Dan Griffin Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 can anyone advise me how to shoe horn a ESU (v4) sound decoder into the body of a 21 pin chassis Bachmann class 20? im using a 8 pin to 21 pin adapter. the speaker has been changed to a 20mm by 40mm version. the speakers casing has been removed. the ESU decoder is fitted wiith an 8 pin plug but there are 21 holes on the docoder itself. can i remove some of the plastic coating and use it as a plug and play 21 pin decoder.? thanks in advance. dan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 can anyone advise me how to shoe horn a ESU (v4) sound decoder into the body of a 21 pin chassis Bachmann class 20? im using a 8 pin to 21 pin adapter. the speaker has been changed to a 20mm by 40mm version. the speakers casing has been removed. the ESU decoder is fitted wiith an 8 pin plug but there are 21 holes on the docoder itself. can i remove some of the plastic coating and use it as a plug and play 21 pin decoder.? thanks in advance. dan Hi Dan, If you have a decoder with 21 holes in it and a chassis with 21 pins on a circuit board then just mate the two together and it will work. You shouldn't have to remove any plastic covering. The only caveat is the speaker which will probably need to be attached to two solder pads/terminals on the chassis mounted PCB. If you have removed the speaker casing the results will be appalling and turn you off sound forever. I would suggest that you replace it. If the speaker won't fit as a result, buy one that does complete with its casing or ask on here whether it can be shoehorned (complete with casing) into the fuel tanks under the loco. This might depend on which version of the model you have. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cassey jones Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 For the speaker bit, just blu tac the speaker under the fan [fan removed first] -seal it in, but make sure you do not get any tac onto the speaker face. Once reassembled to the chassis, the space inside the body works as a sound chamber.... it does work, surprising well [with my Digitrain Zimos any way !] Proof it works... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-8WZFaKcXM&list=UU75Z063nfWhZmTjULTC3dyg&index=5&feature=plcp Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 If you have a decoder with 21 holes in it and a chassis with 21 pins on a circuit board then just mate the two together and it will work. I think David may have misunderstood the description of the decoder. A 21pin decoder "plug" on the PCB is a lump of plastic with metal contacts within it. A PCB might be drilled with 21 holes, they might be in the correct orientation with the correct things wired past each hole, but there is no guarantee that those would make a good electrical contact with the pins of a 21pin "socket". The ESU website shows a photo of several variants of the LokSound V4. The holes and the contact soldering point for the MTC21 "plug" is visible on those examples which have wired connections. http://www.esu.eu/en...d/loksound-v40/ I'd advise Dan to go back to the seller of the decoder and ask to swap it for one with an MTC21 plug if that's what's needed to fit in the loco. - Nigel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Griffin Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 the thing is its sold as a dcc sound decoder for a class 20. fine, the only problems being is that the 8 pin plug in bachmanns 20 is where the speaker needs to sit so there simply isnt enough room inside the bodyshell for it. after paying for the chip im loathed to then pay a further 20 odd quid to have it fitted when it should be plug and play. all in all a very dissapointing experience with dcc sound. and it'll be a while until i buy another esu sound decoder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasatcopthorne Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 Dan. Can I just clarify something. In your original post you say it is a 21 pin Bachmann chassis and now you say you have an 8 pin plug in your 20. Have you fallen foul of the change to the chassis. When I wanted to add sound to my 20 there was no room for the speaker. I then discovered that Bachmann have changed the chassis to accomodate a speaker. In so doing, they moved the socket from one end to the other. See photo. Newer chassis at the rear. Those fitting the original chassis with sound were forced to put a speaker in the cab. (Just discovered that I cannot upload photos. Will do asap) Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasatcopthorne Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 Here we go! Note the DCC socket has changed ends. Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Griffin Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 yes, its a 21 pin chassis with an 8 pin to 21 pin adapter fitted. thanks for the pics. i dont like the sound (pardon the pun) of speaker in the cab! i think im going to hard wire the sound chip into the ex-21 pin chassis. then there will be room. ill keep you posted. thanks for your help pal, cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Griffin Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 ive just had a look and putting the decoder on the cab floor is an option. maybe its not as bad after all!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buggerlugs Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Hi Dan, I tried to use one of those 21pin to 8 pin adaptors some time ago on one of my Class 20's. Because of the "extra stack up" in height caused by using this adaptor the the body wouldn't fit down snugly. Regards B.L. P.S. you can fit a speaker in the older 8 pin version, but you have to remove a fair amount of the chassis so the decoder can be mounted on it's "end" in the space made by removing "said" chassis. A 20 x 40 speaker can then be fitted (JUST), where the decoder "was". Hope this makes sense? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Griffin Posted October 5, 2012 Author Share Posted October 5, 2012 ive ended up hard wiring the decoder and fitted the speaker in the 21 pin chassis and all is well. alot of work though for a supposed plug and play chip!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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