Fitting Sound to Heljan 07 Shunter

[zr2498]

It's been a while since I did sound installations. I purchased the 07 ICI 'Langbaurgh' some time ago. Outside my era, however having started my engineering career at ICI Wilton, this was a must.

 

 

This 07 sound installation is a little more involved, as there is insufficient room to fit a sound decoder unless it is hard-wired.

I wanted to fit a stay alive as well, as I have noted the points on another thread about the problem with pick ups.

The Digitrains sound project is very comprehensive, and includes the facility to have lights at both ends (during shunting), as well as directional lighting if that is required.

 

I am basically following the install done by Paul Chetter in Hornby magazine May 2020, but there are a few differences which will be explained.

 

This is the kit used:

 

 

 

Cab, front and rear bodies, and cab floor removed.

 

 

As can be seen there are slots in the chassis to route wires, but they do not continue where the fixing screws are located for the PC board cradle.

A couple of slots were filed into the cradle as shown below.

 

 

The original PC board was removed, and a stay alive fitted into the rear chassis block (fixed with black tack).

 

 

Wires were routed into the slots and secured with Kapton. Then the cab floor plate refitted. This was removed later, see further post below.

 

 

Next will be the cab modifications to fit the speaker.

Edited April 2 by zr2498
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[Albie the plumber]

This is a great post and a great help too .

My 07 will be getting the sound treatment so this is invaluable!

Thanks for posting this .

[zr2498]

Now for the cab modification, to enable the Rail Exclusive speaker to be fitted.

The rear plate of the cab was removed. Luckily this was not glued in strongly. This would enable the handbrake column and wheel to be easily levered off with a small screwdriver.

 

 

The handbrake wheel is a nice feature, so I wanted to keep some of that. Paul removed all of the column and wheel.

So a cut made to enable the speaker to have enough depth into the cab.

 

 

The speaker was glued onto the plate, watching out for the protrusion of the drivers desk.

 

 

Then the part column and wheel were added.

 

 

And the rear plate glued back in.

 

 

Now for the wiring of the decoder. The 6 pin plug was removed, and the two function wires cut off. The hardwiring could be made directly to the decoder, but I opted to do solder joins to shortened wires, and the add heat shrink. If the joins are kept short with matching short lengths of heat shrink, then space under the bonnet is adequate.

 

Here is the Zimo wiring diagram:

 

 

As all wires in the loco (by Heljan), are red and black, they needed to be well organised.

All connected as per the diagram, with of course two reds from the front and rear lights combined, and connected to the blue Common Power +ve.

 

 

You will notice that the cab floor plate has been removed and the area covered with Kapton (for insulation re speaker connections).

I found that the cab was just too tight a fit with the floor plate in. Removal gave that extra clearance and a little more space between the speaker and the chassis. I suspect Paul had installed the speaker just a little higher in the cab.

 

Another danger was the speaker wires coming into contact with the gears. I cut a small piece out of the cab front.

 

 

The speaker wires were connected and fixed to one side using black tack.

 

 

Finally all re-assembled, taking care about the pipes at the front which have to be positioned frequently as the bonnet is lowered.

 

 

Sound is excellent for such a small speaker, with lots of driveability from Digitrains (Paul Chetter), which I need to spend some 'play time' with.