Those of you that attended the Drag-N-Brag at the 2005 ECLSTS might remember the debut of my “Cheesy” Sound car…
The build was detailed on MLS at the time. I wanted more than just a trail-car with sound; I added capability for external control (a sound keyboard) and line-level outputs to drive a large sound system. Chuff / Speed could be triggered externally or with a reed switch mounted on one of the car’s trucks. Power for the sound system was derived from the track. As I moved toward battery power for my locos, Version 2 was developed. V2 featured a train-line pass-through for the DC power provided by a trailing battery r/c car. A selector was added so the sound system could be powered by track or the battery car. Version 2A was enhanced with support for external loco speakers. M/U connectors to feed sound to the internal speakers of leading locos was added. Ver 2A made it’s debut at the American Invasion in 2009 behind three RS-3’swith sound coming from all three locos and the trail car, much to Fr. Fred’s delight! Apparently I didn’t get any pictures of my own consist at the Invasion, although I do remember someone else posting them. I did find some pictures of the same consist running at Rooster’s in October 2009…
With the addition of support for locomotive speakers it really wasn’t necessary to have two large speakers in the sound car. By removing one speaker I opened up enough room for on-board batteries and R/C. Version 3 was developed as an all-inclusive trail car for my 1:29 and 1:24 trains. Here is an overall view of Ver. 3 with the roof on and off…
Inputs and Outputs hide behind one set of doors…
Programming and trigger connections (manual keyboard) hide behind the other door…
Connections to the loco include both DC power and Sound. The sound connector is 3 wires to support series-parallel wiring…
Since using a trail-car with only a DC connection defeats the constant lighting feature of the Rail Boss ESC I’m using, I wanted a way to indicate current direction while stopped. I decided to use bi-color LEDs on each end of the car. Green indicates the direction of travel while red indicates the opposite…
A Phoenix 2K2 and a Radio Shack Minimus 3.5 fill one end of the car…
Two 11.1V LiIon batteries, the Rail Boss, a relay for the bi-color LEDs and control switches fill the other end…
The battery connectors (Tamiya plugs) are wired in parallel. This gives several options. When high-current is needed, two batteries can be connected. If high current is not needed, one can power the loco while the other is charged externally. 11.1V provides enough voltage to run my locos at prototypical short-line speeds. The true test will come this winter when powering my SD-45 to plow snow.
