John TAYLOR
Western Thunderer
I have just completed a long desired goal of adding DCC sound to my 7mm loco stud, having discovered that the modern motors we now use have such low ampage, that it is possible to use an appropriate HO/OO sound decoder rather than the more expensive and uneccessary high ampage products.
All of my current stock have either Mashima, Buhler, or Maxon motors, I`m not sure what`s in my Lionheart Pannier as I hav`nt added a decoder ti it yet. Non of them drew more than 0.3 amps running and no more than 0.8amps at stall, including my heavy Railcar and Large Metro.
I have been impressed with Zimo decoders and sugar cube speakers in the past , having fitted them to all my 4mm stock and I settled on their MX645 decoder
which is rated at 1.2amps min and 2.5amps max and can cope with up to 3W in the sound department, all of which is more than adequate. I used 2W bass reflex speakers which are housed in all plastic baffle boxes as a precaution against shorting out on all metal locos.
John Gymer at Youchoos produces real GWR sounds recorded from todays preserved fleet, including the preserved AEC Railcar No 22, and supplies Zimo products.
First on the operating bench was the large Prairie tank.........
One of the first 7mm kits I made, she needed some time spent on cancelling out any suspect areas of shorting out between chassis and body. Fired up the decoder and away she went, hissing , clanking and puffing. Zimo decoders facilitate sound reduction with most if not all individual sound files as well as the total volume etc. I hav`nt quite fine tuned her precisely yet
Next had to be the Railcar.....
And away she went.............
All of my current stock have either Mashima, Buhler, or Maxon motors, I`m not sure what`s in my Lionheart Pannier as I hav`nt added a decoder ti it yet. Non of them drew more than 0.3 amps running and no more than 0.8amps at stall, including my heavy Railcar and Large Metro.
I have been impressed with Zimo decoders and sugar cube speakers in the past , having fitted them to all my 4mm stock and I settled on their MX645 decoder
which is rated at 1.2amps min and 2.5amps max and can cope with up to 3W in the sound department, all of which is more than adequate. I used 2W bass reflex speakers which are housed in all plastic baffle boxes as a precaution against shorting out on all metal locos.
John Gymer at Youchoos produces real GWR sounds recorded from todays preserved fleet, including the preserved AEC Railcar No 22, and supplies Zimo products.
First on the operating bench was the large Prairie tank.........
One of the first 7mm kits I made, she needed some time spent on cancelling out any suspect areas of shorting out between chassis and body. Fired up the decoder and away she went, hissing , clanking and puffing. Zimo decoders facilitate sound reduction with most if not all individual sound files as well as the total volume etc. I hav`nt quite fine tuned her precisely yet
Next had to be the Railcar.....
And away she went.............