Life Like GP20

[RexAshton]

After some advice here if possible. I'm thinking of building a small shunting plank in American N and want to use my existing locos etc. The plan is only 3'6" long. I have a Life Like GP20 which runs like a dream but despite a lot of research I can't figure out how to fit sound to it. Conversion to DCC is simple enough with a TCS GPCN decoder but as I see it even using a Zimo mx 648 or 649 sound decoder leaves nowhere to put even the smallest speaker. What I would like to know is if I use the TCS decoder in the loco could I fit a sound decoder under the layout and use it power some small active powered computer speakers and configure both with the same address? I know the sound won't move the loco but on a layout that's only 3'6" long this probably won't be obvious at normal viewing distances. The main question I have is, would the sound decoder be capable of driving the active speakers?I'm sure passive speakers would cook it but active speakers only need the output of a headphone jack. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Guest Half-full]

You can wire the sound decoder into the track circuit and run it with the loco as a consist - however you'll need to put a load on the sound decoder ie a motor with around the same resistance as the loco motor - Ideally another loco motor

 

You can then use any speakers that match the ohms of the decoder - such as one of the EM1 speakers that LegoManBiffo sells

 

Have a look here....

 

https://www.12admrg.co.uk/dcc-soundcard.html

[RexAshton]

1 hour ago, Half-full said:

You can wire the sound decoder into the track circuit and run it with the loco as a consist - however you'll need to put a load on the sound decoder ie a motor with around the same resistance as the loco motor - Ideally another loco motor

 

You can then use any speakers that match the ohms of the decoder - such as one of the EM1 speakers that LegoManBiffo sells

 

Have a look here....

 

https://www.12admrg.co.uk/dcc-soundcard.html

That's brilliant. Thanks very much.

[Izzy]

I’ve added TTS decoders to diesel locos for sound only - with the same address - with another driving the motor ( because the TTS was unable to provide decent motor control in these cases), and they work fine without any motor load, so I would think that just hooking them up to the track  bus under the baseboard would work fine.  Whether this works for all makes of sound decoder I wouldn’t know. 
 

Izzy

[pauliebanger]

No GP 20 sounds on TTS decoders.

 

You can certainly use a ZIMO decoder without a motor and the sound will ramp up and spool down with the throttle, but as I advised in the article linked to above, for engine sounds which react correctly to loco movement, a slave motor in consist with the loco decoder will produce the best effect.

 

Best regards,

 

Paul

 

 

[Izzy]

On 31/03/2020 at 23:03, pauliebanger said:

No GP 20 sounds on TTS decoders.

No, I was just working on the principle that perhaps sound decoders of any make, certainly diesel ones, don’t need a motor load to work. Thinking that maybe the speakers are the load needed for them to sound. The TTS just seem to react to throttle settings rather than motor load from my experiences. Perhaps they are less sophisticated than others in this aspect. And of course are much cheaper if all that’s needed/desired is a generic sound for a particular loco.

 

Izzy

[Covkid]

For what it's worth, and if you are interested, the GP20 was a turbocharged EMD so probably sounded very similar to the more common EMD GP30 and GP35.   

[long island jack]

Have a look here

 

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=LIFELIKE+GP20+SOUND+INSTALL&docid=608043098367656073&mid=6FE1A776D63CEE3627A66FE1A776D63CEE3627A6&view=detail&FORM=VIRE