040 Sidetank Porter with Soundtrax SDX ?

[Eugene]

I recently installed battery operation and a airwire 900 for remote control.I have used a Phoenix P5 on an other set up for sound and it is great. But at $160 ea that soundboard is expensive. Has anyone used the Soundtrax SDX board, it is a lot less. But its audio output is only 1W , is that enough for G scale outside operation?

Gene

BTW I also use a Dallee diesel board, it is ok.

[Steve Stockham]

  The short answer is "no." That is what Soundtraxx's Sierra units are for! Now, the 0-4-0 is a small engine and probably would never pull more than an amp but I have to admit that I'm not an expert. I'm sure someone has tried it before....

[Eugene]

The Airwire 900 is a wireless control using batteries, so I can run the Porter w/o having to clean the track.

The Soundtraxx DSX is a sound only decoder, powered by the Airwire 900 DCC booster  output. It has 1 W output. Engine and sound are controlled by the wireless remote,
I am using that also on a Connie, except with a Phoenix P5 audio board at $160.00 but with 5W output.
The DSX board is only $66.00 , and according to the sound samples on their website, sounds just great and has all the whistles and bells plus fireman, water pump etc etc ec.

Just wanted to point that out to the previous poster.

Eugene

[Steve Stockham]

Well, give her a try and report how it's working! Like I said, I'm sure somebody has tried it!

[calenelson]

I'm 2/3rds complete with my Saddle Tank RCS conversion and I'm using a Sountraxx Board....different, I know.....the speaker I am using (Supplied by Dave Goodson from NWRCS) says it's rated at .25W at 8 ohms and is 2" across....I haven't tested-yet, and I am not familar w/ the A/W system or the DSX boards...I'd bet it'd work?

[Eugene]

Good luck with your conversion.
My DSX board came in today and works fine, that is, after some serious wrestling with the programming , like audio level, chuff level etc. The sound level could stand some improvement, I want my neighbors to hear the whistle!

BTW, I have an Anni that uses a Phoenix P5 board. the speaker is the original, rated at 0.5W, so far it held up to the 5W output of the P5 board. And I cannot really see any difference in the sound quality vs the DSX, but output level is MUCH better on the P5.

I am running battery with 11 AA NIMH batteries, 2AmpHr. Since I keep the battery charged via the track, using a bridge rectifier, the engine can run forever and I get away with a small, 2Ahr and cheap battery. I have 3 engines , all battery operation, and never had to stop running them due to battery discharge. In fact I stopped using  battery cars ( to increase AHr to 4). The batteries from one are now in the Porter.
Using SS track.

I did enlarge the holes in the speaker grille by app 100% ,area wise.


Will try to post a picture. Tried, do not know how.

Eugene

[Eugene]

BTW, I have the batteries in the center and the electronics in the side tanks.
Eugene

[Steve Stockham]

Cool! I'm glad it's working for you! It would seem we now have another option when adding sound to a small switcher...