zr2498

Learning how to use the LoPro. Much easier than trying to understand the manual. Changes made this morning, and now working as desired. F0 for front lamps and F20 for rear lamp. Longest time involved was trying to get the loco body back on again!

Thanks @Hamburger You have offered a solution at the same time as me having a look at the files via Lokprogrammer. I guess CV283 could be 1 or 2 depending on fade in / out. This seems easier than remapping so I will keep F20. I very much appreciate your help and feel a little more confident about making the change. Cheers!

Having looked at the decoder files with Lokprammer, if I want to Change F20 - AUX 2 (1) from smoke generator to dimmable light with max'm brightness, then this is the change to CVs. Hopefully - I will try after a wiring change (perhaps)?

Now for the A3 locomotive modification. The 8 pin plug (moved from the tender), was prepared for connections. The purple wire should be white, but I couldn't find any white wire! Red is also motor +ve (orange) and Black motor -ve (grey). Motor wires connected to the socket. Track wires from loco and tender connected, and then routed to the 8 pin socket. Firebox flicker LED / 1K ohm resistor prepared. A 3mm diameter hole was drilled in the back plate. LED installed using black tack, with wires Blue (+ve common) and Green (AUX 1) for firebox flicker - coal shovelling. Zen 3 wire stay alive installed, and connected to the decoder. Black (GND), White (CTRL) and Blue (+ve). Front loco lamps were installed. 0.4mm diameter holes were drilled for the wires, and routed as shown. Blue wire to a 50K ohm resistor, and then connected to both positives of the LED lamps. White (purple in this case), wire for front lamps connected to negative legs of LED lamps. The speaker wireswere connected to brown wires on the decoder, then lots of tidying up. It was difficult to get the loco body back on until the wires were well secured with insulation tape as shown below. The decoder was sited in the roof of the locomotive body, and aligned properly in front of the motor. The wires were checked on each side in turn to prevent trapping. Tested, with lighting and stay alive working fine. The sound from the EM1 is tremendous! HOWEVER: The function of the lamps is not as desired. I would prefer to have independent control of the front lamps and the tender rear lamp. I am thinking of doing this modification: a) connecting common blue to the front lamps, and returning to 'connected' yellow and white wires. That should have the front lamps working On / OFF with F0 in both forwards and reverse directions? b) connecting the blue common to the rear lamp and returning via the purple wire AUX2. Then F20 would control the rear lamp? I expect that I might need to change the F20 function mapping, as currently for the smoke generator? This is a little new to me, so could do with some advice.

I've a couple of A3s which have been waiting for DCC conversion for quite some time. The idea behind this project was to see just what was possible, and to take in some learning on working loco lamps. So included is; Locoman sound and large EM1 speaker, firebox flicker, stay alive and working front and rear lamps. As there would be lots of kit to install in the loco, the decoder plug was in the wrong place (tender). That would require a stack of wires between loco and tender (not good). On opening up the loco, it was clear that the 8 pin DCC socket had been located on top of the loco chassis on even older models, so transfer to the loco should be possible. This was the kit used: First the tender. The 8 pin plug was disconnected and the weight removed. The tender pickups had to be disconnected and then resoldered. As the decoder would be moved to the loco, the existing 4 pin plug between loco and tender was modified. The outer two pins remained as L & R track pick ups, and the two centre pins would be the new speaker connections. An EM1 speaker was to be installed. The lugs for fitting the weight, and the existing speaker surround was clipped off. The lugs were also cut off the EM1 speaker, and the EM1 speaker cable was connected to the 4 pin plug. Speaker installed using black tack. The coal chute was cut out of the tender body. The rear tender lamp (red), would be connected to the loco via a 2 pin JST connector. Preparation of the DCC Concepts lamps. Painting was done using the same method as on the Q6. Black primer, and then an off white. Sadly, DCC concepts no longer have these lamps available, but they are looking to introduce them again - hopefully. I could not get LNER lamps, so LMS / BR had to used. The lamp was installed together with a 50K ohm resistor in the positive leg. The positive would connect to Blue +ve common, and the negative return to the yellow wire (rear lights). Tender body fitted. The next part will cover the installation in the locomotive.

