Todd Haskins said:
Anyways now I have been bitten and I want sound in all my engines and of course money hinders that.
Someday.Thanks for the help guys
Not so much the $$$ (now that I can afford them), but the availability. I like the older Sierra and Phoenix systems and won’t settle for less.
Good to hear!
I only asked about the reed switches because I “fixed” a unit for a guy that had the reed switches too close to the speaker and the magnet was setting them off.
Terry
Terry Burr said:
Good to hear!
I only asked about the reed switches because I “fixed” a unit for a guy that had the reed switches too close to the speaker and the magnet was setting them off.
Terry
I sometimes encounter a similar situation.
I use a magnetic float switch to drain my lake after the daily watering cycle. If the switch gets too close to the pump, the magnetic field generated by the motor during its operation will keep the reed activated even after the float drops.
Todd Haskins said:
Anyways now I have been bitten and I want sound in all my engines and of course money hinders that.
Someday.Thanks for the help guys
Todd, I completely understand. My mute locomotives don’t get the run time the ones with sound get. Now if only I could win the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, they all could have a “voice”. 
Todd, my capacitors from China arrived today. thanks for the advice.
John M. said:
Todd, my capacitors from China arrived today. thanks for the advice.
Let us know how it works out.
I installed a set of caps in my Aristo consolidated to replace the battery about 2 weeks ago. Runs great. Need to do it to my other Sierra systems. One thing I noticed is that when you’re done running, if you hurry and turn off the sound switch, the capacitors will hold enough charge to immediately start up the sounds the next time you run. Mine held the charge for at least a few days. I’ll have to do more testing to see how long they can hold that charge.
I’m a happy camper.
Doc Watson
Great to hear Don.
Todd, might you have a link to the ebay item(s)???
Thanks in advance…
Yes please. I would like to use the caps that are known to work, instead of releasing the magic smoke.
When I first did this, there were no available 10F capacitors and I used 6F capacitors. In fact, I used these and still have four (three for another system and one to spare). I get about 1.5 minutes of idle time after the power is cut before it goes dead. 10F should give about 2.5 minutes. The time varies a bit with the volume setting.
But the 10F caps came available later and these seem to also work fine and increase the run time proportionally. Be sure that they have a 2.7 volt working rating (2.85 peak, but probably not stated) and use three in series.
Todd… Would these work??? There are 10 in the sale lot rather than just 2 as in the other link…
These are 6.8 F
Again, Thanks in advance…
Stan Cedarleaf said:
Todd… Would these work??? There are 10 in the sale lot rather than just 2 as in the other link…
These are 6.8 F
Again, Thanks in advance…
Yes.
It is easier to use the 5.5 farad caps and 5 sell for 16.50. Different profile also looks like they would take half the space when in series.
Those caps are 5.5 volt, but 4 Farads.
The 5.5 volt capacity is not enough so you would need two in series for 11.0 volts. The system charges at ~7.5 volts. Then you are down to 2 Farads of storage, which is the same as three 6 Farad caps in series.
So you are at $6.60/system. Stan’s caps are at 6.8F, so three give 2.27F at $6.00/system. Each is smaller than a AAA cell so if you ever had the battery in there, space is not an issue.
One more Sierra question. One of my Sierra’s has a simulated mars light. Anyone know the specs on that? voltage?
The book says 100 ma, and the board can drive 6 volt bulbs. It also says if you use 1.5 volt bulbs, you will need to use a current limiting resistor.
Thanks David.