KATO F Units / WVD adapter board / ESU LS5 micro DCC #58828 Install

[carlso]

I had two adapters from the 1st release along with 2 decoders so it was time to "get it done".
These KATO's are from their 2015 production run!

B unit - I did 1st thinking it would be easy with no need for lights. It was 'till I added a speaker, another story.


Test fit of decoder & speaker


The other speaker was no bueno so I made a different one


For lights, I glued an 0402, I think, LED to a piece  of fiber optics on both the upper and lower lights. The headlight wired to F0f and the Mars, actually used the oscillating light option, is wired to Aux4. Both on in either direction. Before I wrapped this up and put shells back on, I used Kapton tape across the decoder to hold it down as well as across the open pads.

A - Unit

Disassembled so I could cut on chassis


Cutting I did


Test fit of decoder and speaker, some light leads are added as well


Too bad all of KATO's aren't this easy to add sound, these were really simple.

Below is a short Y-T vid demonstrating the set up.

Thanks for looking, be well,
Carl

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[Wutter]

Test fit of decoder and speaker, some light leads are added as well

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I know you captioned the picture as a test fit but I figured I would chime in with a warning, be careful of that blue wire touching the track pickup strips! Hopefully you taped/heat shrinked over that connection before putting it back together, don't want to see you frying the decoder! Also I usually tape over the motor tabs to prevent any potential shorting between the decoder and the tabs themselves. Looks like a great install though!

[carlso]

Alvin,

Thanks for the tip. I actually did not post the last image. I removed the larger diameter blue and yellow wires and soldered the LED wires to the adapter. I covered all pads with Kapton before I installed the decoder and then put a piece of tape over the decoder to help keep it from coming out of socket.

Thanks for your efforts with this board. Any others doable in the future?

carl

[woodone]

Carl,
I am looking at your speaker install and have a question. The terminals that you use to connect the speaker wires to, are they in the enclosure?   If that is true, I mount my speakers with membrane facing into the enclosure. Am I doing it backwards?

[carlso]

Jerry,

From what I have read and tutorials that I have watched, no you are not doing it wrong. The experts say no difference in the sound.

Yes, the terminals are inside the enclosure and I do that just to remove opportunities for shorts. Just my thing, I guess.

Be well!

[RBrodzinsky]

Yes, the terminals are inside the enclosure and I do that just to remove opportunities for shorts. Just my thing, I guess.

I do it that way, too, particularly if the speakers just have pads (not compression spring connectors)

[Steveruger45]

I mostly put my speaker membranes facing out.  Main reason is this way you can increase the effective cubic capacity of the enclosure between the membrane and the box for the same physical overall size.

[woodone]

Well, I will have to give that a try.
All the ones I have done are just the other way around.
Sorry Carl, did not mean to dray your post off track via high jacking it.
Jerry

[tehachapifan]

I prefer having the speaker membrane facing out too for best sound quality, but I'll often install them facing inward if there's going to be wires running across the top of the speaker. I'm assuming that a wire laying across the speaker membrane wouldn't be a good thing. Also, even though it's not too much trouble to run the speaker wires into the enclosure, it sure is a lot easier to have the solder points on the speaker facing outward.

[carlso]

Jerry,

No problemo, my friend. That's what postings are for so we can all learn something new. No questions, no valuable lessons. Questions and or comments are always welcome by me.