ESU LokSound 5 Nano DCC with 11x15 sugar cube speaker install

Carl Sowell May 17, 2023

  1. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

    3,031
    8,072
    82
    I have been posting images of my updating the lighting in the Daylight cars. Now it is time to turn to the real beauty of this special train.

    The GS-4 is completely torn down but I am starting to put together again. I sent the chassis to Kelley Duford to have a set of the revised drivers, that I had on hand, installed. It is back now and I am ready to get it on. This loco had 2 decoders in it which does not work well IMHO. So, Bryan sent me an ESU LS 5 Nano DCC and 11x15 speaker with double deep enclosure this past week.
    I am starting on the tender. I pulled the KATO pickup strips out, soldered wires to each and re-constructed the tender. I took the wires off of the top 1/2 of draw bar that supplied power from tender to motor and light module. Decoder wires will connect to motor.

    Here are the components :
    [​IMG]

    Pieces just set in place :
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I can barely contain myself as I am getting anxious to here the whistle and the air horn along with a chuff. My bug a boo will be the light module, but it shall be done !

    PS: I have tested tender shell clearance and all is OK !


     
  2. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

    3,031
    8,072
    82
    It has been too long since my last update but I have been fighting a Piriformis syndrome and that has involved Tylenol/codeine pills, whooooopie ! ! Trying to work the muscle to build it up some. Progress being made !

    I'll stop whining and show what I have done as of today 05/28.

    Decoder set on tender floor, speaker on double deep enclosure set and wired, backup light installed and partially wired. In this shot you can see that I have an aqua and pink wire that are extras. Obviously the yellow is for the rear light.
    [​IMG]

    Here is the backup LED attached to backside of speaker housing :
    [​IMG]

    In the last post I mentioned the boiler light board would be a bugger, not to bad however. There are 3 20K resistors, one each for mars, headlight, and firebox with the obligatory blue wire. The image of the smokebox door is just to show the LED placed inside the upper, Mars housing :
    [​IMG]

    I have been watch/listening to the Indy 500 and getting ready to watch the Coca-Cola 600. Good times !

    Thanks to "SteamPower4ever" for the "kick in the butt" to getter done.

    God bless America ! ! !
     
  3. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

    3,031
    8,072
    82
    Here is my DIY light board installed on chassis. Lavender wire for mars, white for headlight, green for firebox, and of course the blue common :

    [​IMG]

    View from head end, yes not as neat as most can do, but most are not 83 years old, so I am happy :

    [​IMG]

    The resistors and connections are encased in Aleene's Tacky Glue so they are protected but can be removed very easily, if necessary. You can see the wire leads from the firebox LED.

    Here is my smokebox door, ready to install :

    [​IMG]


    PS- IMHO, the Indy 500 was a farse and todays NASCAR is not great, not their fault.
     
  4. Mike Madonna

    Mike Madonna TrainBoard Member

    99
    125
    15
    Carl.
    Looks promising... Nice work!
     
    BarstowRick, BNSF FAN and Carl Sowell like this.
  5. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

    3,031
    8,072
    82
    Thanks Mike, coming from you that is a very welcome comment.

    I had to dis-assemble all I had done up to that point but in order to get the drawbar connected I had to dis-assemble and have now re-assembled the darn thing.

    Here is the chassis with my DIY light board drying and this shows the motor leads routed through my drawbar :
    [​IMG]

    Here is the tender chassis. motor leads to the left, 2 extra wires to the upper, rear light on the speaker enclosure and wires to the rear :
    [​IMG]

    Side view shows most of it and specially my drawbar set up :
    [​IMG]

    Once I draw all the light board wires through the drawbar I can solder them onto appropriate pads and then check it for any unwanted continuity before setting this thing up on program track and downloading GS4 sound file.

    I'm having a lot of fun ! !
     
  6. Mike Madonna

    Mike Madonna TrainBoard Member

    99
    125
    15
    Hi Carl,
    Here's a "suggestion" for the wires between the loco and tender. I did this on the 4449, my first DCC/Sound install on a Kato GS as well. I painted the wires black to represent water and steam lines between the two. It turned out pretty well. 85WireRt.JPG
     
    SP-Wolf, badlandnp, BNSF FAN and 2 others like this.
  7. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

    3,031
    8,072
    82
    Thanks Mike, I appreciate your input however I went a different direction.

    The decoder is installed, sound file downloaded, check for non desired continuity completed and loco tested on program track. This sucker is so smooth but then it is a KATO GS4 with the new drivers installed.

    Today, I shall connect all of the light wires on boiler and tender. I am getting real anxious to make a video.

    Rear view of boiler chassis wires running to backend:
    [​IMG]

    Forward looking from rear of tender :
    [​IMG]

    Side view of my drawbar connection, an idea that I borrowed :
    [​IMG]

    One more that better shows the clearances for the wiring :
    [​IMG]

    Lot's of fun, have a great weekend.
     
