Breaking the Sound Barrier (ESU)

[RBrodzinsky]

I discussed this in the thread Peteski cited, but I'll repeat it here.

The Pace soldering station (the ST50, which I mention in that thread, has been replaced by the ADS200, slightly cheaper) and in particular the Pace TD100 (TD200 for the ADS 200 system) handpiece, has been a God-send.  The reason is simple: the TD100 handpiece is like holding a Montblanc fountain pen.  That in turn means that you have incredible control of the tip to get it exactly where you want it.  1/32" pads on a decoder are no problem.

You can get a variety of tips for the Pace, but the one I use most often is the 1/64" conical "sharp" tip.  I've found that the 1/32" is a bit big for soldering wires to decoder pads, but the 1/64" is just about perfect.  I do use a 1/32" chisel tip occasionally.  The tips are relatively cheap and last a very long time.  My first one lasted for over a year of daily use.  I'm on my second as of a couple of weeks ago.

The other benefit of the Pace is near-instantaneous heat.  It takes less than 10 seconds to reach operating temperature.  It's a pleasure to be able to flip the switch on and be ready to go.  That means you don't have to keep the unit powered up (and hot) all the time, saving tip life and the occasional burned finger.

It's not cheap, but I've not seen any other system that has as small a handpiece as the Pace.  I can't imagine working on ESU LokSound decoders without it.  And you WILL be soldering wires directly to decoder pads (or the Next18 adapter board) regularly if you want to do neat installations, connect keep alives, and take advantage of the additional function output pads that are available.

John C.

I switched to a Pace ADS200 with TD200 earlier this year, and my experience echoes John’s. It is amazing. I too “live” with the 1/64” tip for decoder work, and the 1/32” chisel for most track work. I purchased a “value pack” of tips when I bought the station, and never used any of the larger ones until just recently, when needing to do some work on older electrical (not solid state) boards. I forgot those were in the drawer, and was bemoaning how small the 1/32” was in working with the huge blobs of solder, then I remembered. Was just as great at macro work as it has been for micro.

[peteski]

Thanks, thinking long term I have a lot of locos to convert to DCC or DCC/Sound - so the Pace might well be worth it.

If you can allocate the funds for this wonderfully useful tool, you won't be sorry.  Of course you can buy another larger tip and use it for soldering rail too.  It is  like a 40W iron with precise temperature control.

[Mark5]

Still waiting on the Lokprogrammer ... 

My first install was gonna be a 73100 into a de-snooted Kato snoot SD40-2 (based on Kelley's install below), but I understand that you should install the sound files prior (?)

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=49696.0

In other news I think I'll get this for soldering: https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WE1010NA-Digital-Soldering-Station-dp-B077JDGY1J/dp/B077JDGY1J/ref=dp_ob_title_hi

[reinhardtjh]

Still waiting on the Lokprogrammer ... 

I saw a blurb on FaceBook that ESU had shipped some but Streamlined Backshops still show as out and I don't see any online anywhere.  Make me think that if they did ship it was from Germany and still waiting to US distribution.

[tehachapifan]

...My first install was gonna be a 73100 into a de-snooted Kato snoot SD40-2 (based on Kelley's install below), but I understand that you should install the sound files prior (?)...

Negative. If you have a LokProgrammer, you can absolutely install sound files after the 73100 has been installed in a loco.

[reinhardtjh]

My first install was gonna be a 73100 into a de-snooted Kato snoot SD40-2 (based on Kelley's install below), but I understand that you should install the sound files prior (?)

Negative. If you have a LokProgrammer, you can absolutely install sound files after the 73100 has been installed in a loco.

With a wired decoder it's usually easier to install the sound file before because you don't have to worry about less than optimal connections through the loco's wheels, chassis, etc.  But it's not required.  With the 73100 and 73199 unless you have a set of clamps that give you a good connection it's easier to load it after installing.  There was talk once of 3D printing a jig to hold the decoder for testing/programming but, given the circumstances, probably a moot point now.

