45 tonners

[exrail]

Anybody managed to put sound in a 45 tonner?  Also, any problems over insulated frogs?

JDK

[rich1998]

Not yet, but I have been wondering about the possibility of sound. I have put sound in a 44 ton and 70 ton. It might work in a 45 ton. The LokSound Micro would fit. It measures 10 x 28 x 5 mm
I have not measured the inside area of a 45 ton shell yet to consider speaker size.
It would be difficult to get good bass sound with small speakers.
I have a photo of a Spectrum 44 ton and 45 ton taken looking down on the locos next to each other and the hood of the 45 ton size is narrower than the 44 ton. The cab might be a suitable location for a speaker. I may try this later this year.
My home layout and club layout do not have insulated  frog turnouts. The 44 ton runs just fine. The first speed step on the controller the loco starts at 1 mph and I have the decoder set for 40 mph max.

lex

[rich1998]

Here is the photo I mentioned. See how narrow the hood is. I have put sound and speaker in an old MDC Climax so I think I can do it with this loco. Pretty sure the speaker will have to go under the cab roof like I did with the Climax. I had to mess with the sound CV's quite a lot to get decent frequency response in the Climax. The speaker was 20 mm round with a small baffle.



lex

[exrail]

Thanks. I realize speaker size will be an issue.  On the diagram they show the air tank assembly as a speaker location.  Any thoughts?

JDK

[rich1998]

Thanks. I realize speaker size will be an issue.  On the diagram they show the air tank assembly as a speaker location.  Any thoughts?

JDK

That is a possibility. You might have to squeeze in weight where ever you can to make up for removing that weight. Maybe the weight is not an issue as I do not have the 45 tonner.

lex

[rich1998]

Below is a link to a 45 ton with sound. i believe he is using the LokSound Micro with the 44 ton sound like I am using in the 44 ton which also has two engines. Since both are two engine locos. you can hear both engines start when you select the loco.
I have yet to find a link where someone did the conversion.

lex

[klrwhizkid]

The 45 tonner already has a spot inside the air tanks underneath with speaker baffle built-in on the frame.  A Micro Tsunami will readily fit in the cab, but with little ingenuity, it will fit where the decoder portion of the pcb in the loco is made to be removed.  Soundtraxx has the new GE Cummins Diesel Micro Tsunami which would be a decent facsimile of the real thing even if it isn't really twin CAT diesels.

[richg]

It cost more but LokSound has a Micro decoder that will work. You can hear both prime movers start. I use that decoder in a couple Spectrum 44 tonners. The downside for some are the 100 ohm speakers for the LokSound Micro. The Micro Tsunami uses the 8 ohm speakers.

Below is a link to my 44 ton with LokSound. One prime mover starts and the second starts slightly later.
After starting, really not any difference than a single prime mover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDosTzkQiWg

Rich

[Jim2903]

I have put sound and speaker in an old MDC Climax ...

Wow -- how did you get the drive quiet enough so it wouldn't drown out the steam sounds? My old MDC Climax sounds like nails being thrown into a bench grinder.

[richg]

I have put sound and speaker in an old MDC Climax ...

Wow -- how did you get the drive quiet enough so it wouldn't drown out the steam sounds? My old MDC Climax sounds like nails being thrown into a bench grinder.

A can motor from ebay. New gears and flywheel. Got the idea from someone. Lots of fine tuning of the mechanism. Not plug and play.

Rich