  8. woodone

    woodone TrainBoard Member

    959
    51
    24
    Hi Carl, how are things down there in Texas?
    I have been using ESU Black wire for running between the loco & tender. I mark each wire with a short function wire of the correct color so I do not mix them up. When I get them into the tender I just remove the short wire and then connect the function wire to the correct color function wire of the decoder.
    I also have been using surface mount resistors to save some room. It does help.
     
  9. Mike Madonna

    Mike Madonna TrainBoard Member

    99
    125
    15
    Woodone,
    Not a bad idea regarding wiring. Wondering what values you used on the Surface Mount resistors and your source where you purchased. I presume you made some sort of "board" to mount the resistors? Thanks in advance!
     
    badlandnp, BNSF FAN and BarstowRick like this.
  10. woodone

    woodone TrainBoard Member

    959
    51
    24
    Mike- I use 1K resistors. I just mount them on a small piece of PC board & glue the PC board to what ever is close an out of the way. For resistors look on flee bay and get 100 of them. You will not run out for a long time- they’re cheep too.
    The wire from ESU is about the smallest that I have found.
     
    badlandnp, BNSF FAN and BarstowRick like this.
  11. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

    3,031
    8,072
    82
    I am almost at the end of this decoder project, but not quite. Following is a Y-T video that I put together yesterday to show where I am at.

    i found some things to change such as the Mars bleed through on the smokebox, I need to dull the LEDS with something as I am running their brightness @ "1" in all cases, no biggie. When I described the function buttons I was wrong in saying I might not have to push the function key. Yes, I have to press a function key to operate a light or sound. Not so in the random scenario.

    Next time I film this beast should be with her assigned to an 18 car train, I am getting anxious ! BTW, the lighted train # boards have "98" on them.



    I welcome any and all comments regarding anything with this project but especially so on sound levels. I know that I need to turn some of them up. I will, most likely, try to mess with chuff synchronization.
     
  12. freddy_fo

    freddy_fo TrainBoard Member

    1,091
    4,328
    47
    Can you post the sound file as it is now? I assume you have an ESU sound project and I'd be happy to look it over if so.
     
    BNSF FAN likes this.
  13. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

    3,031
    8,072
    82
    freddy_fo,

    Not real sure about your question, so I submit the following:

    Yes, I use ESU sound files, by downloading from their website into my LokProgrammer and then load into the decoder. I check to make sure the decoder works and then I begin programing the decoder to operate the way I want it to. Let me preface my post by admitting that my observation is that ESU documentation is terrible and makes it difficult for dummies such as I to accomplish a task. Oh well, decoders are good !

    Hopefully to answer your question :

    Image #1 is a screenshot of the ESU sound file function map. IMHO, pure junk :
    [​IMG]
    Look at far right column, what is the name of the sound slot ?

    Image 2 & 3 are screenshots of different windows in the sound file that identifies some items :
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    Image #4 is my version of the above image #1, done in Excel on my PC. It is basically same as #1 but much more useful IMO :
    [​IMG]

    I hope this helps. The names of sound slots seem to change depending on decoder 4 or 5 and maybe sound file. I used ESU's sound file S0737 !

    Have fun !
     
    BNSF FAN likes this.
  14. freddy_fo

    freddy_fo TrainBoard Member

    1,091
    4,328
    47
    Yeah, their docs are not that great so one has to explore a bit but maybe I can help here. When in the decoder > sound slot settings the second section labeled "sound slot configuration" is where you can set the volume for each of the different sounds. When you click on the particular slot for whichever sound you want to adjust a volume slider should appear to the right of it that you can adjust.

    I think you have a pretty good grasp of what is going on though based on your last post but I am curious what you observed for each sound slot volume setting.

    I updated my GS4s with Soundtraxx Tsunamis because at the time they were the best for steam. Since then I've updated my German (DRG) steam locos and an AC12 with ESU which I've found to be quite competent in the steam category. I know my FEF from kato which uses an ESU decoder also sounds excellent but I can't confirm if that is the same file as what you are using.
     
    BNSF FAN likes this.
  15. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

    3,031
    8,072
    82
    freddy,

    It has been a while but such is life. I can confirm, to you, that I am not using an FEF sound file in my GS4. I am using sound file, from ESU, #S0737 that is a recording from the 1:1, 4449.
    I was not happy with my DIY light board with radial resistors so I changed that today and used very small surface mounts. In the following image the 2 running along the center line will be for headlight and Mars light. The one on the CL is for firebox light. The pad across the end of the board is for the blue wire connections. Should be more neat and organized :

    [​IMG]
     
    MK and mtntrainman like this.
  16. freddy_fo

    freddy_fo TrainBoard Member

    1,091
    4,328
    47
    Very clean Carl, nice work! Did you get the different sound volumes sorted to your liking?
     
  17. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

    3,031
    8,072
    82
    Yes freddy, no problem as I use both ESU Lok Programmer as well as JMRI Decoder Pro. Can adjust almost anything to my hearts content.
     

Share This Page