Graham Radish Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 I ordered a farish class 70 a zimo sound chip and soundfile to match yesterday, this morning had an email from Digitrains saying i forgot to buy a speaker, so theyve sent me one out free, damn this really hit home that there are some genuine nice people still left in this world, bless them. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliepetty Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 I ordered a farish class 70 a zimo sound chip and soundfile to match yesterday, this morning had an email from Digitrains saying i forgot to buy a speaker, so theyve sent me one out free, damn this really hit home that there are some genuine nice people still left in this world, bless them. Jeremy at Digitrains is a reliable supplier of all types & makes of Digital, re the Zimo decoders, unlike ESU they do not come with speakers thus the list prices are lower. Charlie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 15, 2019 Author Share Posted January 15, 2019 (edited) I really like zimo chips, and love how many cvs they have its a huge list. think my class 70 soundfile though doesnt have the "activedrive" function? so i hear anyway. The class70 is so ugly thats probably why i like it so much lol Edited January 15, 2019 by Graham Radish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perfect Paul Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 (edited) Jeremy at Digitrains is a reliable supplier of all types & makes of Digital, re the Zimo decoders, unlike ESU they do not come with speakers thus the list prices are lower. Charlie That explains why ZIMO decoders appear to be cheaper than other makes. I didn't realise that a speaker wasn't provided, and that you had to purchase a speaker as well. When I have studied the overall cost of the sound chip + active drive + speaker, it soon becomes apparent that this certainly Bumps up the price somewhat. Edited January 16, 2019 by Perfect Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Kynaston Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 I think they have recently increased the prices of all the 'active drive' sound projects to £15. Only the standard projects are listed as 1p on the Digitrains website now. Richard I believe from a friend, that Paul Chetter no longer supplies his projects direct (ie from himself) but has handed over/sold/done a deal with Digitrains for them to be the sole distributor. Thats what I am told, but I'll stand corrected!! The £15 projects are Paul's, where as the standard ones are produced by somebody else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Kynaston Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 That explains why ZIMO decoders appear to be cheaper than other makes. I didn't realise that a speaker wasn't provided, and that you had to purchase a speaker as well. When I have studied the overall cost of the sound chip + active drive + speaker, it soon becomes apparent that this certainly Bumps up the price somewhat. Swings and roundabouts I guess. I prefer the Zimo decoders, and like it better that there are no speakers included as you can get acquire whatever you want from whomever, without buying a part you don't need! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 Well this brilliant company have indeed given me the £15 sound file, im sticking with Digitrains permanently now, what a brilliant company they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 (edited) Everythings working very nice, and the sounds the most crisp and clear ive ever heard! but one problem, the decoder doesnt fit under the bodyshell! grrrrrrrr Edited January 16, 2019 by Graham Radish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliepetty Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 Everythings working very nice, and the sounds the most crisp and clear ive ever heard! but one problem, the decoder doesnt fit under the bodyshell! grrrrrrrr What loco are you fitting?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted January 16, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 16, 2019 Farish 70. I’m not too surprised, there aren’t many n gauge locos where you can just stick in a 6-pin decoder and speaker and be away. You generally need to do some modification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 What loco are you fitting?? Class 70 powerhaul m8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 Got the iron on and tools out, im determined to get this to fit without taking out the pcb, i like to keep the integrity of the model as much as possible, theres a switch at the bottom for the tail lights no no problems there. Dont think digitrains knew it wouldnt fit, the one i was going to get was the hard wired version of the decoder and its 2mm shorter in length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perfect Paul Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 (edited) Everythings working very nice, and the sounds the most crisp and clear ive ever heard! but one problem, the decoder doesnt fit under the bodyshell! grrrrrrrr Hi Graham, I hope you get it sorted one way or another. Cheers. Paul DSC00071.JPG Edited January 16, 2019 by Perfect Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted January 16, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 16, 2019 If you succeed I’d be interested to know! