Bachmann Online Forum

Discussion Boards => On30 => Topic started by: Flare on July 27, 2017, 09:36:55 PM

Title: Sound board pinout?
Post by: Flare on July 27, 2017, 09:36:55 PM
I'd like to add a Keep Alive to my Heisler, but I don't know where the blue and black wires should go.

The easiest method of installation looks to be slipping the wires into the sound module plug, but I don't know which pins/holes are +12v and ground...
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: dutchbuilder on July 28, 2017, 07:23:11 AM
Maybe a silly answer, but ever thought of measuring it with a volt meter?

Ton
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: Flare on July 28, 2017, 09:32:59 PM
Nope.  I don't want to risk jumping the wrong pins and ruining it.
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: dutchbuilder on July 29, 2017, 07:14:20 AM
Flare, don't be scared to use a multi meter.They are so designed that you won't blow up your electronics.

Ton
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: Flare on July 30, 2017, 01:07:26 AM
Okay, I bought a multimeter and compared the pinout to the NMRA M21TC connector.

The ground pin is in the same position, but the +12v doesn't seem to be.


Of course after REMOVING the sound board I saw that the back has two through-holes lined with copper marked "+V" and a ground symbol;  Touching the meter's leads to these show I can solder the Keep Alive to them.

Thanks for your help, DB.  :D
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: regbarron@icloud.com on July 31, 2017, 08:45:49 PM
Will those connections provide sound and motor stay alive, or just sound stay alive?

Reg Barron
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: Flare on July 31, 2017, 09:20:54 PM
The Keep Alive I ordered should arrive by the end of the week, I'll let you know how it works.
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: jkemp on August 01, 2017, 01:00:35 AM
Quote from: Flare on July 31, 2017, 09:20:54 PM
The Keep Alive I ordered should arrive by the end of the week, I'll let you know how it works.

What keep alive did you purchase?

Somewhat new On30 member here, I would sure appreciate a report back on how your new components did once you have them installed and working for a while.

Thank you,
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: Flare on August 01, 2017, 09:27:08 PM
Quote from: jkemp on August 01, 2017, 01:00:35 AM

What keep alive did you purchase?

Somewhat new On30 member here, I would sure appreciate a report back on how your new components did once you have them installed and working for a while.

Thank you,

I ordered the KA3 version;  It seemed to be the best candidate after measuring the available space in the Heisler's bunker with the sound module installed.

I'll gladly post my results if I don't fry the loco in the process.
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: Flare on August 04, 2017, 11:37:05 PM
I installed the Keep Alive using the two soldering points on the sound module, but only the audio is being kept alive.

There is a marked hole on the 21-pin connector that I've confirmed is ground, but I still have no clue which pin is 'positive'.  I've reached out to the service department hoping they can solve the mystery.
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: dutchbuilder on August 05, 2017, 04:52:14 AM
I don't think there is a specific soldering point for +V.
The current comes into the circuit as a sort of alternating current and is rectified by diodes to direct current somewhere in the circuit.
There it is used to run the electronics.
If you do not have any experience with electronic components better ask someone who does because it is hard to explain without the schematics.
Schematics are most of the time hard to come by so someone has to reverse engineer them from the pcb.
.
Ton
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: Flare on August 05, 2017, 12:13:34 PM
The connector seems to be based on this NMRA 21MTC standard which has all the typical decoder wire colors, blue should be in there somewhere:

(http://www.sbs4dcc.com/images/209_21MTC_Pinout.GIF)

I've already made something smoke in there trying to find it with my multimeter, so I'm going to wait for a response from Bachmann.
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: Hunt on August 05, 2017, 02:45:39 PM
Quote from: Flare on August 05, 2017, 12:13:34 PM
. . . I'm going to wait for a response from Bachmann.

Some observations –


Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: Hunt on August 05, 2017, 04:16:16 PM
Hint –

A SoundTraxx CurrentKeeper or TCS Keep-Alive is not installed by wiring to any of the 21-pins.


Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: regbarron@icloud.com on August 05, 2017, 05:37:00 PM
Agree with Hunt.  A few years ago I was trying to add Stay Alive to the Porter.  My first Call to Soundtraxx resulted in a Polite NO, due to the need to solder to the circuit board.  I persisted and later George B found the correct points from one I of their engineers and sent it to me.  It required soldering the positive onto the center of the tiny circuit board.  The negative point was the same as the neg for the existing tiny sound only cap.  Many times the positive will be the blue light wire, but NOT on the Porter.  If you can find the positive and neg points on the bridge rectifiers, those could work.  Marcus Amman's Main North web page also has a lot of info on adding keep Alives to many decoders, plus some theory!  I never felt the need to add keep alive to my Heisler, since it almost never stalls. 

Reg Barron
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: regbarron@icloud.com on August 05, 2017, 06:16:36 PM
On page 2 of On30, there is a thread on Currnt Keepers for the Shay.  There are 3 different Links listed on that thread with more info on adding Keep Alives for various decoders and locos.

Reg Barron
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: jkemp on August 06, 2017, 04:27:32 PM
Quote from: regbarron@icloud.com on August 05, 2017, 05:37:00 PM
Many times the positive will be the blue light wire, but NOT on the Porter.  If you can find the positive and neg points on the bridge rectifiers, those could work.  Marcus Amman's Main North web page also has a lot of info on adding keep Alives to many decoders, plus some theory!  I never felt the need to add keep alive to my Heisler, since it almost never stalls. 

Reg Barron

Hello Reg,

Any chance you have a direct URL?

I hit my search engine and came up with this, which seemed to be the obvious home page:

http://mainnorth.blogspot.com/

I went thru all the links/year expansions, but if I had the correct site, I wasn't able to locate the referenced information.

thanks,

Jerry
Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: Hunt on August 06, 2017, 07:10:20 PM
Quote from: jkemp on August 06, 2017, 04:27:32 PM
Quote from: regbarron@icloud.com on August 05, 2017, 05:37:00 PM
Many times the positive will be the blue light wire, but NOT on the Porter.  If you can find the positive and neg points on the bridge rectifiers, those could work.  Marcus Amman's Main North web page also has a lot of info on adding keep Alives to many decoders, plus some theory!  I never felt the need to add keep alive to my Heisler, since it almost never stalls. 

Reg Barron

Hello Reg,

Any chance you have a direct URL?

I hit my search engine and came up with this, which seemed to be the obvious home page:

http://mainnorth.blogspot.com/

I went thru all the links/year expansions, but if I had the correct site, I wasn't able to locate the referenced information.

thanks,

Jerry

An aside ---

Marcus Amman's Main North web page,  http://members.optusnet.com.au/nswmn/index.htm

The Stay Alive page,                http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/mainnorth/alive.htm

Title: Re: Sound board pinout?
Post by: jkemp on August 07, 2017, 03:21:21 AM
thank you for the URL's