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Lima DCC sound


reddragon
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I have several Lima diesels and they can be made to be quiet with a bit of work. There are youtube videos (I think!) about how to do this but mainly it involves stripping down and cleaning/properly lubricating the gearing. I have also fitted CD type motors to mine which are more responsive and quieter. Fitting sound is another thing - before even contemplating it you need to improve the pickup arrangements and bin the traction tyres. A soldered connection wire between the non driven bogie pickup and the decoder is a start. This bypasses the awful clip arrangement.

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Thanks for your advice.

 

I have decided to add a harness, so I can change chips later. I am going to start on an older one with a chip + capacitor, as Lima get dirty quickly.

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56 minutes ago, reddragon said:

Thanks for your advice.

 

I have decided to add a harness, so I can change chips later. I am going to start on an older one with a chip + capacitor, as Lima get dirty quickly.

Please let us know how you get on with this.

 

I'm thinking of fitting sound to my Lima Class 156 (additional pick ups from the wheels of the trailer car have been fitted so it never stalls and cars linked with micro plug) and I've hard wired it for DCC. Runs beautifully, But as far as sound is concerned I have yet to bite the bullet! 

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1 minute ago, cravensdmufan said:

Please let us know how you get on with this.

 

I'm thinking of fitting sound to my Lima Class 156 (additional pick ups from the wheels of the trailer car have been fitted so it never stalls and cars linked with micro plug) and I've hard wired it for DCC. Runs beautifully, But as far as sound is concerned I have yet to bite the bullet! 

 

Having just taken apart a few Lima Locos I discovered that: -

 

The oldest (1980's) have a wire to a clip at the trailer end and a short uninsulated wire from the power bogie  to motor. These will need power capacitors to be reliable.

 

Later models (1990's) have a second wire to the trailer bogie so should work better but still have an uninsulated motor bogie connector

 

The last models moved on with better connectors and insulated motor bogie wires

 

The 156 I have is a bit of a wreck, that does not run and has no power bogie. The body is OK though

 

I have watched a video on how to do it and have concluded that sound will not be worth it. If I try one, it will be on the basis of moving it later to something quieter.

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6 hours ago, JST said:

I have several Lima diesels and they can be made to be quiet with a bit of work. There are youtube videos (I think!) about how to do this but mainly it involves stripping down and cleaning/properly lubricating the gearing. I have also fitted CD type motors to mine which are more responsive and quieter. Fitting sound is another thing - before even contemplating it you need to improve the pickup arrangements and bin the traction tyres. A soldered connection wire between the non driven bogie pickup and the decoder is a start. This bypasses the awful clip arrangement.

Your wasting your efforts and time on Lima, I would not bother.

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58 minutes ago, charliepetty said:

Your wasting your efforts and time on Lima, I would not bother.

Sorry, but I feel that is a very unhelpful and rather curt comment.

 

My Lima 156 runs very well with extra pick ups and the motor is in fact nice and quiet.  I have detailed it and am happy with the way it looks and runs.  I have not "wasted time and effort" on it. 

 

We are all aware of your modern and far superior Class 156.  You have been pushing your products on this forum  for years.

 

But some of us are either unwilling or unable to buy them at the premium price - and are happy to upgrade our older models. 

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I do not consider learning how to solder a £3 harness into a very good Lima loco a waste of time, money  & effort. I can add or remove DCC or sound easily. I will not let the kids drive and new high cost locos, so Lima do the job.

 

I have lots of 'cheap' Lima Locos that were much better than anything else around in the 1980's-90s. Hornby Locos couldn't pull the skin off a custard and Bachmann / Mainline / Airfix locos fell to pieces. Of my old Locos, ALL my Lima work, I have had to use old HST power cars for motors to make my Hornby locos twin motor to pull anything and my Mainline / Airfix / Bachmann I have to use with care. My old Wrenn are excellent but need a lot of servicing to be reliable.

 

So the answer to my original question was Sound in an old Lima is not worth it and will over time buy newer DCC locos

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My Lima locos were "inherited" so cost me nothing. Soldering in a bit of wire and a general service cost next to nothing and now they run quite well so I consider myself ahead of the game. However, I would not put sound in them as I reserve that for my more expensive locos. Each to their own.

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1 minute ago, Richard Croft said:

Sometimes the best advice might not be what someone wanted to hear but its given for the right reasons.

 

 

The same is true for other things.

If continually rebuilt, a real loco can last forever, but it can get to a point when the rebuild costs more than replacing it with something brand new (& possibly better).

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36 minutes ago, Richard Croft said:

He might not be happy though, and spending £100 plus on a decoder to see if he likes it is a bit of a gamble. I was once asked to fit sound to a Lima model, he was happy with the sound but it kept stalling, so he sent it back for a stay alive, that stopped it stalling but then he sent it back for lights! By the time it was finished he could have just bought a new Bachmann one with a better motor and pickups, lights already fitted etc and it would have probably worked out cheaper. Sometimes the best advice might not be what someone wanted to hear but its given for the right reasons.

 

I agree that Lima models can be made to look good, and they can even be made to run well but you're making a lot of work for yourself. It depends what his intentions are and how attached he is to these models.

 

Richard

 

Yep agree with above. 

 

I'm from the have a go yourself camp. To me experimenting with a cheap loco is the way forward. 

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21 minutes ago, dj_crisp said:

 

Yep agree with above. 

 

I'm from the have a go yourself camp. To me experimenting with a cheap loco is the way forward. 

And if you use TTS chips you havent lost a hundred pounds plus.

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On 02/07/2020 at 12:04, Richard Croft said:

I agree that Lima models can be made to look good, and they can even be made to run well but you're making a lot of work for yourself. It depends what his intentions are and how attached he is to these models.

 

Richard


But by that work people learn. My 13 year old son is doing just that with my old Lima models. He will be all the more competent before he works on something more expensive. 
 

Roy

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Where do you get the harnesses from?

 

I'm looking to convert some older loco's, but rather than hard wire in the chip wanted to fit a harness then be able to add the chips afterwards, so can add sound if I want later on, and also don't risk damaging the chip when soldering.

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On 04/09/2020 at 09:27, dj_crisp said:

I use straffpether Junction sockets available direct or on ebay. I've used both 8 pin and 21 pin versions and they're very neat.

 

I know there are other versions available but think they're just copies so I avoid these

 

These are a standard item made by Lais DCC.

 

Charlie

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On 04/09/2020 at 09:27, dj_crisp said:

I use straffpether Junction sockets available direct or on ebay. I've used both 8 pin and 21 pin versions and they're very neat.

 

I know there are other versions available but think they're just copies so I avoid these

 

 

Thanks will have a look for some

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Read through this and some of the comments are a bit off if you have a poor running loco a new CD style motor is easy enough to do a search of the bay will often find them and often cheaper than new brushes etc al so turns your loco in to a fair runner i tend to use TTS for sound with a better speaker if you can solder then the job is even easier so give it a go the more on or in a loco the easier it is to break them

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