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 (edited) If you succeed I’d be interested to know! Ok fella ive sorted it, after much testing i have found a way to fit this decoder to this train without any mechanical modifying, so for anyone out there with this train and this decoder this is how it fits, hope this is helps. De-solder the factory 6 pin socket, insert from underneath (the decoder fits in upside down) and solder the decoders 6 pins directly to the PCB, this frees up 6mm, as the decoder will never have to come out of the loco anyway, i think this is the best option for reliability. Route the speaker wire under the pcb and fit the speaker the opposite end. Everything is in tact, no mods of the chassis needed. One of the tiny split chassis power screws flew somewhere so be careful, lol, gotta find another screw now from somewhere! Anyway all done, sounds beautiful. Now you have a spare 6pin micro male and female socket to make your own cab light power connection (from supplied dc plug) Edited January 16, 2019 by Graham Radish 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 Nice job. You did well to get it all in Richard Now if anyone knows how to remove the cabs that would be great, just got to fit the cab lights then all done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 (edited) Now if anyone knows how to remove the cabs that would be great, just got to fit the cab lights then all done. Ok removing the cabs is easy enough, they just lift upwards, continuing on now in fitting the lights, ill be using 0402 warm white leds with a 1k resistor Actually even better would be a 10k resistor on the common positive, this will reduce the cab lights down to 1.9v and very realistic light levels for a cabin. Ive just set CV 127 to 1 and CV 128 to 2, and CV 42 to 12, now everythings working epic, directional cab lights that can be switch off and on with F8 Edited January 17, 2019 by Graham Radish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted January 17, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2019 try setting cv127 to 61 and cv128 to 62 - they will self extinguish when the loco moves 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Kynaston Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Well done Graham, nice bit of investigative work and very productive Richie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 This is hands down the best decoder ive ever used, ive never heard so many random engine sounds before, and the sound quality is top notch! Ive turned down cv266 overall volume) to 32, as i want to create the illusion of distance on the layout, the 70 will be doing some heavy work randomly fading into and out of the the tunnel at the back, pulling freightliner wagons. roughly every 20 minutes In the end i found the perfect speaker for this train rated at 12ohms too which puts less stress on the decoder, i had a broken old sony ericsson k800i mobile phone lying around i used the handsfree speaker out of it, soon as the shell is on it sounds very crisp which is great for flange squeal and brake noises. Ive made a note of what ive done to the train so in future when i get another 70 will make life easier. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 20, 2019 Author Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) Been fiddling with this train again, i tell you what, i have now got maximum respect for anyone managing to fit cab-lights and sound to these n gauge locos, especially the class 70! this is far from easy in fact id rate the difficulty 9/10 for this train. The class 37 was easier as the chassis is wider, but the 70 in n gauge damn, the wiring has to be 100% perfect everywhere, even had to take out and re-fit the shell contact board for the headlights to make things fit properly. the 70 is an absolute swine. once eveythings completed electrically going to give the train light weathering, but only very light around the fans and fuel tank, will probably use weathering powders and seal with matt varnish or something havent fully decided yet. Trying to find some pictures on where to weather it properly. After further investigation and testing this speaker is the only one that will fit in this train model: while the sony speaker fitted ok it vibrated like hell so its got to go: ABS-237-RC farnell sell them for 3 quid: https://uk.farnell.com/pro-signal/abs-237-rc/speaker-8ohm-88db-0-5w/dp/2534983# CV 266 should be set to 64 for best results. Edited January 20, 2019 by Graham Radish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 Well done Graham, nice bit of investigative work and very productive Richie Never again fella! this thing is an absolute swine to work on, im sticking to 37's and 66's from now on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Radish Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 QUICK UPDATE: These speakers are £1.50 each here with free delivery, just ordered a few for future models. https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/miniature-speakers/1176046/?relevancy-data=636F3D3126696E3D4931384E53656172636847656E65726963266C753D656E266D6D3D6D61746368616C6C7061727469616C26706D3D5E2E2A2426706F3D31333326736E3D592673723D2673743D43415443485F414C4C5F44454641554C542673633D592677633D4E4F4E45267573743D4142532D3233372D524320737065616B6572267374613D4142532D3233372D524320737065616B657226&searchHistory=%7B%22enabled%22%3Atrue%7D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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