug on one end and a JST plug on the other. You can remove the JST harness that is on the Tsunami and plug the new harness in.
Jonathon,
If you don’t want to do the sound install yourself, talk to Tim Smith @ Empire Northern Models. Tim does VERY good work and is quite knowledgeable about installs and DCC. Tim is out the rest of the week because of a show but should be back in on Monday, the 13th. Here’s his web site link:
Bruce Petrarca @ Litchfield Staion would also be a very good choice. Here’s an example of an installation that Bruce did on a Proto 2000 2-8-8-2:
Proto 2000 2-8-8-2
Hope that’s a help…
Tom
It IS a beautiful model.I bought a painted/unlettered model,lettered it for NYC and had Tony’s Train Xchange install a Tsunami sound decoder…FANTASTIC!
The Tsunami is easy to install if you have any mechanical and soldering ability. I have installed three of them and the instructions are very clear and detailed.
The P2K Berkshires are very nice indeed. I purchased the new NKP 772 with sound installed, but I don’t like the whistle. It runs like a jeweled watch and is very detailed.
That could be a problem. I don’t have a soldering iron nor do I have any desire to learn how to solder (atleast not for a long while). It looks like a pretty straight forward install in the package that the decoder’s in. Why can’t it just be as simple as plug and play? What would be the steps in installing sound in this engine?
It could be plug and play if the six wire connector is installed between the engine and tender. My engine has this since it had sound installed, but you mentioned yours was without sound.
The Tsunami can accept one of the plugs at the end, but it still must have the wires for the speaker soldered onto the speaker. That is about as simple as it gets, but if you don’t have the tools, better have it installed. Most of the non sound models do not have the six pin connector between the engine and tender.
It does have a plug that goes from the engine to the tender. Is that it?
Is that a 6 pin connector plug? If it is a 6 pin connector, they might actually have a plug and play connector in the tender. If it is a 2 pin connector, it probably is for the back up light.
My PK2 Berkshire came with sound and a six pin connector is standard for most all DCC installations from the factory. The two outside pins are for the track voltage and are normally red and black color coded at least inside the tender. The two inside pins are for the headlight and the other two pins are for the motor drive in a normal configuration.
The colors and functions below are for the Tsunami, but most other pre-wired use the Red and Black with some variations on the motor drive and headlight colors./
Pin 1 = RED right hand track side
Pen 2= Orange + Motor Drive
Pin 3 = White Headlight Install a 680 Ohm Resistor
Pin 4 = Blue Headlight return
Pin 5 = Gray - Motor return
Just checked the engine, it does have 6 wires running from the cab which plug into a socket on the tender (like the earliar run of DCC ready Berkshires and most DCC ready steamers). I don’t think the DCC & Sound models and DCC ready models differ much except for the sound of course. What do you think?
Zephyr? You there?
Sorry about now seeing your question. I now have two of the Berkshires, but both came with the sound installed. The P2K use QSI, which is not bad overall, but does not compare to the Tsunami. You can plug in any of the QSI chips into the socket from any of the other QSI locomotives. I have tried some of the chips with better whistles and all of them work, but you lose some functions like the mars light is you don’t have a chip with that function. The USRA light mike has a great whistle that I prefer over the QSI installed sound chip for the NKP whistle.
The fact it has the six wire connector is a great sign that you will be able to do the installation.
You need to look inside the tender now to see how it is terminated. If it has a small board and the pins for your DCC to plug in, go for it. The Tsunami has leads only, but some have described it can accept the standard wire harnest.
Check with Tony’s Trains by email on what harness you will need. He also sells the Tsunami for a great price. That is where I purchase my units.
He is good about anwering questions and gives a good discount on the Decoders also.
email address info@tonystrains.com
Web site http://www.tonystrains.com/
Will do. In seeing what you said, is it possible to order QSI decoders seperate yet? I do like the whistle on the USRA Light 2-8-2 a lot…
I don’t know about ordering the QSI as a separate sound system. I have the USRA light mike and switching the chips is easy to test for the sounds. .
The following is on the QSI web page. They do offer a decoder, but it sounds like a compact sized model. I have not seen any of their sound modules except those installed in Atlas, BLI, Lionel and P2K models.
QSI Quantum upgrade and aftermarket products will include:
- Chip Upgrades for all factory installed Quantum sound systems in Atlas, Life Like, BLI, and Lionel HO locomotives. The upgrade chips are easily installed and include many new features and improvements including Regulated Throttle Control, new CV’s and improved DCC operation, Downloadable Software and Analog QARC technology.
- Quantum Interface Controller (QICTM), which interfaces between your PC and a program track, which allows downloading software and new future sounds directly from your PC and from the QSI website directly into an upgraded Quantum Sound System without disassembling your locomotive.
- Aftermarket, compact sized Sound Decoders suitable for non-sound locomotives.
As near as I know, there are no QSI user-installable decoders available yet. A couple of different companies have been selected to be a QSI after-market sound decoder distributor over the past year or so, but so far no decoders have been available. That’s why I recommended a Tsunami.
Take a look as it can be a challenge at times but the Berkshire tender makes a perfect baffle/housing for a speaker.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php?cat=1202
Fergie
my goodness that berkshire tender is huge !
here’s my install of a tsunami that i crammed into a bachmann spectrum 4-6-0 short tender
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/738146/ShowPost.aspx
i had to remove bachmann’s ‘dcc ready’ board to make room so i had to do a bunch of soldering . with the space in the berk’s tender that shouldn’t be neccesary
soldering is a required skill , don’t forget you’re going to have to solder all those feeder wires from your DCC buss to your track . might as well learn now . practice on some spare wire before you work on the decoder
Haha nope. Atlas feeder tracks with wires installed, then screw them on to the terminals and run the wires to the pack. No soldering here. End of story, that’s enough about soldering. Well after mulling it over I may just have a friend install it instead. Either way I’m sure it’ll sound great when it’s done!