jdcolombo you've inspired me!

[reinhardtjh]

Your speakers will go out Monday. If USPS works as it should then they will arrive Wednesday.  Enjoy!

[tony22]

Right on the money, John. Got the shipping notice that it went out today. Thank you sir!

[tony22]

Woo-hoo! LokSound decoders shipped. Should be here on Thursday.

Did you guys know that Digitrax introduced in January N Scale sound decoders? They appear to be about the same size as the micro and come with speaker and capacitor already attached. The only reason I mention it is I didn't know myself, and they offer a FM engine sound file!

[reinhardtjh]

Did you guys know that Digitrax introduced in January N Scale sound decoders? They appear to be about the same size as the micro and come with speaker and capacitor already attached. The only reason I mention it is I didn't know myself, and they offer a FM engine sound file!

Yep.  The new "Series 6" decoders.  SDN136PS for 8-bit, 3 voice sound and the SDXN136PD for 16-bit, 4 voice sound.  Slightly narrower than the LokSound but I don't know if that includes the shrinkwrap covering that Digitrax tells you not to remove.  I've got one on order from a LHS but Digtrax is WAY backordered on all their product.  The SDN136PS is out and MBKlein and others have them, but the SDXN136PS isn't out yet.  The other new decoder, the "tiny" DZ126T (non-sound but very small) was also announced around the same time and just showed up online.

The Digitrax decoders are more limited than the LokSound, but a fair amount cheaper, the 16-bit one should street price around $56 or so as opposed to $80 for the LokSound Select Micro or $127 for the Micro 4.0.  If you're interested in Digitrax sound, there is a Yahoo group dedicated (Digitrax Sound) to them.  One member, John McMasters is a genius wiz at figuring out the SDL programming language that AJ came up with for the decoders and has them doing pretty amazing things.  The standard Digitrax sound projects are rather bland in comparison to his.

[jdcolombo]

My reaction to the Digitrax decoders is "call me when they are available and when they have good-sounding sound files available for the stuff I want to model."  Their "stock" sound files aren't very good, IMHO.  In addition, Digitrax has traditionally had some of the weakest motor control circuits of the available decoders.  They are "OK," but can't hold a candle to either ESU or Lenz in that department.  Better, I think, than Soundtraxx or MRC (which is awful), not as good as TCS, and pretty far behind the Germans.

I love Digitrax's command system - the command station, boosters, block detectors, etc.  I even like the throttles - the DT402 and UT4.  I don't find the system particularly hard to learn and it's extremely flexible.

Less impressed with their digital decoders.

John C.

[reinhardtjh]

My reaction to the Digitrax decoders is "call me when they are available and when they have good-sounding sound files available for the stuff I want to model."  Their "stock" sound files aren't very good, IMHO.

Yeah, as I said, the Digitrax sound projects are pretty bland.  But at least you can take them apart and tweak them if you don't like them.  Unlike the LokSound Select sound files which you have no choice.  That only comes with the higher priced LokSound 4.0 line.  I guess you get what you pay for.   I do really wish the ESU would open up the Select line so people can make their own sound projects like the 4.0 series.  ESU can do it, why can't the "common man"?  It's got to be a marketing decision.

I don't know what it is about the Germans (and Swiss and Austrians) and motors. They seem to have figured out how to make motor circuits that work really well while the US-based companies don't seem to do as well.  Is it expectations?

[tony22]

Woo-hoo! Part are all in except the capacitors. Should have them before the weekend.

If I don't go anywhere I'll be busy! BTW, thanks John; the SCP-08B speakers came through just great!

[tony22]

John Colombo, I have a question. Can I cut off the little plastic nubbins at either end of the SCP-08B speaker? I began looking at how to fabricate a box for it and those little nubbins will keep the styrene from butting up against the short sides of the speaker. That will create a sort of air gap at either end.

