Adding sound to three truck shay

[greevesqub]

I am thinking about getting one of the three truck shays.  There are none available with the factory installed sound.  I see that there is a SDCC Sound Board - AE32008 (DCC Sound) available for the three truck shay in the spare parts section.  Can this be installed in a Product Code: 82499 shay?  If so is it a plug and play proposition?
Thanks,
Dennis B.

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Hi Dennis,

I see you have had no responses, so I am hoping either the Bach-man or Yardmaster will see this and respond if I bump it back to the top.

Bill

[Bucksco]

Sorry Bill but the Shay is way before my time and I'm assuming it is a sound board from the original run. If the original poster does not have experience installing decoders (especially in a loco as complex as the shay) I would suggest he take it to a pro who does DCC/Sound installations for either an install or advice. The board will probably work with newer models but it will take someone with "Shay experience" to trace all the wiring and install the board since it is definitely not "plug and play".

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Thanks, Yardmaster,

Maybe one of our electronics experts can help if they see this.

Regards,

Bill

[greevesqub]

Thanks again Bill for your help.
Regards,
Dennis B.

[StanAmes]

Let me see if I can help.

In the parts section there is a sound decoder for the 3 truck shay.

https://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69_143&products_id=10457&zenid=udab5f1qhv5qhr000oa1oqnse4

This is the identical decoder that is in the sound version.

On one end of this product are 4 screw terminals used for the track input and motor output.  On the board in the shay's fuel bunker there are a set of screw terminals. You need to look at both the DC wiring and DCC wiring.  You need to unscrew the specified wires and move them to the decoder which should be mounter under the main board.  

At the other end of the decoder there is a socket.   You unplug a corresponding plug on the main board and plug this into the decoder's socket.  I think there are a couple other wires that need to move from one screw terminal to another as specified in the DC and DCC wiring.

Some cautions

1)  The wiring in the 3 truck shay are small and easily broken.  Care must be taken not to break wires off the main board.  (been there done that)

2)  This an old decoder product and will only work up to about 19 volts DCC.  If your DCC system puts out higher volts you will need to lower the input voltage to the decoder or it will not work.

Hope that helps.

Stan

[greevesqub]

Thanks Stan for t.he help
Regards,
Dennis B.