Older Athearn U Boat DCC conversion With Video

A good 1/2" by 1" oval speaker packs plenty of wallop and fits in most any engine.

davidmbedard

 My question is why?  There is plenty of room in there for a motor and sound decoder....

David B

Well I found out if it take the thick plastic glass out of the cab a high bass circular baffle will fit

inside the cab of the dummy

Pointed down

or pointed horizontally

down the length of the shell

Though I've been gradually getting rid of my old Athearn blue box units,  I have a U33B (SCL) that I bought new some years back.  Its had almost no running time.  I've decided to weather and detail the body, keep it powered, install LED lighting, and install a Lok Sound unit with a high bass speaker using the method recommended by CMarchand.  I'm going to drop in a spare motor that came out of a P2K SD45 that, fortunately, has a low current draw.

Nice thing about the old Athearn U-boats is that due to the radiator housing structure, the excess hood width is not as noticeable as it is on the Blue Box EMD hood units. 

AntonioFP45

Snip 

 and install a Lok Sound unit with a high bass speaker using the method recommended by CMarchand.  I'm going to drop in a spare motor that came out of a P2K SD45 that, fortunately, has a low current draw.

Snip

 

Ok i give up who is CMarchland

I see Loc Sound makes 2 decoders for this loco

And several for the later dash series

But at this Point i'd be inclined to go with a Tsunami

Since i was so badly burned on Loc sound on my H-8

Unless i could hear it first

Do you have any links to sound samples ?

 Hi C&O,

CMarchand is a fellow forum member whom is also a good friend of mine.  Below is one of his threads:

http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/80499/1300038.aspx#1300038

He's been in the electronics field as a career for over 30 years and is a well known DCC expert here in the Tampa Bay area.  Just drop him a PM if you have any questions. He installed the LokSound system in my Genesis SD45-2.  The sound is great and the motor control smooth.   

I"ve only heard the Diesel Tsunami GE U-Boat on YouTube, but I was impressed.  Especially since the famous "chug-chug" throb of the prime mover was quite audible.  I'm considering getting a Tsunami for my Genesis FP45.

Unfortunately, in my case, the Diesel Tsunami doesn't come with the appropriate horn for the Seaboard Coast Line U-Boats, which for me is important.  Carl took a prototype sound sample of a Leslie RS5T-RR0 horn, carefully edited it and uploaded into my SD45-2.  The surprised looks on peoples faces when I actuated the horn with an NCE controller at a club one day said it all.   

While waiting for the decoder to show up i changed the lighting from the old

huge athearn bulb to a pair of grain of wheat bulbs

one for the lower hood and one for the upper lights and number boards

and as you can see the cab remains dark

This would actually be a good fiber optic application

time will tell if the bulbs melt the plastic

I just tucked the upper bulb under the plastic lense insert

then taped it in place

 NIce going C&O.   You got rid of the traditional "Engine crew getting fried in the cab" look that's been synonomous with Athearn Blue Box units for decades . 

Yesterday I spent some time wiring up an 8 pin receptacle

like this

http://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/product.php?productid=999002983&cat=174&page=1

So that when i get the decoder i should be able to just plug it in

Now I have to figure out where i can place a speaker

If you use LEDs instead of grain-of-wheat bulbs, you will not have to worry about melting the plastic.  You will also get a lower current draw, effectively infinite life, and a more powerful straight-ahead beam of light.

I've just put a Tsunami into a Proto GP-9.  I'm really happy with it.

Well all that is true but i didn't have any LEDs but i did have some 16 volt bulbs

and i also didn't have any resistors and am not sure which ones the Tsunami uses

C&O Fan

 

Here is a sound sample for the Tsunami

For this loco

http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=dp7

Regarding  LEDs:  Minatronics Yeloglo White (Ultrabright 3mm):  Part # 12-310-05  Cost $7.95  Comes with 5 LEDs and appropriate resistors. 

Neither of the two values of resistors the Yeloglo LEDs come with are appropriate for DCC. Use 1K ohm. I use the Yeloglo LEDs exclusively, and by the time I am done converting my locos I will have a small bundle of those resistors they supply.

                              --Randy

rrinker

Neither of the two values of resistors the Yeloglo LEDs come with are appropriate for DCC. Use 1K ohm. I use the Yeloglo LEDs exclusively, and by the time I am done converting my locos I will have a small bundle of those resistors they supply.

                              --Randy

 

Good to know Thanks Randy

I wrapped the wires with some painters tape to clean up the mess a bit

I Drilled 2 holes and cut 2 notches for the wires to slide into the holes on both locos to connect the speaker in the dummy engine to the speaker in the powered loco

After sliding the wires in the notches to the holes when the body is placed back on the frame the coupler pocket closes the end of the notch trapping the wire in place

I used Micro connectors for the wires but would have had to Drill really big holes for them to pass thru

The notches are just slightly bigger than the wire and don't look too bad

Sorry the picture is blurry but you can see the holes and the slots run from the opening for the coupler pocket over to the hole

once in place The wires don't look too bad

Here a view from the side

 GE prime mover nomenclature doesn't lend itself to easily telling the physical size of the diesel (neither does EMD's new one), but EMD's old one was easy - 645-series is 645 cubic inches PER CYLINDER. Somewhere I still have the issue of Car adn Driver from the 80's where they did a 'road test' on a GP50 and explained the displacement and horespower in terms of how many Corvettes it was. Big engines liek that are just amazing. Now, where's that Youtube video of the GE throwing a rod... look that one up, it's pretty impressive.

                                                  --Randy

rrinker

 GE prime mover nomenclature doesn't lend itself to easily telling the physical size of the diesel (neither does EMD's new one), but EMD's old one was easy - 645-series is 645 cubic inches PER CYLINDER. Somewhere I still have the issue of Car adn Driver from the 80's where they did a 'road test' on a GP50 and explained the displacement and horespower in terms of how many Corvettes it was. Big engines liek that are just amazing. Now, where's that Youtube video of the GE throwing a rod... look that one up, it's pretty impressive.

                                                  --Randy

 

When doing some research on which decoder to buy

I found this

http://www.geocities.com/wbd641/U30.html

C&O Fan

Those V16s must have pistons the size of garbage cans to make a chugging sound like that

If you're interested in this sort of information, the following website has some relevant facts: http://www.thedieselshop.us/DataU33B.HTML

davidmbedard

 Well done!  It sounds great. 

To get the unit to rev up before it moves, you can do 1 of 2 things...

1.  Adjust the speed table so that the motor wont get any current until a certain speed step.

2.  Use the motor disconnect feature and run the motor with functions...

David B

Thanks for the Kind words !

I Used Decoder Pro and did number 1