Title says it all. I'm looking for a suitable sound decoder and speaker that will fit into a J94. Stay alive would be good as well. Anybody done one of these? Any suggestions appreciated. Cheers Toto
Toto You need to find out the current draw of the loco, if its less than an amp, then you'll get away with an 00 decoder, if its above 1.5amp then you will need to look at the O gauge sound decoders. Paul
Toto the current draw is very small on the J94 it only has a little motor about the size of a Bachmann OO loco. It may run the wrong way on DC as all Bachmann O locos are wired in reverse to normal protocols My Bachmann J94 runs a TCS WOW Sound decoder designed for HO Models with a 8ohn 2 watt speaker it's a big bugger and is in the boiler up against the back head at the Cab end had to do a bit of modification to get it in. I drilled out the funnel and the chuffing noises come from the right spot YouTube link https://youtu.be/x8ObhiN0dN0 I would suggest a Zimo decoder and a suitable speaker possibly a cube one under the funnel and drill it out like I did. Not sure how has the best sound files in the U.K At the moment but worth looking into I have heard a Youchoose and it sounded OK but I believe Paul Cheeter has now gone to Zimo decoder and his sound files are usually very good.
Hi Chris, Thanks for the above. I will look into it and have a look at the u tube link shortly. What did you do / use to bore the funnel out ?
The funnel is just mounted to the top of the saddle tank so I drilled a small pilot then opened out to the size of the Funnel ID carefully as you don't want the drill to catch and with minimal pressure as you don't want to bend it with too much downward pressure.
I,m in agreement with Chris, I have a Zimo sound chip in my Andrew Barclay, it comes with stay alive though you have to solder it to the wires from the chip, (one of which came of with handling, so take care, I soldered it back on no bother, but I,d rather not have to.) I chose the sugar cube speaker as room is tight, there are three sizes, small down to tiny, the chip about 25mm long 15mm wide and about 5/6mm thick, I,m fixing the stay alive on top so about 15mm thick total. I haven,t installed it yet, as soon as I do I will take piccys and post them. Pete.
Hi Toto, This is a 00 gauge version I did for a customer a few months ago using Paul Chetters multi-drive sound files on a zimo decoder with a small cube speaker. You should be able to fit a larger hi base speaker in the o gauge version.
Hi Kimbo, I'll check it out when I get in tonight. Thanks for posting it up for me. Much appreciated. I am looking to do the same with my 2-6-4 MT 's ( two of ) but I'll do the J94 first. many thanks kind Sir. Toto
Cheers Ron.http://www.clickToto I have used the Paul Chetter 4mt sound file for a few 4-6-2 sound conversions that I have done. If you have two to put sound in then this would be a good choice for one of them. This sound file is still my favourite. Kim
As promised here are a couple of photos of the Zimo MX645 with stay alive and sugar cube speaker I have used. The first photo shows the 4 pin socket I,ve fitted so the chassis and body can be separated for servicing etc, I have used shrink tubing on all soldered joints as well as insulating tape. And this is it all installed. Looks ok? except the sound and stay alive don,t work, she runs forward and backwards lovely, tried pressing F8 to turn on the sound, even held the button down for a few seconds but no nothing zilch nada, the stay alive isn,t, lifting the loco off the track while moving, she should keep going for a couple of seconds but no, stops instantly, can,t return it, I,ve had it for more than a year plus I have no idea where the receipt is guess I will just have to suck it up . Cheers, Pete.