The second A4 sound installation into a Hornby model. Again, an ESU V4 decoder was available. The kit used: Coal chute removed from the tender body. Lead shot was added to the tender chassis. This modification was done some time ago. Note that following advice from an RMWeb member, I now superglue lead shot in, rather than using PVA, in case of unwanted expansion. 3 wire stay alive wires connected, Black (GND), White (CTRL), and Blue (+ve) A small piece of styrene was added to make a level platform for the speaker. Speaker (with added weights), decoder, and stay alive control board added. Another weight, 10g added to the tender body. Capacitor bank fitted to the tender body with black tack. Tender body and coal load fitted. As with the GAM sound upgrade, a great sound, and excellent drivability with the Locoman Sounds functionality. The bigger speaker is marginally better than the GAM install. If I sound install another Hornby A4, I might check to see if the 40 mm long speaker would avoid the need to cut out the coal space?

First sound installation, is for an upgade to the Golden Age Models A4. A superb model, but the sound and functionality of the original V3.5 chip, speaker and sound files is poor by today's standards. Note that this project used an ESU V4 decoder, as it has been sitting on the 'to do' shelf for a long time! This is the kit used: 6 tiny screws hold the tender body on. Once removed, the 'old' speaker and chip were removed (hardwired in). There was just insufficient room for a 55mm long speaker 😟. I wasn't about start cutting and carving a GAM brass model, so a 40 X 20 X 10mm Rail Exclusive speaker was selected. This was installed into the roof of the tender body, using sticky pads. The pads would give some vibration absorbtion between the speaker and the brass tender body. A Zen 3 wire stay alive would be used. The medium size capacitor bank would fit neatly into one side of the coal chute. 3 wires connected. Black (GND), White (CTRL) and Blue (+ve). The 8 pin plug was removed from the decoder, and the orange, grey, red and black wires hardwired to the tender connections. Speaker connections made, and unused wires insulated. Components fitted into the tender body. And tested. Much better sound, and drivability with the Locoman Sounds functionality.

You could always reduce the volume of all of the other locos! 😀

Thanks for showing this, and the cure for the bowed circuit board. Did you remove, or disconnect the cube speaker? I was also wondering, as these have ESU decoders, could the firmware be updated so that treble and bass can be adjusted. This is a new feature with V5 Loksound decoders that can be easily adjusted with a Lokprogrammer.

Another Hornby 9F. This time the coal chute (after taking the coal load out), was interesting and I wanted to keep it. So how to do a sound installation in the tender without cutting and carving, or having the stay alive in the coal chute (as the Tyne Docks above). For 3 wire connections (needed for ESU decoders), I have started using the Zen plug and play. These are 2 part and have different size capacitor banks, so a suitable size can be selected. This is the kit used: The tender was opened up, the track pick-up wires disconnected and the weight removed. Track connections resoldered. Lead shot added and glued with 'hot' cyano. Wiring to the decoder. As with previous models, I wanted to have the firebox flicker control via the function button for coal shovelling. Green (black) and blue (blue) wires for AUX 1. In addition the 3 wire stay alive was connected. Speaker glued to the tender frame. The PC board and decoder were fixed to the side of the speaker with black tack. The front and back of the PC board were insulated first. The two part stay alive was fixed into the body of the tender, again with black tack. The capacitor bank had to be reduced from super (photo above), to large. There was also enough clearance to add a 10g weight. Exposed contacts were insulated. An extra 10g weight was attached to the underside of the coal load. The firebox flicker wiring modifications were carried out as previously shown on the first loco in this thread. The wiring connector was a little tidier this time. Another one completed, but without any cutting out of the tender body. Too late to go back to the first one! Not forgetting the CV settings for the three wire stay alive.

Just completed 2nd 8F sound in a similar way, hardwiring in the loco and removing the 8 pin socket / plug. Speaker in the tender and firebox flicker. It's the 2nd install in this thread:

