I have an early two truck Climax. Would like to add DCC sound. I did this with an early Shay and liked the sound and performance. What is involved? I know I'll need a speaker along with the sound decoder.
I am in the same situation as you ??? ? Can anyone point us in the right direction, please? Thanks
Installing a decoder and speaker into any locomotive requires a certain amount of electronics ability and a bit of modeling skill - it is NOT a "plug and play" situation. This is the reason that these models are offered in different versions (DC, DCC, DCC/Sound).
The first thing to do is a bit of reading on DCC basics and decoder installation - Kalmbach publishing offers many good books on the subject:
https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/shop/search?term=DCC
If you are not comfortable soldering and doing a certain amount of conversion work on the loco you should check to see if your local train stores do DCC installations. If there is not a local place then do an internet search for one.
Yardmaster. Thank you for your advice and tips. But I have installed a Soundtraxx sound decoder board and speaker into an early 2 truck On30 Shay. I will see if Soundtraxx has the sound decoder& speaker kit available. Otherwise I'll just run it silent on DC.
Thank you Yardmaster. I might have to run it without sound for a while.
If you've installed a DCC sound decoder in a loco before, then its easy. The smaller soundtraxx Tsunami will fit, with a speaker in the tender. If you want easy, solder it to the Bachmann circuit board. Nothing extra needed. I would suggest removing the board and soldering directly to the wires; however, you will have to track them back to find which goes where and does what and to add resistors for the headlights.
The TCS sound decoder will also fit, sounds MUCH better and you can even fit a small Stay Alive under the frame. You can find a "how to" here: http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=31112. Its about half way through the thread.
Cheers!
Brian