On30 4-4-0's with DCC and sounds

[traincrazee]

Bach Man - - I'm certain this is not a new topic, but I haven't seen anything on it in awhile and I am very much interested to find out if On30 4-4-0's with DCC and sound are slated for release?  I would particularly like to buy a 28306 with sounds when available.  Thank you.  A Spectrum dealer at a local train show in December hinted that sound equipped 4-4-0's would be worth waiting for - - maybe within 6 months.  Thanks for the update if you can provide us one.

[David(UK)]

Why wait?
Get yourself the full blown micro Tsunami light steam version and fit it yourself rather than waiting for the diluted version that Soundtraxx fit in.

[the Bach-man]

Dear TC,
Nothing has been announced to date.
If/ when it is, I'll post it here.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[traincrazee]

David(UK) - - a full-measure Tsunami conversion sounds good.  Can you provide more info on how you did your?  Thanks. 

B'man - - thanks. 

[traincrazee]

Is the On30 4-4-0 wired with an NMRA-compatible 8-pin socket, so that I can solder a mating connector to the Micro-Tsunami's wire harness?  Thanks.

[David(UK)]

Traincrazee,
Yes, the bachmann set up is a intermediate board with an 8 pin Connector fror the bachmann decoder, so a swap as you suggest is the easiest solution.
You may need to ease the underside of whatever load you use to allow for your new connector.
In hindsight hard-wiring a Tsunami is a bit of a pain in the neck working out how much wiring to cut off the existing loom going to the Loco and those coming from the Tsunami - I did mine about 3 times before I had achieved a neat fitting.
I'll be doing it all over again pretty soon as, in making mods to the loco the wires to the Loco cct board kept breaking off. Resoldering these got to be tedious as I tried various things out on the chassis - including installing a surface mount LED in the cab to enable the painted plumbing to be seen! Finally, in frustration I managed to put a hot soldering iron into the hand holding the loco, resulting in me dropping the loco onto a rather hard tiled floor; result was a badly damaged 4-4-0, a badly burnt finger, a cracked floor tile and a very irate wife. the latter I couldn't understand - I mean to say, fancy crying over a £30 floor tile instead of a £150 loco and a poorly hubby in need of TLC!

My next rewire is going to throw out the cct board and loco-tender connections and wire in 2 x 4pin mins connector leads. It will serve 2 purposes - provide stronger wiring and make the connections easier to make/break.

[traincrazee]

David(UK) - - thanks.  Sounds similar to S-Helper's S-gauge 2-8-0 conversion to DCC.  They too use an intermediate board with an NMRA connector into which you insert the Tsunami leads and connector(standard size Tsunami since there's more room).  I like having all the CV settings and Functions of a full-blown Tsunami, so I think I'll go that route with an On30 (run on my layout as Sn42) 4-4-0.  Thanks again for your help.  I hope your hand mends well, your wife let's you back in the house, the cracked tile gets overlooked, and your 4-4-0 soon runs better than ever. 

[kendoitall]

Traincrazee,
Yes, the bachmann set up is a intermediate board with an 8 pin Connector fror the bachmann decoder, so a swap as you suggest is the easiest solution.
You may need to ease the underside of whatever load you use to allow for your new connector.
In hindsight hard-wiring a Tsunami is a bit of a pain in the neck working out how much wiring to cut off the existing loom going to the Loco and those coming from the Tsunami - I did mine about 3 times before I had achieved a neat fitting.
I'll be doing it all over again pretty soon as, in making mods to the loco the wires to the Loco cct board kept breaking off. Resoldering these got to be tedious as I tried various things out on the chassis - including installing a surface mount LED in the cab to enable the painted plumbing to be seen! Finally, in frustration I managed to put a hot soldering iron into the hand holding the loco, resulting in me dropping the loco onto a rather hard tiled floor; result was a badly damaged 4-4-0, a badly burnt finger, a cracked floor tile and a very irate wife. the latter I couldn't understand - I mean to say, fancy crying over a £30 floor tile instead of a £150 loco and a poorly hubby in need of TLC!

My next rewire is going to throw out the cct board and loco-tender connections and wire in 2 x 4pin mins connector leads. It will serve 2 purposes - provide stronger wiring and make the connections easier to make/break.

Hm. I think I'll wait for a pre-installed Tsunami in a 4-4-0. Tony's Trains usually does that stuff.

bluesguy

[hminky]

Get the regular Tsunami, a harness with an NMRA plug and a nominal 1 inch diameter speaker, should be about 1.06 diameter. Unplug the harness from the Tsunami and plug in the NMRA plug harness, you may have to cut back the insulation to get the harness off. Solder the purple leads to the speaker. Insert speaker into the speaker cavity. Plug the NMRA plug into the socket. Set your loco address to 3 and test. If it goes in the right direction ok, if not reverse the plug.

Harold

or buy a HO consolidation at MicroMark for about $145 with shipping

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=83815

swap the decoder out and sell the loco on E-bay for $50. It is a plug and play, all the screws matchup and the speaker fits right in the cavity.