A second 8F for sound installation. This Hornby model is a relatively old design, with the tender wheel pick ups not connected via a plug. The model still looks good though, and this project was aimed at finding out what was possible. The DCC Ready 8 pin socket is in the loco, but there is little room above that to fit a decent size sound decoder. The kit used: First to the tender. With the weight removed there is plenty of room for a large speaker. Lugs for the weight snipped off. A support strip fits under one end of the speaker, which is then glued in place. 50 grams of weights added, replacing the 80 grams original. A 2mm diameter hole was drilled to take the speaker wires. Inside the loco. Impossible to fit the sound decoder above the plug and 8 pin socket. So, no choice but to remove the plug and hard wire. Even then there was insufficient room, so the 8 pin socket lugs were removed. The other thing I wasn't keen on, was the left hand track loco pick up was connected to the chassis. So a new task for me. Stripping out the keeper plate and modifying it to have wired connections to both sets of pick ups. First a hole drilled in the keeper plate. The tab on he end of the wire that was used to connect the decoder socket to chassis was used to make up a contact point above the new hole in the keeper plate. Two cables through and fixed. The new connections tested with DC first. First without the tender to enure the pick ups on the loco were OK and then with the tender to check for crossd wires. Now for the decoder. Stay alive attached. Firebox flicker,resistor and LED prepared. Fitted to firebox. This model has a rectangular hole already available. Hardwire connections made, including firebox flicker to the brown wire . This is F02 on the Zimo decoder to enable the flicker effect. F01 (green) would give constant illumination. As can be seen above, the decoder and stay alive are partly fitted into the firebox, and with the 8 pin plug assembly removed there is just enough clearance. This was quite a job to close up, and the wires had to be taped to the top of the worm gear housing and chassis block so nothing was blocking the sides of the chassis. All assembled and tested. Finally, to get the firebox flicker effect, a couple of CV changes to have the effect when coal shovelling on F6. CV 40 from 0 to 8, and CV 128 from 72 to 8. A big sound, and I had to turn the volume down! Next will be some practice at using the Protodrive, especially with a reverser control on F5. Additional setting change. Chuff rate seemed to high. Extract from Zimo manual. 2 outside cylinders = 4 chuffs per revolution. Was about 6. Changed CV #267 from 90 to 110.

Nice job! And much better coal load 🙂👍

So from Autumn 23 to Autumn 24! Another 12 months. That means it has slipped ETA more than the elapsed time between newsletters. I wish I had never paid up front for 3 models I am waiting for. I wonder if I can get my money back?

The headbox assemblies would be useful as spares, but a daft question. Have you checked the other end of the loco in case fitted at the wrong end?

Nice email this morning, with a Black Friday deal for 1/2 price subscription at £22.49 for 1 year 🙂 But then after 12 months would resume at £44.99 per year. The 2021 and 2022 costs were £29.99 per year, so the deal is not so good after all 😟 Effectively a 50% increase! I have not renewed in 2023 yet, but has anyone already seen the higher price. Would appreciate otehres thoughts on this.

It would be interesting to know how the ACC capacitors are wired up and controlled. For ESU decoders, the stay alives are preferably 3 wire type connections; +ve, GND and control. That is why when connecting to ESU decoders, I use either the Zen 3 wire capacitors interfaced with their control board, or ESU's own integrated capacitor and control module. For other makes, Zimo and D & H for example, the control circuitry is included in the decoder chip, so 2 wire direct attachment of the +ve and GND is possible. I guess as ACCs PCB design is part ESU then there must be some stay alive control circuitry built into that? I also expect that ACCs ESU decoders already have the stay alives enabled. This has to be done via CV changes when installing to ESU decoders separately. So another idea. Perhaps the SPP time out is set to max'm? It may not be desirable to have the loco running on for too long, hence the CV113 timer.

This has popped up. be quick!!

Just had balance request from Deltic Preservation Society. So that route is gearing up 🙂

Had the same today. I reckon these were just late coming out. I copied the tracking number, and entered via the UPS site directly. Shows already delivered, which it was. Having said that, It did not include another later date due to be delivered, so best to be careful of scammers.

Good evening Alessandro. @matchmaker found the installation into the Black 5 useful, but we would bth like to know when the D & H AS16A-2 8 pin decoders will be back in stock. Dave

Pleased that the thread has proved useful. It might be worth dropping Alessandro (Locoman Sounds) an email to see when those decoders are back in stock. The ESU V5 Loksound will not fit the smokebox. Might be worth the wait? I have recently got some low profile LEDs from Kytes Lights so that 'stuck out' LED may get changed soon, and I will update the thread.

I wonder if No 1 certificate will end up on EBay 😄

Higher or lower? 😀

D6700 from Locomotion arrived this morning. No notification, so a complete and welcome surprise 🙂 All parts intact, and it looks stunning. On to the track this afternoon.