The other thing is if you plan on putting much more than 440µf of keep alive in it then you probably want to load the sound file before hooking up the caps. Or also adding the inductor to bypass it.

[jdcolombo]

I typically install a sound file and test the decoder operation via a decoder test rig, but I use only wired decoders; it's harder to do this with one of the board-style decoders.  You could use alligator clips to supply power to the decoder, but you'd have to solder wires for the speaker and motor connection.

I use ESU's decoder tester, but I've wired my own speaker to mirror what I actually use in my installations; you can roll your own with a couple of LEDs (wired with dropping resistors), an old motor, and a speaker.  I do this because I want to make sure the decoder isn't DOA and once I have it hooked up for a test, downloading the sound file is very convenient (and then I can see how that sound file sounds using the speaker I'm going to use in my installation).

But as Russ and John point out, you can just as easily install the decoder, then download a new sound file by connecting the LokProgrammer to a piece of track and putting the decoder-ized loco on the track.  Just don't hook up any keep alives until AFTER you have downloaded the sound file and made any adjustments (e.g., volume levels, function key assignments, etc.) you want to make.  Then you can hook up the keep alive.  In fact, about half my decoder installs were done this way (installing first, new sound file after installation).  But after a couple of disconcerting DOA experiences, I decided on the test first routine.

John C.

[Mark5]

Negative. If you have a LokProgrammer, you can absolutely install sound files after the 73100 has been installed in a loco.

With a wired decoder it's usually easier to install the sound file before because you don't have to worry about less than optimal connections through the loco's wheels, chassis, etc.  But it's not required.  With the 73100 and 73199 unless you have a set of clamps that give you a good connection it's easier to load it after installing.  There was talk once of 3D printing a jig to hold the decoder for testing/programming but, given the circumstances, probably a moot point now.

The other thing is if you plan on putting much more than 440µf of keep alive in it then you probably want to load the sound file before hooking up the caps. Or also adding the inductor to bypass it.

Thanks Russ, John H and John C!

[Mark5]

Does the 73100 have any resident sounds that would enable me to test the speaker?

[RBrodzinsky]

a bare minimum. just some generic junk

I've had luck simply soldering jumper wires to the 73100 and 73199 boards (track and motor contact pads), and then speaker.  Hook them to the LokTester, and all worked fine. 

[Mark5]

a bare minimum. just some generic junk

I've had luck simply soldering jumper wires to the 73100 and 73199 boards (track and motor contact pads), and then speaker.  Hook them to the LokTester, and all worked fine.

This guy? https://store.sbs4dcc.com/ESU53900LokTesterV2.0DCCDecoderTestStation.aspx

Is the consensus that I should get one of those?  (Lokprogrammer been on order for 3 months)

[RBrodzinsky]

I would if I were you. It is a really great way to test and load decoders without worrying about track and trucks.

[jdcolombo]

Yes, that's the one I use.  But I replaced the crappy 1" speaker with one of my cell-phone-type speakers in its own enclosure, so I can hear the sounds as they will actually sound in the loco (more or less; when a speaker is installed in a diesel shell or steam tender, you tend to get a bit more reverb and a tiny bit more lower-midrange emphasis in the sound - it generally sounds a bit better installed than out on the bench).

John C.

[EL3632]

Does the 73100 have any resident sounds that would enable me to test the speaker?

The Loksound decoders from the factory come equipped with a gas prime mover on F1 and a peanut whistle on F2, for testing purposes.

[wazzou]

Yes, that's the one I use.  But I replaced the crappy 1" speaker with one of my cell-phone-type speakers in its own enclosure, so I can hear the sounds as they will actually sound in the loco (more or less; when a speaker is installed in a diesel shell or steam tender, you tend to get a bit more reverb and a tiny bit more lower-midrange emphasis in the sound - it generally sounds a bit better installed than out on the bench).

John C.

I'd bet it could be taken a step further with some junker shell or even a new $10 undec one from Atlas to mimic the installed sound, even more accurately.