No pics quiet yet, but I have started on a new sound project. I am going to put a Digitrax soundbug into a Proto 1000 RS11. This engine will get a hardwired TCS M1 motor decoder and a Digitrax SFX004 soundbug, wired only to the rails (not plugged into a soundbug-enabled decoder). Why? Because that's what I have :-).
So far, I've prepped the engine, made a speaker enclosure, and programmed the soundbug with the RS32 sound file that came on the installation CD with the PR2 programmer. As with my previous GP38-2 project, I have set each decoder to a unique short address but the same long address, and activated the long addresses. Once they are wired in parallel to the rails, I can address them individually by first setting CV29 in both to use the short addresses simultaneously.
To prep the engine, I used a Dremel with a cutting disk to chop off some of the vertical "fins" on the frame to make room for the speaker enclosure and for a piece of styrene that runs on top of the motor to fasten the decoders to.
The PR2 programmer installed easily in Windows ME on an old eMachine computer. Once I freed up the COM port, it ran well right away. A single button click erased the Soundbug's flash and loaded the RS32 sound file.
I'll post some photos in the next update.
Jim
I've had a good start at it. Here are photos of the frame modifications, my take on a speaker enclosure, and the speaker enclosure in it's final location on the frame.
This shot of the frame shows that I have removed a few bits to make room for the speaker enclosure in the cab area on right. I also removed material to elongate and deepen the available space over the motor and have installed a styrene strip with some double-sided foam tape. I drilled a few holes in the styrene to route wires up from the motor and trucks.
This is my take on the speaker enclosure. I made it using .020 in. styrene. I scored it at the corners and bent it without breaking off the pieces, so the walls of the enclosure are a single piece. The wall assembly is glued to the top with Testors styrene modeling cement. The speaker is stuck to the bottom with hot glue. I punched holes below the speaker with a paper punch to let the sound out down through the truck area. I put a few dots of hot glue on the front of the speaker to space it up a bit off the styrene because I wasn't sure the speaker cone wouldn't buzz against the styrene. I think the speaker is well sealed to the enclosure. I hooked it up to the soundbug and tested it. Sounds pretty good so far.
The last shot here shows the speaker enclosure trimmed up a bit and taped into position in the front of the engine. There was no original cab detail in this Proto 1000 engine, but the speaker enclosure will be visible through the cab windows, so I painted it flat black. The wires from the speaker exit the top of the enclosure. I plan to splice the wires to those from the soundbug over the top of the enclosure.
Now I have a lot of wiring to do ....
More progress! The TCS Motor Decoder and the Digitrax SoundBug have been wired. Left to do: lights.
I wish Digitrax would leave the capacitor leads a little longer. They are tough to rewire, and I worry about overheating it. There's gobs of room in there compared with the GP38. Sounds pretty good, although I think it needs a wheel cleaning.
For lights, I'm trying to decide between 14v 30ma, 12v 30ma with 68Ohm resistors, or yellow-glow LED's with resistors.
Anyone know if I can use the Digitraxx PR2 programmer with the motor decoder hooked up?
New discovery... The TCS decoder will not accept CV changes in OPS mode with the soundbug connected. I tried to change the short address in OPS mode, and the engine took of at a very high rate of speed! I will defineatly need to be able to isolate the motor decoder and sound decoders for programming. I'm going to try using a computer jumper block to connect power to the sound decoder.
Project RS11 is DONE! I just finished wiring the lights and fine-tuning the CV's. It certainly has more personality now than it did without sound.
I'd like to discuss lessons learned on this one, but first, let me make it clear that adding sound to this engine has been a tremendous improvement, and I'm really glad I did it. Also, any comments here are meant absolutely no disrespect for Digitraxx, their engineers/programmers, or the sound file creators. This is a good product, and a good sound file. It is quite an accomplishment to get the sounds and sequencing correct so that everything is balanced and the sounds flow from one to the next. I tried to make some improvements and failed. The original designers/contributers did a great job. That said, here's what I would do differently if I did it again:
I used a Digitrax SoundBug in this engine, but I partnered it with a TCS decoder. I believe both devices are great in their own right. If I were to start over, I would either use a Digitrax SoundBug enabled motor decoder, or I would use a Digitrax sound (and possibly function) only decoder. I did a GP38 with an NCE motor decoder and a Digitrax sound/function decoder, and that pair behave much better together than these two. Somehow, the TCS decoder and the SoundBug interfere with each other when trying to set CV's - in OPS mode on my NCE or on the programming track. The only way to change a CV in either one of them is to isolate them electrically. I made provisions to do this by powering the SoundBug through a pc jumper block. I do have to remove the shell to get to it.
Second, when I was at the train show last month, I bought some 12v incandescent bulbs. That was a mistake, and I meant to buy 14v bulbs. I dont want to waste the 12v bulbs, but I don't want them to burn out prematurely either, so I wired each one in series with a 180 Ohm resistor to reduce the voltage at the bulb. The result is that the head and tail lamps are a bit anemic. I probably should have held out for the 14v bulbs or maybe some LED's. To add insult to injury, while I was testing the bulbs with the resistors, I accidently allowed one of the lamp outputs of the TCS decoder to short and let all the magic smoke out, requiring a replacement. Fortunately I had a spare, so with my tail between my legs, I changed it out.
There is opportunity for improvement in the Digitrax sound file, which so far I am not competent to manage. I got on YouTube and found some Alco footage, and I tried modifying the sounds in the decoder. I got the new sounds in there, but they sounded horrible. The guys who did the RS32 project available on the Digitrax site are clearly way more competent than I am. I'll probably keep trying, although I'll have to buy another decoder to keep working on it. The Digitrax decoders also have a magical SDF file that gets loaded into the decoder with the sound wave files. If the proper tools and documentation were readily availabe, it would allow changing of function key usage and many other modifications. It seems that aquiring the tools and knowledge to modify the SDF file are left to the model railroader hacker. Since I'm a model railroader, and a hacker, I'm working on it. There are folks out there who have done it. I would encourage Digitrax to go the next step and put out some docs and tools to allow end-users to manipulate it. There's a steep, high learning curve to making sound files. My hat's off to the folks who are good at it.
Here's the final wiring photo. Notice the computer pc board jumper where the soundbug gets connected to the rail for power. This allows isolation of the two decoders for programming.
Of course, the obligatory pose on the turntable:
This thread has sunk a bit, so I hope everyone gets a chance to see it. The loco is great!
Op Session Report:
I ran the trains tonight, and did all the switching with the RS-11. It ran great! Could use a little more horn volume, a little less engine volume, but not bad at all. It's a little challenging to get a short horn blast out if this sound project (the RS32 one from the Digitrax site), but it's doable. This engine has always had a bit of a stalling problem. I think it has trouble conducting current between the axels and some axel bushings that fit into notches in the truck frames. That's not too bad either. Lastly, I had to set the mid and full throttle voltages to get a few more useful throttle settings. Between 0 and 14, speed control is good. I shouldn't need anything faster than that, but I did get above 14 once tonight and the engine speed was a bit fast. Maybe it could use a bit more voltage at half throttle. Next time I have the shell off, I'll try locking the decoders in hopes that I will be able to program them while connected together.
Jim,
I want to install a sound decoder in my Proto RS-11. I could not access your photos of your Soundbug installation. Can you e-mail the photos.
Joe
Unable to view photos.
This thread is almost 3 years old. The OP has not posted anything in over a year. You might try sending him an e-mail, because it's unlikely that he's going to look here.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.