ESU Loksound in HO Scale Athearn Genesis SD70MAC

[Teditor]

Can anyone point me in the direction of a how to for this installation please.

The sound decoder is ESU Loksound Select 73425, the locomotive is Athearn  Part Number ATHG64779.

I am interested in suggestions for speaker mounting.

Ted (Teditor) Freeman
From the Land Down Under.

[Teditor]

Anyone! Please!

Ted (Teditor) Freeman

[jdcolombo]

Can you post a photo of the engine with the shell off?

I've never done an Athearn Genesis, but I have done installations in first-generation HO hood diesels.  Almost always, what I do is mount the decoder over the motor, using a piece of double-sided foam tape.  If there are plastic nubs that hold a board in place over the motor, I cut those flush with the motor housing.

Then I typically use an 11x13 or 13x18 "cell phone" type speaker in a custom-made enclosure that is as deep as I can get away with.  For most HO hood diesels, you can typically use an enclosure that is 9mm overall, using 8mm-wide sides and an .040 styrene base.  You may have to mill the frame or frame weight (again, a photo of the chassis of the Genesis would be helpful).  If you want to add a keep alive (I almost always use a TCS KA3 keep alive in HO-scale diesel installations), you'll need room for that, too.

John C.

[jdcolombo]

I just found what I think is a photo of the chassis with shell off on the net.  It looks like there is a big weight at the rear; and that there is a decoder mounted over the motor.  Remove the decoder that's in there, mount the ESU with tape over the motor.  Remove the weight, mill it out as far as you can depth-wise while still avoiding the drive shaft.  If you have room (I think you probably do), use a 13x18mm speaker mounted lengthwise behind the motor on top of the now-milled-out weight.  Route the truck pickup wires on the sides of the speaker enclosure and tape them to the sides.

For electrical pickup, I'd use a small piece of 1/32 circuit board as a soldering point for the truck pickup wires.  That could be glued to the top of the decoder, or on the weight at the front of the motor.  You may have to solder some wire to one set of the truck pickup wires to extend them to reach the solder point.  You'll also have to think about how do wire your lights.  I don't know if the 73425 has on-board dropping resistors for LEDs; since it is a wired decoder, I doubt it.  If it doesn't, you'll need to add dropping resistors for the LED lighting.  Again, I'd use a small piece of circuit board with surface-mount 1K, 1/4-watt resistors:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=41340.msg515416#msg515416

John C.

[Teditor]

Thanks JD, a very big help, considering I normally work in N Scale, this big stuff is scary.

Ted (Teditor) Freeman

[peteski]

Thanks JD, a very big help, considering I normally work in N Scale, this big stuff is scary.

Ted (Teditor) Freeman

You and the great majority of TRW.  Thus, lack of responses.    I figured that a sound install in any H0 loco would be a breeze, due to all that extra room inside. 

[davefoxx]

I figured that a sound install in any H0 loco would be a breeze, due to all that extra room inside. 

Not necessarily.  Now you have the room to fit bigger speakers and enclosures, not to mention Keep Alives, so there remains the challenge to find the needed space.

DFF

[jdcolombo]

You and the great majority of TRW.  Thus, lack of responses.    I figured that a sound install in any H0 loco would be a breeze, due to all that extra room inside. 

The first time I did an install in an HO diesel (an RSC-3, if I remember correctly), I thought "no problem; if I can stuff a sound decoder and speaker in an N scale RS3, this will be a piece of cake."  Except . . . it's not.  The HO manufacturers stuff the shell with these big honkin' weights, and the motor is about the size of a whole N scale diesel.  So there's just not a lot of empty space.  You've got to mill the weights to make space for the speaker and a keep-alive, if you want one (and you almost always do, because HO guys don't seem to believe in powering turnout frogs).  And it takes 10 times as long to mill an HO weight as it does an N scale frame, because . . . well, it's HO.  Bigger.  Better (NOT!).

I do these HO installs for my HO-centric friends, but honestly, I'd really rather just do them in N . . .

John C.

[k27463]

Ted,

I suspect that your loco (at least, every Genesis SD70something that wasn't -really- old has this) has a built in speaker baffle for a 28mm round speaker right behind the cab.

If so, the speaker will face into the driveshaft.

Other types of speakers are probably better (custom sugar cube baffle, etc) but it's a really easy way to install a speaker with a minimum of effort.

Probably worth checking -- it may have a blanking plate in since that part number appears to be for a DCC ready variant.