Converting a 2011 Climax from DCC to DC

[Chris9017]

Hello, I bought the new generation Climax back in 2011 with DCC  & sound and thought it would be a cost saving over getting regular Climax without the DCC and having to add sound later.

Nope, not so much.  The idle sounds are amazing, but that's about it, without the DCC remote, the whistle won't blow much, the bell will ring on throttle control, but the volume is not adjustable.  And from an earlier post I asked, I found out that I can't make the whistle and bell go off with magnetic triggers like that of most sound units, and that I can't adjust the volume with the addition of a switch. 

With that being said, I've decided to go ahead and buy a Phoenix PB-11 V6 sound board to put in the engine, but 2 questions.  How would I convert it from DCC to Normal DC in order for the engine to not use as much voltage to run, and what terminals on the engine's circuit board should I use as a power and ground source for my PB-11 V6 sound board from Phoenix?

Thank you

Chris

[StanAmes]

Best is if you remove the DCC board from the socket and replace it with a dummy board.  Call service and ask for a dummy board from the C-19, the Forney, or the 2-6-6-2.

I have many of these lying around and you can have one for postage if desired.

The connections for the power, signal and chuff are all on solder pads on the side of the main board or you can wire the the Phoenix to the Dummy board.

Hope that helps

Stan

[Chris9017]

Thank you.


Do you know which solder points on the main board I should use for my power and ground to work the Phoenix sound board?

[StanAmes]

Thank you.


Do you know which solder points on the main board I should use for my power and ground to work the Phoenix sound board?

For the PB11 V6 make the following connections

Pins 1 and 2 on your PB11 go the the track which is J1-1 and J1-11

Input trigger 1 (pin 12) goes to the locomotive's chuff output

If needed the trigger ground (pin 14) goes to the locomotive ground (-)  Likely not needed

That is all there is to it

Stan

[Chris9017]

I couldn't find a pin labled J-11 on the board.  Is it the pin labled ground that is right next to pin J-1?

[Chris9017]

Also can the speaker installed on the Climax handle the high powerful loud volume on that of a Phoenix PB-11V6 sound unit?   If not what is the diameter of the speaker so I can get the right one from Phoenix?  The reason I asked this is because I used the speaker already supplied from Bachmann on the Industrial Mogul and hooked it up to the Phoenix Sound Board.  However, on full blast, it barely lasted 5 minutes before giving out the ghost, and I had to order speaker from Phoenix that could handle the volume.

[Chris9017]

Also, it's a very tight fit so where should I put the sound board?  There is a cooling fan the is litterally right on to top of the dummy plug, and if I removed the cooling fan, I'd have the room I need, but there would be no way for the electronics to stay cool.  Where would be a good location for the small PB-11V6 sound board in the tender tank?   Thank you?

[Kevin Strong]

If you're just drawing power from the track, the cooling fan will not be needed. (I don't know that it's "needed" in a stock DCC installation, either. I've got a QSI Titan in mine with no fan, and it runs just fine.)

How loud do you run your sound systems? I find the minute I get my systems anywhere near their maximum volume, the teenager next door complains that I'm drowning out his stereo. That having been said, I think it's a 2.5" opening in the bunker. I forget exactly. I found a speaker that fit and used it. I've had it running at shows where I do need to crank them a bit just to hear them above the din, with no ill effects to the speaker. I honesty can't remember if my Climax (non-DCC) came stock with a speaker or not. I removed everything from the bunker when I started modifying it as I was thinking about where to stuff the batteries and other components. It could very well be that it came with a speaker and the one that fit was actually the original one.

Later,

K