ESU LokSound Select Micro Install in Kato N-Scale E8A -- with marker lights!

[RBrodzinsky]

WOW!  Those marker lights are fantasmic!  You could fit an 0201 in there without drilling...   

Well... it is solid plastic! Some drilling on these will always be necessary   

And thank you (and John) for always mentioning the speaker enclosures!  I am so glad they work for you and John.

Johnny, it is our way of thanking you. The enclosures have made the speaker installations so much easier, and provide excellent sound.

[wmcbride]

Rick,

Thanks for this thread. I've been thinking of adding sound to my E8s for a bit. You have blazed the way!

[reinhardtjh]

Thanks for this, Rick.  I just got some older, blue labeled E9A/B's off EBay and looking at this and checking out the LokSound 5 Micros thickness they might just fit.  Or else I'll have to see if a 73100 works okay.

[RBrodzinsky]

John,

The LS 5 Micros fit just fine (with interface board) in E/F units. Just don’t work in PA units (well, the 73800 really didn’t, either).

[reinhardtjh]

Thanks.  Yeah, I realized later that you take the small circuit board out that the clip holds down and that makes more room.  If you ever do more of these a picture before the decoder goes in would be helpful too.  But I think I have it all worked out.

[Dwight in Toronto]

I see that it’s been a few years since Rick did this impressive install, but I’m hopeful that he, and any others, might still be checking in from time to time.

At this writing (August 2022), I am nearing the end of putting a LokSound 58741 V5 DCC Micro Direct Kato USA board into an old Kato E8.  Although I am not tackling the tiny marker lights, I did equip the headlight ports with two separate LED’s so as to achieve the Mars light up top, and the solid headlight below.  To this end, the top light (intended for Mars/gyro effect) is wired to AUX1, and the lower headlamp is wired to AUX2.

I have a LokProgrammer, but I’ve only used it twice previously - the first time to put the sound file onto an ESU 58731 Kato Japan board slipped into my old SP Morning Daylight GS4, and then just recently to upload the sound file onto a 58741 dropped into a Kato SD40-02 Snoot.  Neither of those required any supplementary LED’s, nor any function output alterations.

And THAT is my major shortcoming with this project … I don’t have any experience with configuring function outputs, or function mapping, and I’m perplexed at how to go about programming the desired lighting effects using my LokProgrammer.  Suffice to say that I have spent untold hours trying to make sense of ESU’s manuals but I find them far more confusing than helpful (is it just me, or are these written guides really that obscure?).   Unfortunately, the videos I’ve studied don’t seem to cover the type of info and examples for what I’m trying to do.

And HERE’s what I’m trying to do … I’d like to be able to bring both headlights on “solid” by pushing the “Headlight” button on my NCE Powercab, and then activate the Gyro effect on the upper lamp by, say, toggling the F6 button.  I suspect that it can be done, and I’m sure that it’s a walk-in-the-park for guys like Rick, but for me, well, I’m just not getting it yet.  Can anyone help?

Oh, one other thing - the 58741 incorporates tiny smd LED’s at the front & rear of the board, configured as F0 fwd & rev lights.  I won’t need them in this E8 application, so, how do I disable them using the LokProgrammer?

For what it might be worth, I took a few iPhone photos of my E8 install as it progressed, and would be willing to create a post within this topic, but I’m not sure how to attach photos (?).

Thanks for reading - here’s hoping some good folks can help me out!