[tony22]

More questions. I started test fitting the pieces . The LokSound will fit nicely above the hood portion of the Atlas PCB, once I remove the caps per the instructions used when installing a DCC decoder. The only thing that concerns me about that is the very end of the decoder (opposite where the wires are) would be just above the Red/Green running light LED. Now for the speaker, this one is a bit more interesting. I can chop the frame in the middle like I was saying before, or I could fit it above the cab portion of the PCB. The difference is that if I do it that way the speaker would have to go in without a box. If I chop the frame I can create a .156 box out of strip styrene. But I'd have to chop the frame. Give the short depth of the box do you think it would be worth it?

[jdcolombo]

John Colombo, I have a question. Can I cut off the little plastic nubbins at either end of the SCP-08B speaker? I began looking at how to fabricate a box for it and those little nubbins will keep the styrene from butting up against the short sides of the speaker. That will create a sort of air gap at either end.

Yes - chop them off and file the sides smooth.  You'll see a bit of metal there, but don't worry about it.

John C.

[jdcolombo]

More questions. I started test fitting the pieces . The LokSound will fit nicely above the hood portion of the Atlas PCB, once I remove the caps per the instructions used when installing a DCC decoder. The only thing that concerns me about that is the very end of the decoder (opposite where the wires are) would be just above the Red/Green running light LED. Now for the speaker, this one is a bit more interesting. I can chop the frame in the middle like I was saying before, or I could fit it above the cab portion of the PCB. The difference is that if I do it that way the speaker would have to go in without a box. If I chop the frame I can create a .156 box out of strip styrene. But I'd have to chop the frame. Give the short depth of the box do you think it would be worth it?

In my view, a sealed enclosure even with shallow depth is better than no sealed enclosure.   But here's an idea.  Take a speaker, build the .156 enclosure around it, and then hook it up to the decoder - you can temporarily solder the speaker wires to the brown decoder speaker wires, and then use a couple of alligator clip leads to connect the red and black decoder wires to your track power (or just strip the ends and tape them to the rails).

Dial up 03 on your DCC system and press F8 to turn the sound on.  Listen to it and see what you think.

Now take a bare speaker, solder long wire leads to it, and position it where it would be in the locomotive, running the wires down the side of the frame and out of the shell at the bottom of the loco (the shell should flex enough to let the wires "escape" between the shell and frame).  Hook up the decoder as above.  Listen.  Which is better to you?

John C.

[tony22]

Hmm, not a bad idea. Seems like I'll have more work to do this weekend than I thought. Fortunately tonight I took care of fixing the problem I had with the universals on these engines. The H16 uses those dogbone universals that have a history of failing. I bought a bunch of them from Atlas a while ago. I didn't have to replace all of them, but they're all good now and super-glued in place. Tested on DC and the run nice and smooth.

[tony22]

The speaker box test is complete. I picked out two of the SCP-08B speakers for the installation in my H-16s, and when I just tested the speakers with the LokSound to make sure it all worked I discovered that one of the two speakers buzzed a little, so that became my guinea pig for fabricating a box and doing tests.

So I built my .156" high box (that's the best I can do with the Atlas H-16), ran the speaker wires through a small hole, and then tested the speaker loose outside the box and then again once I stuffed it into the box. I guess I'm going to have to chop the frame. The speaker does sound a little better inside the box... enough to notice. Sigh.

[tony22]

John C, I've been looking at the Micro instructions but it's really not clear how to wire up a keep alive capacitor. Can you clarify?

[tony22]

I guess I should have said this is going to be a step by step journey of discovery. I test fit the decoder where I thought it was going to go (above the long hood PCB) and tried to fit the shell back on to the frame. Didn't work. The decoder sits up too high in that area and there's no way to make it sit lower. I examined the frame more carefully and it seems that if I use the section that was originally intended for the speaker and box, I could chop out a bit more and the Select Micro should fit. What it means, though, is that I won't have that space for the speaker and its enclosure. I basically would have to swap the original locations of the decoder and speaker. The speaker will fit above the long hood PCB and the shell will drop down over it, but I will have to give up the enclosure. Oh well. Too late to attempt anything like that tonight. I'll take a look at it with a fresh set of eyes in the morning and see if it still makes sense.

BTW John, I did figure out where to wire up a cap. Now that won't fit either.