Recycling a Loksound V 3.5 decoder

I recently built a loco shed for my computer controlled layout, called Olpharts Crossing.



It's not completely finished, but thought of a way I could embellish it a bit.  I'm converting all of my old locos to Version 4 from the superseded Version 3.5 sound decoders and I've hit on a way that I can reuse them.

Here's one that I've mounted on a piece of 3 mm MDF.



You can see that, as I hard wire all of my decoders, after I cut this one free; some of the wires needed extending.  I also packed the speaker enclosure with BluTack to seal it up.  Loksound decoders need a load across the motor wires before they can be programmed, so I added a 60 Ω resistor.  It's important to set CV's 5 and 6 to zero if you do this, as in the event of the throttle being accidentally opened, the resistor gets fried.  :oops:

The shed was originally set up to run from the 12 Volt DC bus with the three lighting circuits wired in parallel.  The decoder has 4 Aux supplies, so I used three of them.  One for the small light over the access door, one for the security light and one for the inside lights.  That meant that the three circuits had to be separated.



So, the red and black wires attached to the banana plugs go to the red and black on the decoder.  All power circuits on the decoder have a common blue (+) wire, so all of the reds from the LEDs were connected to a common blue wire.  The negatives (with their 1 kΩ resistors attached), were . . . white for the outside security light, purple for the access door light and green for the inside lights.

These match up with the same colours on the decoder.



Once the wires are soldered together, they are pulled back into the terminal block, where the screws gently hold them in place.

Although I can record my own sounds, my friend Tony Weber, http://www.steamsounds.org.au has been experimenting with some .wav recordings he made around the Woodstock Heritage Railway workshops, and he sent me some by email.

It was a simple process using Goldwave software, to chop them into useable pieces.  Then, using a Lokprogrammer I was easily able to make a Version 3.5 Sound Project and insert the .wav files into it.  For the purpose of this enterprise, I used the sound of an angle grinder and the sound of someone hammering.

Then I mapped the various parts to the keypad, viz:-   F 0 (headlight) = Outside security light.  F 1 = Angle grinder.  F 2 Hammering.  F 4 = Inside lights.  F 5 = Access door light.  I left F 3 free, as I thought there might be a telephone sound which I could use later as well.

Also on the Function Map, I joined the headlight to the rear light in case the Direction button was accidentally pressed.

It's easy enough to add other enhancements later.  Simply pull the shed out of the banana jacks and attach it to the Lokprogrammer and upload any changes just as if it was a loco or other piece of rolling stock.

The Railroad & Co software can operate the Functions in the shed, to switch the lights on and off according to the clock, or play the sounds triggered by other options.

I made a little movie of it in operation.  The lights come on one after the other, starting with the access door, then the inside lights, and finally the security light.  Then the sounds are played; hammering on > angle grinder on > off  hammering off; and then the lights are switched off in reverse order.
It comes with a warning for those who are lactose intolerant - it's a bit cheesy. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtUuRuZtxZA&list=UUkztOdSUQsF8vXugzNIOPeA 

Why?  Because I can. 

G`day Max,

   Oh yes…..that`s  such a simple solution. I followed that ……no trouble at all mate…..piece of cake.
  The truth…….you lost me there Max…..but that`s OK…..I know class when I see it ,even if I don`t understand it, I know that the ball park you`re playing in, is nowhere near my ball park from the industrial revolution early days.

  I like your video and the sounds are great. The little devil in me could have a field day with that. For example the little man is hammering away in his workshop, you hear an extra loud bang and then a crash and then a string of expletives to indicate that he has bashed his thumb or whatever….yes I know we can`t do that can we?????

  Anyway Max…..all jokes aside….this is a first class production from a first class railway modeller….very, very impressive.

:doublethumb:doublethumb:doublethumb:doublethumb


:cheers  Gormo

That's a darned good idea, Max.

I am currently looking at recycling a v3.5 decoder myself, but I think it will go into a different locomotive or unit.

Soldering the resistor across the brush wires is a good idea for programming but once that's done, it won't matter too much if you do fry the resistor as the LokSound won't need it there to play the sounds.

Thanks, guys.

Expletives - yes it's been mentioned, Gormo.

The reason I want to protect the resistor, Jeff is because I will probably want to go back and add some more sounds.  You know what I'm like. 

I like the title.I think i've got the meaning right.

. . . of the thread, or the layout? 

The title.:roll:

Amazing Max,

Takes things to a whole new level ………. Way beyond me but the sounds that could be incorporated does set the mind racing. Just think ……. Flushing toilets and other toiletry noises. lunch break sirens, fire alarms. A radio playing in the background ?

I'll leave all that to you.;-)

Cheers

Toto

Thanks, Toto.  It's only limited by one's imagination.