Climax speaker

[mickeykelley]

I recently got a new version NEW Climax DCC ready.  I added a Phoenix P8 sound board  using the factory speaker and it all sounded great.  After maybe only a half hour or less of running DC, I started hearing the. Sound cut in and out. At first I thought the were dead spots in the rail but noticed the engine seemed to still run.  Then all sound stopped. I assumed a wire came loose or something. So today I started chasing it down, saw no loose wires, so first hooked up another speaker and got sounds.  No loose connections on factory speaker and it looks fine. Is there another way to test it?

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Hi Mickey,

Not sure there is another way.  It was not on a Climax but last year I cranked up the sound using o P8 and blew out a factory speaker on another brands locomotive.  Initially I thought the problem was my P8, and I called the phoenix folks who said to check my speaker first(which I should have done anyway) before sending the P8 in for repair.  in a later call they told me it was not the first time their system blew a speaker.

Not much help, but all I have!

Bill

[charon]

Mickey (and Bill)
You said you were operating the P8 on your DC layout.  I thought the P8 was for DCC and you were supposed to use the Phoenix PB11 for DC?  Is this correct?
Thanks,
Chuck

[mickeykelley]

According to the guy at Phoenix, he said to use the P8.

[Kevin Strong]

If you're running the Climax off of "traditional" DC track power, then you need the PB11. That's Phoenix's analog DC-compatible board. You can run the P8 off of analog track power feeding the motor voltage inputs, but you need a battery to power the board itself. Here's the thing, though. With the P8, that has to be at least 12 volts, and the battery is not recharged from track power. You'd have to wire an on/off switch to the P8 to shut the power off to the sound board.

The PB11 is designed to use a much smaller battery as a low-voltage back-up to the track power. It does not require a power switch between the battery and the board, and the battery is recharged by the track voltage.

Later,

K

[mickeykelley]

I'm running it with Locolinc so track voltage is always at 18 volts.  It gets its power from the motor connections as I recall, yet it still makes the coal shovel, etc noise when standing still yet I don't have a battery. When I got this new climax, I called them and gave them my setup and they said use the P8.  But now I'm gonna double check wiring because if it gets it power from motor, how does it make standing still noise?  Now I'm really curious.

[Kevin Strong]

Page 19 of the Phoenix P8 manual has the wiring diagram for the Phoenix/Locolinc combination. The 18 volts (constant track or battery power) goes into C1, pins 1 and 2, while the motor voltage output of the Locolinc goes to the C1 pins 6 and 7. (C1 is the connector the speaker gets hooked to on pins 3 and 5)

Later,

K