Interesting Post on ESU Facebook Group for Kato F units (and F40PH) DropIn Board

[EspeeGoldenState]

A poster has seem to come up with a drop in board for Kato F units and accepts a Next18 decoder and is sound ready.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1845287662452221/?post_id=2584026888578291

"Nolan Deardorf - Testing has started on a project that I've been working on for a while. I've designed a drop-in adapter board for Kato's N Scale F-units and F40's that allows the user to plug in the Next18 decoder of their choice for a clean and simple DCC (and sound) conversion. The adapter has solder pads for a speaker connection and supports wiring LED's to all outputs offered on ESU V5 decoders (F0f through Aux7), as well as a constant power LED connection from U+ to GND (LED-). That's a total of 10 available connections for LED's. More details to come..."

Chris

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Wow, this is really nice! It's something I have been saying we have needed for a while.

Do they have a website?

[greenwizard88]

This is absolutely something that I've wanted/needed for a while. I don't have the time to help test, but I'll definitely look into buying once they're being produced.

[EspeeGoldenState]

Wow, this is really nice! It's something I have been saying we have needed for a while.

Do they have a website?

Doesn't seem so. He did just create a Facebook Group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/303892077378914/

Chris

[peteski]

Doesn't seem so. He did just create a Facebook Group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/303892077378914/

Chris

Too bad. Some of us avoid FB.

[skent]

I thought this was really interesting as well, but I got disappointed by the fact that he was going to require that we also purchase a decoder with each board because I've got so many of them already...

I decided that I'd try to create my own version of this design and ended up really liking what I came up with so I decided to share the project with Wutter.   I went ahead and made a small run of ~250 units on my pick and place machine and we are selling them on Wutter's eBay here:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/254742082727?ViewItem=&item=254742082727     

You can find a video of me assembling these boards on my YouTube channel here:

Every board gets individually inspected and tested before being sold, so you can rest assured that you are receiving the highest quality product from Wutter and I!

For reference, in the picture attached you can see the first bench test of this design using a LokProgrammer.  Here is a video showing the design functioning:

.

Please excuse the wild LED and speaker wiring as this video is just showing the initial power-on testing of functionality.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

-Shane

[EL3632]

I went ahead and made a small run of ~250 units

If these do well, would you make more? I alone could use 25 or so of these to convert my Kato F units, E units, PA, F40s, and P42s.

[Wutter]

If these do well, would you make more? I alone could use 25 or so of these to convert my Kato F units, E units, PA, F40s, and P42s.

Yes, we can make more depending on how this first batch sells. As a quick note, it will NOT fit in a E8 with the Loksound because the roof is lower than F units. Maybe it will fit with some interior roof grinding. The Lokpilot fits in the E8 without any modification because the components on the top are shorter.

No data on if it will fit in a PA yet. F units (with the interior roof nub removal), F40PH and P42 are the only confirmed locomotives so far.

[Mark5]

I hope these will work for SDP40F

The listing (https://www.ebay.com/itm/254723823646) says it works for these decoders:

LokSound DCC - 58820, 58821, 58823

LokSound Multiprotocol - 58810, 58813, 58814, 58816

LokPilot DCC - 59824

LokPilot Multiprotocol - 59814

Do I understand correctly that I would need a LokProgrammer to add the correct sounds to these decoders?

Thanks!

Mark

[reinhardtjh]

Do I understand correctly that I would need a LokProgrammer to add the correct sounds to these decoders?

Mark,

  You would either need a LokSound programmer to load the sound files, or if you knew beforehand, most ESU dealers/hobby shops can do it.  I know Bryan at Streamlined Backshops will.  I'm not sure if Yankee Dabbler will.  Pretty sure Tony's Trains will.  If you have a local shop that is an ESU dealer you can check with them.

[reinhardtjh]

I thought this was really interesting as well, but I got disappointed by the fact that he was going to require that we also purchase a decoder with each board because I've got so many of them already...

That bothered me as well.  But I think it was because he couldn't source the Next18 socket and was hand removing them from the ESU decoder wires and attaching it to his board.

How did you manage to source them (the Next18 sockets) so quickly?

Also, was it possible to create solder points for capacitors and/or a keepalive device such as a TCS or ESU or are those only really available on the decoder board itself?

[Wutter]

I hope these will work for SDP40F

Do I understand correctly that I would need a LokProgrammer to add the correct sounds to these decoders?

These will not work for SDP40F, its a completely different board shape, but if there is enough interest we can take a look at making a different adapter that would fit. The issue is that board shape is only used in SDP40F, ACS-64 and Ge 4/4 II and Ge 4/4 III. Out of those I think only the SDP40F and ACS-64 have enough room for a Loksound and a speaker+enclosure.

You don't need the LokProgrammer as you can purchase a Loksound decoder with the sound file preloaded from Bryan at Streamlined Backshop SBS4DCC (my preferred DCC shop). Not sponsored in any way, just a happy customer.

But I will recommend that its much much easier to set up functions, buttons and sounds with the LokProgrammer instead of looking through the hundreds of CVs in the Loksound manual.

[skent]

How did you manage to source them (the Next18 sockets) so quickly?

I spend most of my time working on small and tightly integrated electrical designs for various clients of mine so I've gotten familiar with how to quickly source unique components like these.   Some of my connections on the East Coast were able to source a few reels of these connectors just sitting on a shelf, so that made things easy

Also, was it possible to create solder points for capacitors and/or a keepalive device such as a TCS or ESU or are those only really available on the decoder board itself?

Yes!   This design has dedicated solder pads for U+ and GND so that you can very easily add keep-alive circuits onto this design as needed.

-S

[John]

What decoders would work the for the F40PH and the P42s?

[nightmare0331]

I thought this was really interesting as well, but I got disappointed by the fact that he was going to require that we also purchase a decoder with each board because I've got so many of them already...

I decided that I'd try to create my own version of this design and ended up really liking what I came up with so I decided to share the project with Wutter.   I went ahead and made a small run of ~250 units on my pick and place machine and we are selling them on Wutter's eBay here:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/254723823646     

You can find a video of me assembling these boards on my YouTube channel here:

Every board gets individually inspected and tested before being sold, so you can rest assured that you are receiving the highest quality product from Wutter and I!

For reference, in the picture attached you can see the first bench test of this design using a LokProgrammer.  Here is a video showing the design functioning:

.

Please excuse the wild LED and speaker wiring as this video is just showing the initial power-on testing of functionality.

(Attachment Link)

-Shane

That's amazing Shane!

One of the reasons I resisted ordering one of the first type was that I had to buy a decoder from them (That's a no go...I get OEM pricing on ESU products...interesting the comment down later about needing the socket and soldering in place being a possible reason).

I'm working on several hundred F units currently and while I'm not sure this board would actually help me out with what I'm doing, it would definitely help the home installer out...especially those who want to add anything easily besides the forward LED for lighting effects.

I always love to see innovation. 

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com