sound

[nantro]

My wife bought me a dcc loco bless her heart and i want to add sound to it but i have no clue what type of decoder to get ...i dont know how many pins i need or anything..i can send a pic of board....please help if you can

[jonathan]

What kind of Locomotive?  Diesel/Steam?  Some locomotives are easier than others to add sound.

Typically, you will need the sound decoder (Tsunami et al), a speaker small enough to fit, perhaps a baffle, and an 8-pin plug that need to be soldered to the decorder wires.

Won't know for certain without the type of locomotive you're dealing with.

Regards,

Jonathan

[nantro]

thank you jonathan....I guess that would have helped it is diesel...it looks like it has female hole for a plug in decoder

[nantro]

dont know if this helps but it looks like it is a FT-A

[jonathan]

Well...

Bachmann Diesels, like the F unit, have their decoders hard wired to the PCB located above the drive mechanism. 

To add sound, one would have to remove the electronics board (PCB), and wire the sound/movement decoder directly to the pickups, motor and lighting wires.  Also, there is no accommodation for a speaker mount, so a mount would have to be fashioned somewhere inside the limited space.  Not much dead space in those locomotives.

I have played with sound inside steam locomotive tenders.  Perhaps a diesel guy can recommend something. I do know a lot of tinkering and soldering will be required.

Regards,

Jonathan

[richg]

dont know if this helps but it looks like it is a FT-A

What is the info on the box the loco came in

Look in the diagram page for your loco.

If you are going to do a lot of loco/modeling work, a Photo Bucket page would be very helpful. The site is free. Take pictures of your project, upload them to Photo Bucket and link the photo in a Bachmann message. Many here do that. A photo is worth a thousand words and eliminates a lot of guessing.

http://beta.photobucket.com/?home_ab=true

Most of the photos in messages are via Photo Bucket.

You can use You Tube for videos.

Anyone who uses a PC can easily learn how to do this.

Rich