Speaker Problem?

[Steveruger45]

I’ve found drilling holes in enclosures a bit hit or miss.  But in your case I think it is worth a try.
I would drill a a #80 or 0.3mm hole in the rear face of the enclosure about 1/3rd up from the bottom.
You shouldn’t hit anything important inside the enclosure and That way you can fill it up again if it doesn’t help without taking anything other than the shell off. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Steveruger45]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention.  If you go to making your own enclosures I have found the following enclosure volumes the “sweet spot” :-
For an 8x12mm go for +/-  500m3
For a 9x16mm go for +/- 800mm3. (750mm3 is good too but to my ear 800 is a little better).
I make my enclosures from 0.020” styrene and mount the speaker diaphragm side up not magnet side up.  This way you get more enclosure volume for the given space as the effective enclosure volume is measured from the diaphragm and the magnet side being inside the enclosure does not effectively reduce the enclosure volume audibly.
This means you have to solder on the wires to the speaker first and then construct the enclosure around it and drill a hole in the enclosure to exit the speaker wires.  So all in all it’s a little harder to make this way but worth it IMHO.

I have used a few of 11x15 speakers but I’ve found the 9x16 sound better to me so I’ve changed those out on the few I had.  Again this is all to my ear and YMMV.

[peteski]

Thanks for all the information so far guys! I think I will ultimately end up getting a new speaker or two, just to have them, but want to figure out what is up with this one, too. My curiosity and tinkering desire compels me! 

I ran the engine again today after a good 12 hour cool down period. It ran for around 15 minutes then got staticky again, took the shell off and determined everything was as it was prior to the shell getting put on. So far, the wire replacements helped, a lot, but something is still off.

If you fell like doing some additional troubleshooting, and you have a can of "dust off" aerosol (compressed liquefied gas), you can use that to rapidly cool off the decoder.  When I worked as computer tech I used "freeze spray" to troubleshoot heat-sensitive problems. 

To use "dust off" as "freeze spay" you need to spray it while the can is upside down. Yes the warning on the can says not to do that, but it is ok for our purpose.  Do couple of gentle test sprays to get familiar with what happens.  It basically sprays the liquid out, which instantly freezes whatever it hits.

Now take te shell of your model and run it until it sounds staticky again (and it remains staticky).  Then gently spray the decoder board to cool it down and see whether that clears up the static.  If it does, then the decoder (probably the audio amplifier chip) might be part of the problem.

Looking at a product picture for the ESU 50321 mentioned above, it comes prepackaged with an enclosure, which appears to be the enclosure used on this speaker. Not sure what the clearances are, nor what it is made of. It does not feel like styrene, though.

Those enclosures are 3D printed on a filament printer, so they are another type of a plastic.

[nightmare0331]

<snip>

Those enclosures are 3D printed on a filament printer, so they are another type of a plastic.

Slight clarification...the 50321 housings from ESU are injection molded.

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[peteski]

Slight clarification...the 50321 housings from ESU are injection molded.

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

Ok, thanks.
Maybe they 3D print different size enclosures?  Or maybe confused them with ZIMO enclosures which used to be injection molded, but are now 3D printed.

[Steveruger45]

I haven’t had my hands on one but IIRC the enclosure provided is in stackable sections and speaker fits magnet side up only.

[nightmare0331]

ESU 50321 retail packaging and components.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

left- as it comes
middle, laid out
right- one speaker built with tall center section, one built with short (sorry, I don't have any examples built of a double)

Hope this helps!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[EL3632]

speaker- drill a small hole

I’ve found drilling holes in enclosures a bit hit or miss.  But in your case I think it is worth a try.
I would drill a a #80 or 0.3mm hole in the rear face of the enclosure about 1/3rd up from the bottom.
You shouldn’t hit anything important inside the enclosure and That way you can fill it up again if it doesn’t help without taking anything other than the shell off.

I was finally able to have the hole drilled tonight, thanks @ChristianJDavis1, and it worked! The sound is no longer staticky. Thanks for your help everyone!

Glad to have 19 finally able to leave the engine shop.

[peteski]

That (just drilling the hole) seems like a very unlikely fix (especially since the problem appears after some running time), but it if works, who am I to question it? Thinking out loud, maybe in the process of removing and reinstalling the enclosure, something else was jostled, fixing whatever the problem really was.