Large Scale Central

Decoder into an LGB 2063

Electronics DCC
#21

If you go the Zimo route, I might suggest looking for a sound file other than the “Davenport” sound file. I first used a Zimo with that recording in my LGB Davenport switcher. I found that the sound of the motor RPMs would be maxed out by the time I was at 1/3 throttle, which in terms of actual speed was barely above a crawl. Having heard the real #50 operate at the Colorado RR Museum, it did not strike me as being particularly prototypical. Alas, there is no way to adjust that on this particular sound file; no “speed steps per notch” kind of adjustment as you might find on other decoders and/or sound files.

Fortunately, the Zimo sound library has a number of smallish diesels from around the world you could use. Only a few of them have previewable sounds, so you may still be guessing, and there’s still no way of knowing how the sounds will interact with the motor on your loco.

I ultimately pulled mine out in favor of a TCS WowSound decoder. I put the Zimo decoder in an LGB 2090 switcher where the speeds and motor RPM sound were better matched.

Later,

K

#22

Yep, but the WowSound, besides it’s other issues, does not have direct servo outputs, which was mentioned in the first post.

Knowing Dan, he can find a nice sound file… also you can put custom sounds into the Zimo, i.e. your own that you find… It’s of course more work, but again something you could hobby on in the future to customize to your personal preferences. (get it in the loco now and play later)

Also, I am also not sure that you could not have changed the Zimo settings to handle the “speed of the sound”… but I will defer to Dan here. (I actually know you can set the speed ranges for each “sound subset”, but have not played with it)

Greg

#23

I spoke with either Dan or Axel about the sound file (I forget who) but was told there was nothing that could be adjusted on that particular file. Dan programmed the board for me initially, but I’ve talked to both of them about various Zimo products in the past few years. Whoever it was who told me I was up the creek, I have no reason to doubt them, hence me going a different direction. And to be clear, I didn’t suggest Bob go with TCS, rather that he look at alternative sounds for the Zimo. The Zimo is a great board for this loco. I was bummed to pull it from mine. Alas, the prime mover at full throttle while moving at 3 scale mph was a bit more than my auditory senses would tolerate.

Later,

K

#24

Thanks Kevin, I’m going to pose the question on the Zimo forum, what I am thinking of is not changing the sound file in terms of sounds, but the speeds that the sounds are activated at.

Perhaps it was the interpretation of “adjusted” or perhaps what I am talking about changing is locked out. In any case I’ll find out about my idea, I am in direct communication with Zimo.

I did use the “speeder” file, that has the chain drive and 4 forward gears, and it did indeed shift up pretty quickly, getting into 4th gear at about 15 smph, but I think you are talking about a different file. This file was clearly a gas powered speeder…

Greg

#25

Thanks guys. I’m still waffling on which one I want to put in. I really like the extra sound “features” the WOW has, but then I’d need a secondary board to drive the servos.

Decisions decisions.

#26

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#27

I drill a hole on the side of the block where I need to isolate the motor lead from track power. I cut the motor lead so it can never touch the track pin and then solder a wire to it and feed the wire through the hole I drilled. Thus I can never get a motor lead to track lead connection/short. I have done this to more than 10 davenports.

Programming the waltz takes many parameter changes but it is awesome to watch as the engine does all the operations at the push of a single function key.

Note that the rear light is ties to the rear jacks which have track power. I remove the roof, and make the rear board a 4 wire (2 for rear light, 2 for track power).

MX645 has a 99.95 cost for decoder and adapter board, plus the load code charge of $35 for the program.

#28

A picture next time Dan? I’ll post on my site, because this comes up all the time… I wish I had taken a picture of the solution with the heat shrink breaking the connection, since it is so easily reversible.

Greg

#29

I will take a couple of pictures. I have the motor block out, and the lid off. Looks like the leads for the white and brown wires go to the track pickups, and the green and white touch the leads on the motor. Isolating this shouldnt be much trouble.

#30

Going from memory, there’s a rod touching another that can be simply insulated, but it should be pretty obvious… look forward to the pictures…

Working on the answers for the sound files for you.

Greg

#31

Ya know, if you just get rid of that pesky track power… :wink:

(The devil made me do it.)

Seriously, there’s oodles of room under the hood for the electronics, so don’t worry about space. Here’s a photo of the front grill on mine after I cut away the plastic and replaced it with brass mesh for the speaker. You can fit a 2" Visaton speaker in there fairly easily. Cutting the old stuff is tedious, but easy enough.

(And please accept my battery power comment in the playful spirit in which it was written.)

Later,

K

#32

Looks nice and lets the sound out!

#33

Yea, Kevin, I saw that photo of yours and plan on doing the same thing to mine. I already have some brass screen I bought for some other project that should work nicely for it.

Have some wires soldered to the motor, and insulated with heat shrink. I need to grind some of the plastic away around where the leads for the motor go, and then insulate the steel rods. Pretty easy so far. Pictures in a bit.

#34

Motor, with leads soldered on and heat shrink tubing applied

And the motor sitting in place. I have to do a bit of grinding of plastic to make room for the wire leads, but it should drop right in. I’ll also move the rightmost metal pin a bit to avoid rubbing against the insulation.

#35

Plastic trimmed, and motor fits nice and snug back where it belongs.

You might be able to tell in this pic what I trimmed. Compare to the picture in the previous post.

Getting closer.

#36

On Zimo decoders there is a chuff sync feature and I have not tried this on a diesel.

CV 267 is what I need to investigate.

#37

A bit more work this morning. Buttoned up the motor block. I drilled two holes for the motor wires to go through. Ill use the original clips to attach to the posts for the track pickups.

And the motor block installed back in the frame.

Next up, removing the circuit board from below the cab and deciphering the wiring for the front and rear lights, then decision time for what DCC I want to put in.

#38

Front light is just 2 wires as is the cabin light. Rear light has 3 wire cable as it uses one of the track power leads. Jacks on rear of the engine are track power.

download https://www.trainli.com/LGB-PDF/LGB%20Engines/20630-1.PDF Last page is cabling diagram.

#39

Yup. Once I got the cab roof off it was easy enough to sort out. I popped the 1:20 figure out of its seat. Looking through some 45 toner cab parts to replace the control stand with. And then the decide on the decoder I guess.

#40

Some more progress in the last few days. I got a TCS WOW 101 diesel decoder for a deal I couldnt refuse, so I’m going to try this for now. I know it doesnt give servo control right out of the box, but the deal I got, well, made the choice for me. Amp-wise I should be ok, but we’ll see.

I have the decoder wired to the pickups and the motor, and temporarily wired to the front headlight. My ancient MRC Prodigy Advance gives me control and lets me program some of the features. Here’s a basic sound test.