Robin Gristwood Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 I need some help with installing a Loksound V4 XL in a Heljan Class 20. I bought the sound decoder and speaker from South West Digital. I thought it would be a straight swap for the light board, but I find its much wider. In fact its so wide that it won’t fit inside the body as you can see. I remember Caroline from SWD telling me when I ordered it, that the speaker needed to be fitted on its side due to lack of space, but I don't remember anything about the actual decoder. The other thing I found was that there appears to be provision in the fuel tank to fit a speaker, but the nicely moulded grille openings are covered by a thick slab of plastic that I tried to lever off but seems to be particularly well glued in. Can anyone show me how they fitted a Loksound XL in their Class 20 please? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold uk_pm Posted August 22, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 22, 2015 Hi Robin I had the same problem a few months back - and jolly disappointing it is too. I am not happy with my solution, but it was an acceptable compromise in the circumstances. I have a small end-to-end O gauge layout and a pair of class 20s which will run in multiple. They will not haul long or heavy trains. But I do want them to sound as meaty as possible. So, in order to accommodate a decent sized speaker, I removed one of the motors (leaving one bogie to pick up only) - and the mechanism for the working fan (which is absurdly noisy in operation anyway). The speaker is in the space previously occupied by the motor, whilst the decoder slots down through that peculiar space beneath the original circuit board. The loco works fine on one motor - though I have no doubt it would work better with two. Since I performed this (completely reversible) surgery the Loksound L has become available and may provide an alternative solution. The lovely Caroline at SWD will be able to advise further, I'm sure. Good luck! Peter I need some help with installing a Loksound V4 XL in a Heljan Class 20. I bought the sound decoder and speaker from South West Digital. I thought it would be a straight swap for the light board, but I find its much wider. In fact its so wide that it won’t fit inside the body as you can see. I remember Caroline from SWD telling me when I ordered it, that the speaker needed to be fitted on its side due to lack of space, but I don't remember anything about the actual decoder. The other thing I found was that there appears to be provision in the fuel tank to fit a speaker, but the nicely moulded grille openings are covered by a thick slab of plastic that I tried to lever off but seems to be particularly well glued in. Can anyone show me how they fitted a Loksound XL in their Class 20 please? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Boy Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Hi Robin, I have converted my Tower Ltd. edition Heljan class 20 to DCC. I have a Loksound XL 3.5 from SWD. I believe the XL V4.0 is the same size. I removed the Heljan circuit board and fitted the decoder vertically in the slot in the chassis. The motors are wired in series as recommended by SWD. I have kept the fan and motor. I made a small circuit board from strip board to carry the resistors for the lights and the fan connector ( salvaged from the Heljan circuit ). I cut the battery box moulding into 3 parts discarded the centre section and glued a bass enhanced speaker into the gap. I hope this helps, space is limited, but it can be done. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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