Quote from: jward on October 20, 2014, 11:13:17 AM
Growing up in a model railroading family we always called  them conversion cars. Transition cars were bilevel passenger cars with low end doors on one end which were used to connect single level and bilevel cars.

Conversion cars is all I ever heard them called also.  They convert you train from the HH couplers to the knuckle type coupler.

I am also thinking of mounting the speaker under the coal load with a ton of holes drilled through the load.  this would put the sound up - where our ears are.  Not down where it is absorbed in the ballast, ground etc. before we get a chance to hear it.  Might get into that in the morning if something else don't get in my way 

ll of my engines have the factory switch for smoke and motor.  Bachmann, Aristo and Atlas.

I am familiar with the Seuthe smoke units.  Ran several in my HO steamers.   They will burn out also and one has to keep them wet all the time or switch them out.  Kind of a pain.  I think I am going to give up on smoke.  Getting to be more of a pain then it is worth.  Black smoke from a diesel in not a good sign either.  Will spend my time on other projects that yield more satisfaction, like scratch building Large scale structures with cedar.

Yes, these are outdoor run only so the smoke odor, etc. is not a problem.

I haven't been inside the tender as yet so don't know how the speaker is set up.  When I did HO sound installs  I always built an enclosure around the back of the speaker to get the sound out the front.  also run the speaker up through the coal load a lot of times to get the sound going up rather than down.  On diesels I would run the sound out through the cooling fan.  Will have to dig into the tender and see what gives.  Thanks for the reminder.

This spring I wanted a brighter headlight in my Bug Hauler as well as an F7.  The small LED I used in HO scale was not going to do the trick.  All Electronics had a package of 4 - 5mm bright white LED's I had purchased some time ago.

The 5mm was the right size for installing inside the head lamp assemble on the Big Hauler.   I took the engine apart in the usual manor.  Cut the wires leading to the head lamp bulb at their source.  Removed the bulb, reflector and everything else that went with it.   The cover lens goes in from the front and that was pushed out and saved.  The LED was put in place and centered in the housing and hot glued in place.  2 wires were run from the LED through the boiler and to the back of the cab.  I used a 2 cell AAA battery holder and two batteries for the power source.  I put a micro mini toggle switch in the top of the cab and painted it black.  Hardly noticeable.  Connected the switch in line with one led on the LED.  The battery holder was stuck to the under side of the roof with double backed tape.  Had to add an extra piece in the center to offset the curve of the roof.  Replaced the lens in the front of the headlamp assembly.    I now have a bright white headlight in bright sun light and at night it lights up the track for several feet in front of the engine.  The batteries run all summer and are still good today.

My F7 a is also reworked this way and my SW 1 is next. 

   You got me thinking there Joe.  I can usually hear the base tones real good but if they are not there ? ? ?  I have a heavy speaker magnet from a high quality speaker that came with an audio system we bought at an auction.  Mouse made the speaker box his home and chewed through both cones.  I may try putting that magnet on the back of the original magnet and see what happens.   Sure can't hurt anything and if it works - a cheep fix.

Sorry for the delay but fall work got in line first.  The two engines I am working with are a Bachmann Big Hauler and an Aristocraft F7 A and B units.  The Aristo units have a fairly large tank for smoke fluid where the Big Hauler is relatives small.

I had up to 3 extra diodes in the circuit and it slowed the motor but still did not get much smoke from the smoke units.  I am not looking for a large plume of smoke but would like a decent indication that smoke is present.

May have to work on this more this winter and see what I can shake out of it all.  A lot of things look good on paper and in theory but in actuality it simply don't work that way.

Time to go clean the tracks.

Thanks Loco Bill for that information.  I wondered just how much one could apply to the stock speaker before it blew.  I wonder if an additional amplifier connected between the present speaker and the board would work ? ?

This is a used Big Hauler so the board may be the problem also.  Will do some checking with other, if I can find them in this "remote" area of the country.  Have a good day.

Thanks for that link Joe.  I have a print out of that article in my file but I did not see where it increased the volume, just the quality and chuff from 2 to 4.  Will do those this winter and see what happens.  Have a good day.   

Have tried different brands of NEW batteries in the tender.  I don't need advise on how to control my hearing aids, at least not from this site.

Is there any way to get louder sound out of the older Big Haulers?  Even with hearing aids when the engine get 4' past me I don't hear it any more.  Is there an amplifier that can be installed in the tender and connected to the sound board and a larger speaker to get some SOUND out of these engines ? ?  Thanks much for all you guy and your great ideas and problem solvers.

I have had good results by putting a "nick" in the side of the pin that goes into the hole.  This make the pin larger than the hole in that are and gives some bite to hold it in place.  Lay the iron on a piece of hard metal using a small cold chisel and hammer, put the nick in the side of the pin portion that will be inside the hole.

Another method would be to flatten the pin some to make it larger on 2 side than the hole is.  Be careful not to over do it.  Trial and error is probably the best way to get the right amount of flatness.  Good luck and keep them on the rails.

Roger

Hi all.  Roger here.  I tried the diode bridge in two different engines with little results.  It did slow the engines down but still not getting the smoke generated.  The smoke units work with the motor switch turned off.  They both get real warm when running normally.

I used 1/2 watt rectifier diodes to be sure they were heavy enough to take the possible heat.

I have not tried the resistor route as yet.  Familiar with that process as I have done this with several motors for driving HO displays.  But - they were running with a constant applied voltage.  Not the case with an engine on the tracks.  I think the 9V battery may be a route worth looking into with little trouble.  It may or may not have enough power.  Be nice to be able to hook it in directly through the regulator on the board but that would be a real task to say the least.

I worked this out successfully in HO with DCC but in that situation I had an extra power lead from the decoder and could vary the output with a CV setting.  Looking like a good winter project.  along with adding ball bearing to the freight car trucks and building a couple or three houses from cedar square logs.

Thanks for all the advice and lessons in electronics.

Roger