Decoded ESU V4 LokSound 73199, 73100, LokPilot 54650 and Atlas S2 decoders

[jdcolombo]

Thanks John and Steve.

John, as far as your explanation of why not use the fuel tank area goes, don't you have to remove the same amount of cubic centimeters of metal regardless whether the speakers/caps are mounted on the top of the chassis or in the fuel tank?  Or is there more open-air space on the top of the chassis to begin with?

More open air space up top.  I usually don’t need to do any milling for caps in a hood diesel.  I do mill a couple of mm of depth for the speaker enclosure, but most of that sticks up above the original frame line.

John

[peteski]

Thanks woodone. Sure, ferromagnetic debris pulled in by the speaker magnet will sure cause problems. Sugar cube speaker's construction is similar to conventional speakers. if the debris stuck to the speaker "cone" then that would most certainly affect the sound.

[Steveruger45]

More open air space up top.  I usually don’t need to do any milling for caps in a hood diesel.  I do mill a couple of mm of depth for the speaker enclosure, but most of that sticks up above the original frame line.

John

+1

[Mark5]

Thanks for posting this thread @peteski  - this is great info!

Mark

[peteski]

Thanks for posting this thread @peteski  - this is great info!

Mark

I'm glad you found it useful.

[Sdynamo]

Has anyone added caps to one of these boards?  I'm working with a 54650 (LokPilot Micro) and the cap does not seem to be providing any keep alive functionality.  I've solder to the pads for stage 2 (Pink & Green areas on the diagram) and the LEDs do not stay lit when power is removed.  I've trieed several Caps / keep alive modules with no success.

[peteski]

Has anyone added caps to one of these boards?  I'm working with a 54650 (LokPilot Micro) and the cap does not seem to be providing any keep alive functionality.  I've solder to the pads for stage 2 (Pink & Green areas on the diagram) and the LEDs do not stay lit when power is removed.  I've trieed several Caps / keep alive modules with no success.

Yes, there have been installs done with a bank of caps added to that board. Some are described in few threads in this section of the forum.
Can you provide more details about exactly what you were using for caps or keep-alive modules?  What are the capacitance valuse and/or model numbers/brands of keep-alive modules?

Most modelers use a bank of capacitors with a total value of less than 1000uF. Those are more of a stay-alive caps preventing sound dropouts during very short power drops (too small of a value to keep the LEDs lit for more than fraction of a second).

If you want to attach a true (high capacitance based) keep-alive module, that should be attached to the stage 1 (red) pads.  That is the recommendation I made in the write-up.  Doing that will allow the motor to keep running, coasting through the dead spots in the track.  Keeping just the LEDs lit is a bit pointless, since at that point the loco will likely be stalled on the dead spot.

[nightmare0331]

73199 on a Kato SD70m (revised) and SD70ACe frame (same frame).

'some' modification.

But, it does fit and makes a clean install if done properly.

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Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[jdcolombo]

Nice work, Kelly.

Is the speaker an 8x12 or 9x16?  hard to tell from the photo . . .

John C.

[nightmare0331]

Nice work, Kelly.

Is the speaker an 8x12 or 9x16?  hard to tell from the photo . . .

John C.

Sobertron SP1508 8x15 with a 3d printed housing.  I tried several other speaker sizes and found this one to be the best to my liking (granted, always subjective).  The 9mm wide ones I tried made everything too tight widthwise without sanding the speaker sides/housings quite a bit.

I would have liked to make the speaker housing a bit taller, but it's a trade off... I can't machine more off the frame without going into the pocket the truck locks in, and I can't go higher without the rear headlight being visible. 

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/soberton-inc/SP-1508/433-1135-ND/6099109

As for the housings, I printed my own.

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It works pretty well.

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[jdcolombo]

How about making the speaker enclosure LONGER without additional depth?  Sort of like this one:

http://www.keystonedetails.com/keystone-customs/2016/10/10/8mm-x-12mm-soberton-speaker-enclosure-4pk-nr946

It looks like there is considerable space between the rear end of the LokSound and the current speaker enclosure.  If that frame area is "millable," you could use a longer enclosure (with the same speaker) to provide additional interior volume, which would help speaker performance.  Although . . . there are all those enclosures you've already printed . . .

Just a thought.

And I had no idea Soberton made an 8x15mm.  Hmmm.  Have to try that . . .

John C.

[nightmare0331]

How about making the speaker enclosure LONGER without additional depth?  Sort of like this one:

http://www.keystonedetails.com/keystone-customs/2016/10/10/8mm-x-12mm-soberton-speaker-enclosure-4pk-nr946

It looks like there is considerable space between the rear end of the LokSound and the current speaker enclosure.  If that frame area is "millable," you could use a longer enclosure (with the same speaker) to provide additional interior volume, which would help speaker performance.  Although . . . there are all those enclosures you've already printed . . .

Just a thought.

And I had no idea Soberton made an 8x15mm.  Hmmm.  Have to try that . . .

John C.

That's certainly an idea on the housing.  If I have a bit of time, I'll mess with that a bit and see if it makes an appreciable difference.

As for all those already printed, filament is cheap if something better comes along. 

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[jdcolombo]

Don't know what the interior volume is of the enclosure you have, but I've found that something around 750 cubic mm is a sort of sweet spot for a 9x16 or 11x15.  The 8x15 probably falls closer to these than the 8x12, which can survive pretty well with a smaller enclosure.  The larger interior volume usually results in a bit better low-midrange extension, and some improvement in overall frequency response smoothness with less distortion at higher output levels.  But I've never run tests on the 8x15mm size.

John C.

[peteski]

Looking good Kelley! Do you mill the frames yourself too, or have them sent out to be machined?

[tehachapifan]

Now, that's a fleet!