ESU LokSound 5 Install into Kato TGV and Thalys High Speed Trains

[RBrodzinsky]

I was asked if I could install sound into the Kato TGV and Thalys (which I had never seen in person before). Of course, I said "YES! But I do have to see how everything will fit"

Well, suffice to say, everything can fit, barely, and these units sound and run beautifully. I finished the video, so am posting that first. I will post detailed installation photos later today

[Cajonpassfan]

Very cool, Rick, and so very....French
I would have thought the station announcements are too corny, but having travelled all over Europe, I couldn’t help but grin...
Nice work. So does that mean you have time to take on my Erie-builts?
Another “never seen before” model...
Fun stuff,
Otto

[RBrodzinsky]

Very cool, Rick, and so very....French
I would have thought the station announcements are too corny, but having travelled all over Europe, I couldn’t help but grin...
Nice work. So does that mean you have time to take on my Erie-builts?
Another “never seen before” model...
Fun stuff,
Otto

Yep, I have reserved a space in the line for your units, whenever you are ready!

[wazzou]

I was expecting some real Gomez Addams things at 250 MPH.

[RBrodzinsky]

First up are the "rear" locos. These are non-motored, but lit, units. Here's the Thalys unit with the shell off. It has an NEM 651 plug, so what I did is use a Zimo MX605SL light decoder (basically the same as the Kato FL12). I soldered a 6 pin connector harness to the decoder (only needed 4 wires, since only need track power and the two lights; the stock board takes care of the U+ power.

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Next is the motorized (lead) loco. Here is the shell popped off. Again there is a 6 pin NEM 651 connector and the directional lights. There is also a very nice connection to the motor, which is isolated from the outside power strips. I wanted to reuse this, if at all possible, to eliminate trying to "float" the LED lights into the correct positions (or, worse yet, connect them directly to the light pipes in the shell).

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Here we see the loco body with the board removed. Note how the motor contacts come up through the two slots in the cradle (as many of us have suggested routing them in the past, away from the strips). The following photo shows the underside of the board, with the motor contact pads. At first glance, it doesn't look as if there is enough room to fit everything in! But the gear shaft rides very low in the channel, to maintain a low center of gravity for high speed running, and the frame at the back is just wide enough, to be able to mill out space for a 12x8mm speaker with enclosure. The length of the rear drive shaft is just the size of the base LS5 Micro decoder, so there was hope. But where could the capacitors go?

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[RBrodzinsky]

This angle shows a better view of the depth of the channel.  One can easily remove the ledge down to under the beveled break, which is about 3.2mm of depth

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After taking off the trucks and removing the gears, I started mapping out what could be done.  First off, the board needs to be shortened, but luckily all the area behind the end of the motor cradle is just substrate.  The capacitors need to go in the fuel tank, and the weight at the back needs surgery.  I've also marked, in black, where to mill a channel for the wires to the capacitors

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Close up of the stripped frame where the channel needs to be milled for the decoder

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Close up of rear area for speaker

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And the area to mill for capacitor pocket

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[RBrodzinsky]

After milling photos

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The speaker area - note the slot for the wires.  Need to be very careful not to mill too much towards the bearing area, as we don't want to interfere with them

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Wire channel

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Capacitor pocket (with Kapton tape applied)

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[RBrodzinsky]

Next came test fitting the decoder one last time (I know, a bit late, isn't it?).  I removed all wires from the daughter board, and here we can see how the decoder fits nicely in the pocket we've milled, while the daughter board hangs over the edge just a bit

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The two 25V 220uF poly-Ta capacitors with a 100uH inductor fit nicely in their pocket

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Reassembling the bottom of the unit, and installing the motor, gears and trucks, we are ready for the decoder and speaker

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[RBrodzinsky]

From above, this looks like everything fits just perfectly!  I attached a 6-pin harness (there is a reason I save every one of the 6 and 8 pin harnesses I cut off most decoders!) to the daughter board, along with the blue wire (U+) from the capacitors and speaker wires.  The pink GND wire from the caps is attached to the pad on the board

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From the side, we see just how tight everything is.  The contact strips ride up on the edge of the decoder, so a bit of Kapton tape is needed at the back to lightly hold them down to the  contacts on the trucks. I also put Kapton on the underside of the strips near the wires.

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The speaker was not yet glued to the shelf, while final testing was performed

When all is ready, need to make double certain that the daughter board is securely plugged into the Next18 connector on the decoder, then slip the shell back on.  There are also two tabs which come down from the top of the shell which help hold the brass contact strips down.  These need to be filed down, just a bit, since the strips are now raised just behind the motor cradle.

[jagged ben]

... The capacitors need to go in the fuel tank, ...

 

Nice lookin' work though.

[peteski]

Funny thing about the "new" way motor contacts which are isolated from the truck pickup strips: many older wide-body American Kato models have those slots for motor strips already molded into the plastic motor cradles, even though it is not used.

I have noticed those slots and re-routed motor strips through them so they touch the decoder motor pads on some decoders so equipped.  I don't remember which plug-n-play non-sound American decoders have pads on the bottom in the right area. Might have been some Digitrax decoders, or maybe TCS.  It sure made the decoder install easier.

[nightmare0331]

nice clean fantasic looking install!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[peteski]

nice clean fantasic looking install!

Sure is!  Typical Rick B. handiwork. 

[samusi01]

Very nice work. Thank you for the quality write-up.

[RBrodzinsky]

Thanks for all the kind words. (@nightmare0331  Kelley, if the Kato Kobo folks ever want to offer this as a Kobo special, I expect a cut!  LOL)

Honestly, the majority of time spent on these was contemplating how best to do the project, followed by the milling.  The actual install, since reusing the board and 6-pin connector, wasn't too much.  Of course, I also tend to test everything after every step, so as my wife says, I get my daily steps in walking from my office (where I set up my soldering station) to the other room where the test layout / programming track / LokProgrammer / DecoderPro are.