FVM GEVO Sound Project (photos, video link)

[BCR 570]

John:

Another great tutorial; too modern for my needs but interesting nonetheless.

I am completely unfamiliar with N Scale sound at this point, so please forgive me if this is a silly question, but I am wondering about the idea of including some capacitance to help avoid dropouts in sound during any momentary loss of conductivity from the track?

Tim

[jdcolombo]

Hi Tim.

Well the GEVO is too new for me, too, but I was seduced by the NKP paint scheme (actually, I'll confess to having ordered a number of the NS Heritage units, including the Wabash, Lackawanna, Erie, and a few others, just because I think the paint schemes are so well done.  Kudos to the NS for the work they put in to creating these, and kudos to Kato and FVM for their job in getting them reproduced in N scale).

You can add a keeper cap to the ESU LokSound Select if you want, but really haven't experienced any dropout problems.  This may be because modern diesel designs inherently have better electrical conductivity or maybe the LokSound has some capacitance built-in on board (honestly don't know).  What I do know is that I've almost never noticed a dropout, even running one at tie-crawl speed across my 6-turnout yard ladder.  Much different than my experience with my steam locos, which really need at least 220uf of cap to keep from having continuous dropout problems.  One day earlier this week I did about 15 minutes of switching with a single SD9 that I'd put sound into, and didn't have a single instance of a dropout.

So I'm not sure why, but it just hasn't been an issue.

John

[Mike Madonna]

Hi Mike.

I did do the SD9.  I didn't take photos of this one because the process and component layout is essentially identical to the RS11/GP7 installs.  And I didn't do a video of the finished unit because the sound is the same as the GP9's (the 567 V-16 non-turbo).  The install was a little easier because for some reason the inside of the shell is a bit wider (10.5mm, rather than 10 or 10.3).  But if you want to see photos of the chassis showing the layout of the components, I can pop the shell off and take a few.  Happy to do it.

John

John,
When you have the opportunity, a few pics would be appreciated on the SD-9. I've got two SD-7s that I modeled as "single tank" versions, so the "speaker in the tank" method will not work. Your approach with the RSD and GP looked like a winner. Again, thank you sir.

[crencs]

John,

You are my N scale hero!

Ditto! I've bookmarked your tutorials on speakers & sound installs and will be trying out this one shortly.  Spending my Xmas gift cards on acquiring ESU Loksound decoder and giving this a try!
Thanks John!

[nscaler711]

I know this is abit old, but great tutorial! Is there specific loksound decoder I should use? I have looked at just the select micro and the select micro v4 with the v4 being more expensive....

Also what are the odds of doing this in a Athearn SD75M? Or any Kato SD70 series locomotives would they be any different other than obviously the fact that the boards are different and frames (depending on the models) that are also different.

[reinhardtjh]

You can use either the LokSound Select Micro or the LokSound V4.0 Micro.  Both have the same sound set for the GEVO available.  The the decoders are the same size and have the same capabilities.  The reason for the price difference is that the V4.0 allows you to customize the sound project loaded into it via the ESU LokProgrammer.  With the cheaper Select, you can only load (or have loaded by your dealer) a pre-made sound project by ESU.  You can choose any project you want, but you can't make any changes to it.  Unless you have a pretty unusual locomotive, most will be covered by an ESU sound file so the Select works out fine most of the time.

Note that if you buy a blank decoder of either type you need the ESU programmer to load the sound.  So most dealers provide the loading service. Just pick the decoder and tell them the sound file # from the ESU site.

Also, the Select Micro is a USA only item.  That is, it's only available through the US branch of ESU and the dealers that buy from there.

LokSound Select files are in two places:
    LokSound Select USA
    LokSound Select OEM

USA sounds are general sound files for US locomotives
OEM sounds are files produced by ESU for specific products of various  locomotive manufacturers, i.e. the upcoming Atlas ALCo S2 switcher sounds, a bunch of Bowser HO stuff, Intermountain, Athearn, etc.

LokSound V4.0 Sound files are in several places starting at the Generation 4 page and branching out to pages for European locomotives, US, and then more OEM projects.

[mdeberg]

John,

Fantastic walkthrough of the install.  Awesome finished product! 

Having not done any sound installs in N scale locos yet, where are you sourcing the Knowles fox speaker?  Also the enclosure is that something you built or ready-made ?

 

[Smike]

I got mine here: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/2403%20260%2000086/423-1177-ND/3854658

But I beleive they are discontuined. Unsure if/where they can be sourced now.


Here is a thread on making the enclosure:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=31311.0

[JanesCustomTrain]

I just saw this installation, great work. Just one question, how do you shield the tiny LED from emitting light thru the holes in the radiator ?

Jane

[jdcolombo]

I just saw this installation, great work. Just one question, how do you shield the tiny LED from emitting light thru the holes in the radiator ?

Jane

You'll notice that the holes don't go back to the very end of the radiator detail part; the holes are shielded from the light by the speaker itself, which is right underneath.

BUT . . . after I did this installation, I came to the conclusion that you don't need any holes at all.  Modern diesel shells leak enough air that holes are unnecessary - and in fact, if you don't do any holes, you get a pleasing reverb from the sound bouncing around inside the shell.  I quit drilling holes in the shell right after this install.

So if you do this, don't do holes.  If you don't like the result, you can always add holes later.

John C.

[Larry46]

John

Do you know of a speaker to replace the one you used in this install?
The one you used is now obsolete.

Larry

[jdcolombo]

John

Do you know of a speaker to replace the one you used in this install?
The one you used is now obsolete.

Larry

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/cui-inc/CMS-16093-078SP/102-4622-ND/8581456

John C.

[Larry46]

John

Thank you