what brand and type of decoder should be installed in a bachman dcc ready 44 ton switcher

Quote from: Yampa Bob on January 28, 2009, 09:37:19 PM
Hi Frankie,

Some modelers mount the speaker in the fuel tank. That doesn't make sense to me, and it disturbs my sense of directional hearing.

I recently installed a Soundtraxx Tsunami standard in an Athearn AC4400. I put the speaker with attached enclosure in the top of the shell, just under the horn.  I didn't drill any holes or even mount the speaker, in fact the shell had a special plastic bracket that the speaker assembly slipped into.

The engine sound is perceived to be coming from the engine area, and the horn sound, being directly under the horn area is also very realistic.  The Tsunami is very loud, I even packed a piece of foam around the speaker to slightly muffle the sound.

If you have room in the top of the shell, you might consider the same method. Before I recommend a decoder, please try to measure how much vertical distance you have between the existing decoder and top of the shell, on both locomotives.

The Soundtraxx Tsunami is a bit thicker than a standard decoder, also about twice the length.  The standard size has a wiring harness attached for hard wiring, however the harness can be unplugged from a JST 9 pin connector that is on the decoder body.  You would have to obtain an adapter harness that has an 8 pin plug to connect to the board.

The diesel Tsunami is made in several "prime mover" versions for EMD generations, and recently available in GE versions.  I will search to see which version is correct for your locomotives, once the space available is known.  I also have the part numbers for speaker and enclosure if you want them, and will be glad to walk you through the installation by email if you so desire.

Thanks Bob for posting.Your info is very knowledgable.Iplow snow for the state of New York and have been working ungodly overtime.In the next couple of days I get down to bussiness and check this out.My e-mail is frankspringer@frontiernet.net Feel free to send me that info and I'll drop you a line back.Thanks again for your help,Frankie

sorry ,forgot to mention ti's a bachmann spectrum series

i Have 8-40cw with a standard decoder factory installed for direction and lighting.What decoder and make will fit into this shell.I also have sd-45 that i want to do the same.Any help would be really great