Sound in a Rail bus

tronder · August 20, 2009, 11:57:22 AM

Hi, First question on this forum from gusty England....where do I connect the sound-bug in a railbus?? On30 Bachmann that is??
Phil :-)

Hobojohn · August 21, 2009, 01:55:17 AM

There is (limited) room under the roof of the motorcar.
Look at the exploded view on the drawing how the roof is fastened and take it off carefully.
The 'bigger' the speaker the better the sound. I found the intended place for the speaker under the roof too small so I fastened it inside the motorcar right under the intended spot for the speaker.

John Baron
Netherlands

tronder · August 21, 2009, 10:49:42 AM

Thanks I was wondering about that...the existing hole is onle 14mm...BUT where did you connect it electrically?? First time for me...
Phil :-)

JohnR · August 21, 2009, 06:17:57 PM

If you are referring to the Digitrax SoundBug product, my understanding is that SoundBugs are proprietary and only work with specific Digitrax decoders. I could be mistaken but the Digitrax website has very little info on the product.

LokSound micros and Sountraxx Tsunami 750's will both fit under the Railbus' roof. I have a Tsu-750 in mine and a friend has a LokSound micro. If I were to get another, I'd probably go with LokSound because they run cooler than a Tsu-750.

-John

the Bach-man · August 22, 2009, 11:56:15 PM

Dear Phil,
I installed a Tsunami mini decoder (Galloping Goose) in my railbus today- it sounds great!
Try one!
the Bach-man

tronder · August 23, 2009, 04:50:52 AM

WHERE were the electrical connections made on the motherboard??? Thats what I want to know..
Phil

Hobojohn · August 23, 2009, 05:51:43 AM

Phil,
Sounddecoders come as a seperate unit, then you have to connect them to a decoder that runs the motor. The Sounbug is one of them, here in Europe we use the SUSI connection for that. Combined motor/sound units are available as well . On your bus, there is an eight plug soccet. In it, with an 8-pin plug, is your Bachmann dcc decoder. You can carefully take it out. From here it all starts. The colored wires make it all work. The chip itself manages the motor. Combined motor/sounddecoders do have -in basic- the same colored wires: red, black, grey, orange, blue, white en yellow. In order to run the speaker sounddecoders do have two extra wires. A combined sounddecoder with an 8-pin plug can simply be plugged in the soccet of your bus. Find a spot to mount the speaker and away you go. Combined sounddecoders with only loose wires can be soldered either right 'into'your bus or have to be soldered first to the eight pin plug. Both 'solder systems' require experience! Last but not least: Soundtraxx has seperate sounddecoders that run straight from 16V track. They do not have motormanagement but can be hidden in a boxcar and thus'serve' more locomotives.
John Baron Netherlands.

tronder · August 23, 2009, 01:37:37 PM

Yes Yes Yes Thats exactly what I'm looking for...I'm no stranger to wiring DCC but have no idea which color pins (of the

I can latch onto!! ?? And thanks for all the other info, probably several hundred others will say' Yeah' that's it!!! Thanks Hobojohn...thats worth a mint to me!!!!
Phil

Hobojohn · August 23, 2009, 03:54:02 PM

Phil,

You are welcome and just ask when the mood strikes...............

This is what I came up with in my Bachmann bus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3IGgpFlbU0&feature=related

John Baron
Netherlands

tronder · August 23, 2009, 04:34:40 PM

Well John......
Gives me something to aim for...so you just splice the sound bug into the existing decoder using the same color scheme??
Phil...just across the North Sea

the Bach-man · August 23, 2009, 09:45:58 PM

Dear Phil,
I cut the plug off the stock decoder and soldered the wires to the corresponding colors. The two purple wires go to the speaker; the green (backup light) I didn't use.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

tronder · August 24, 2009, 08:10:38 AM

Now it's just getting the guts to have a go!! Ha Ha
Phil

Hobojohn · August 25, 2009, 01:56:41 AM

Phil,

Please take note of the info in this thread also:

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php?PHPSESSID=u196e17nnbqadd80rqvasl0843&topic=6929.0

happy railroading!
and greetings from this side of the Northsea.

John Baron
Netherlands.

tronder · August 25, 2009, 04:57:48 PM

I'm so frightened of breaking something...a window and the driver fell out just coming out of the box..I wonder if there is more room in the trailer...

I will wait for the weekend I think...not feeling very brave at the moment!!! Thanks for the tips though
Phil

Hobojohn · August 26, 2009, 01:37:15 AM

Phil,

When working carefully, nothing will break. The trailer is mounted the same way as the truck. So stay with your bus. My driver fell out as did a window. No problem. The windowglazing can be glued back in, be careful not to get glue on the glazing that-can-be seen.
Lead your speaker wires from the room under the roof through the proposed whole for the speaker into the 'passengerroom' and mount it with a piece of double sided tape from inside.
Watch the 'fold-up'steps on the back of the bus.
Abner the busdriver can be glued back on his chair before remounting the bus

It can all be done.

John Baron

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Sound in a Rail bus