First look at the New 58923 ESU LokSound 5 Nano DCC Decoder I was excited to get my hands on a ESU 58923 LokSound 5 Nano DCC decoder today. I was thinking with a advertised size of 19.6mm long ,8,5mm wide and 3.2mm thick I can install it as is with out spending hours cutting the connector off and soldering the wired directly to the board as I've done with the LokSound 5 micro in the past. However after getting it home and opening the package I found that decoder didn't look like the photo's in the included Quick Start Guide Or rather should i say the hard wire connecting board didn't match the photo Its a bit larger as are the over-all dimensions of the decoder with the hardwire board attached. Out of the box the actual dimensions of the combined decoder and hardwire board wrapped in clear shrink wrap tubing were 20.76mm long 8.69mm wide 5.00mm thick Length With Hight or thickness For comparison I've added some additional photos of the LokSound 5 Nano next to a LokSound 5 Micro Note the photo's below were taken through my digital microscope Top = LokSound 5 Micro DCC with hardwire adaptor board removed Bottom = LokSound 5 Nano DCC with hardwire adaptor board removed . . Top Next18 connector used on Lock sound 5 Micro Bottom New connector board used on the NANO . Again LokSound 5 Micro Next 18 hardwire board adaptor on top LokSound 5 Nano hardwire connector board on bottom . Top LokSound 5 Micro DCC with next18 connector removed and wires soldered directly to the decoder is only 3.69mm thick compared to the LokSound 5 Nano DCC on the bottom which is 5mm thick
I was disappointed in the Nano because of it’s excess thickness. Something that was reported to have been improved over the V5. I’d like to see a photo of the V5 Micro where you soldered the wires directly to the decoder. Thanks
Ugh! That full length adaptor board is not good news. The manual and vids I've seen so far both show a shorter board like the micro uses.
Their are pictures of my modified V5 Micro in the "First Look at ESU LokSound 5 DCC Micro Decoder - 8 pin" thread https://www.trainboard.com/highball...icro-decoder-8-pin.126470/page-2#post-1105274 Yes The Quick start guide that was included with the decoder and the Manuel that I down loaded from the ESU website both (Page 29) Both show a much smaller connector board. Photo's of the smaller board and the wiring diagram for the smaller hardwire board can be found on ESU's website https://www.esu.eu/# OH and when it comes to wiring it up the pin out locations and solder pad locations on the board are not even close to the wiring diagram shown in the Instruction Manual or quick start guide. So You will have to wire the Nano up using the wire colors and hope that ESU stuck to their normal color pattern.
I see the functions of each solder pad labeled on the board. As long as you can read/understand those abbreviations a pinout isn't needed. I just got a few of these in today. I was worried about one loco in particular which is a BR52 steam loco. The extra thickness will force me to re-arrange my plans for the speaker but I think I can make it work.
Success on the install. I did have to change my plans for the speaker placement as mentioned above and it was a really tight fit getting everything stuffed into the cab of a BR62 but I got her done. I had another loco (BR 01) where thickness was also critical but was able to get that to work as well. This was a motorized tender with just a big enough void on top of the motor for the decoder. One thing that really impressed me was the motor control. Maybe it's just in my head but originally I had a micro loksound installed and really struggled getting the low speed settings right for smooth operation of the non fly-wheeled motor. Still had a little lurching when I last left it. Took the very same sound/settings file and uploaded it into the nano and the BR01 runs butter smooth. Despite the large adapter board I really like this one a lot. Much easier to get at all the soldering pads. Price-wise this and the micro are the same so all advantages go to the nano.
