Stumped. Tsunami installation into P2K GP9
#46
Tetters, perfect installation! Thumbsup One question though: how good is the slow speed performance of the Tsunami?
Kurt
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#47
Woohoo Tetters! Thumbsup Very nice job!

Thank you for a great thread. I enjoyed watching your progress, including your "struggles" with the installation. I think we have all learned a bit and perhaps we'll get to see more of these installs.

Question: Did that speaker come with the decoder, and is it already enclosed on the back?
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times
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#48
cnw1961 Wrote:Tetters, perfect installation! Thumbsup One question though: how good is the slow speed performance of the Tsunami?

Good in my very humble opinion. You need to play with CV's though...something I'm still figuring out. I'm fairly confident that eventually I'll get it dialed in to behave as a road switcher. Wink

Oh and welcome back after your hiatus. Good to see you posting again. Cheers
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#49
Gary S Wrote:Woohoo Tetters! Thumbsup Very nice job!

Thank you for a great thread. I enjoyed watching your progress, including your "struggles" with the installation. I think we have all learned a bit and perhaps we'll get to see more of these installs.

Question: Did that speaker come with the decoder, and is it already enclosed on the back?

Thanks Gary! Big Grin

The speaker is something you buy separate. For 12 bucks it certainly didn't break the bank compared to the cost of the decoder. I also picked up an closure...sold sperately...of course... Curse, but never used it because I did not have room for it.
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#50
I'm kind of late to the DCC forum. Each time I came to Big Blue I planned to browse through the DCC Forum, but always had to go do some work around the house before I had time to do much here. Anyway, I just read through this thread, and have one comment that may be a help for anyone in the future, and one question.

First the question, I noticed on page one of this thread that the P2k Gp has one side of the motor isolated from the rails, but uses a direct connection tot he frame on the other side. If you leave the locomotive as Life Like wired it from the factory, will you have a problem if you mu it with another Gp coupled tail to tail facing in opposite directions? Is there anyway for the frames to touch and cause a short?

Secondly my help for anyone wanting to mount a speaker in a situation where there is not enough for an enclosure. RailMaster Hobbies is the direct importer of a line of speakers with a built in enclosure. They are a drop in for standard speakers without enclosures and take up no more space than the standard speakers without enclosures.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.railmasterhobbies.com">http://www.railmasterhobbies.com</a><!-- m -->
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#51
Thanks for that link, Russ. I've got a couple of CF7s that I want to put sound in, and may need those speakers.

As for the electrified loco chassis / mu issues, unless you are using kadee metal couplers that are making metal to metal contact with the chassis, there shouldn't be an issue. And most coupler boxes are all plastic wit the metal screw running through plastic that isolates the coupler from the screw. The Kadee draft boxes are certainly like this, and the P2K locos I have are very similar. I have mu-ed my P2Ks before with no issues.
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times
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#52
Since this thread was revived, Tetters, any report on the usage of the loco? How is she sounding? Have you had the chance to run it much?
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times
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#53
Hey Tetters! Congratulations on completing a difficult installation! Glad you came out the other side still smiling Wink

I've done quite a few sound installs, and I'd like to make a couple of comments on yours:

First, why did you choose the Tsunami Genesis decoder? Those big caps on the board make it tougher to install in certain situations. If you use their AT decoders, the board is very thin, and the cap is attached with long leads so you can choose where to tuck it in the chassis.

Second, you're not getting as much volume from the speaker as you might because you have it set up in an infinite baffle sort of arrangement. To get good sound, the speaker has to be able to pressurize the compartment it's mounted in. If you can make a sealed styrene box to surround the back of the speaker you'll see a noticeable increase in volume. Also, if you find it sounds a bit harsh or tinny, try mounting the box with the speaker firing down onto the chassis. If you haven't had enough fun milling the chassis, you could grind out a hole over the rear truck for the speaker - the larger volume you can pressurize (up to a point) will result in better lower frequency reproduction - which is really what we want with a diesel... that lub-dub-dub sound.

I'm just about to start a couple of P2k SW9s, so maybe I'll get ambitious and post the install here, just so you have something to compare to.
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#54
Squid, I for one would love to see your install in photos. Please do!
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times
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#55
Update. I took squid's advice and inverted the speaker and created enclosure around it. I also removed the frame and milled out an oval opening forces the sound down through the rear truck. The difference in sound volume and quality is a huge improvement. I would guess it easily jumped a few notches and doesn't sound like "tinny"....if that is even a word.

I would suggest that anyone who has followed this thread and is going to install one of these to strongly take squid's advice into consideration. I had to completely disconnect the wiring from the decoder and re-do my wiring in order to make this change. So save yourself the pain and learn from my mistakes.
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#56
tetters,
You could have gotten by without more milling of the frame for the speaker. If you were to mount the speaker ( a 16MM X 35MM) to roof of the locomotive shell where you removed the fan covers. You need to seal the speaker to the roof. If there are any other fans that are open after you have the speaker mounted you must cover them with plastic . This makes the entire locomotive shell an enclosure.
I have done several units this way and found the sound to be very good and loud. Most Tsunami's come from the factory defaulted to 192 ( Master volume setting) Most times I have reduced this as the sound was too loud . Three foot rule. If you can hear it from over three feet IT’S TOO LOUD.
Now that you have this one behind you, what is next?
Thanks for sharing your photos and posts as you moved along with your install.
BTW the next one will be easier.
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#57
Geez...now he tells me. 35 Icon_lol

The milling didn't take too much effort, as I didn't need to remove a lot of material. It was the wiring redo. I gotta say, that after doing this a couple of times, I had the connections done in a snap. I'm sure the next one will be a breeze...you see what I did there? I just jinxed myself! I also did seal the loco shell with some black styrene so in effect the entire shell does act like an enclosure as you suggest. Like I said, the sound has greatly improved since I made these changes and I'm now finally satisfied with the install.

The next install will be a sound decoder in the P2K SW900/1200 switcher loco I have. No room inside and a pain in the arse to get sound into apparently. But I'm always up for a challenge.
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#58
tetters Wrote:The next install will be a sound decoder in the P2K SW900/1200 switcher loco I have. No room inside and a pain in the arse to get sound into apparently. But I'm always up for a challenge.

Confusedhock:

Holy moly, you are up for a challenge, eh!? I can't imagine adding sound to a small switcher. I have a P2K SW1200 with no sound. When I decided I wanted sound, I found a P2K with sound on sale and bought that. Now I run the two switchers MUed together.

Definitely post photos of your sound install in the switcher!
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times
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#59
Tetters,

Glad to hear you got the install done and it sounds good. The next one is always easier.... unless it's a Proto SW8. Wink
If you look at one of these units with factory sound, you'll see they have a custom chassis, with the speaker mounted in the fuel tank. That's a lot of milling for the average joe.

I just did two of these for a client (and of course I forgot to take pictures!). What I wound up doing (and the results are worth it) was using the entire cab as the speaker enclosure, and using the Tsunami Atlas board. Take the weight off the front of the chassis (you'll need the space for the capacitor), and cut out the centre section of the cab floor. Use the Soundtraxx 3/4" speaker baffle kit to mount the speaker over the cab floor (making sure it sits high enough to clear the rear gear tower - do as I say, not as I did Nope ). Wire the headlamps to the F5 and F6 1.5 v outputs, and re-map the headlight and backup light to those outputs.

Depending on how the motor sits in the chassis, you may need to file it down a bit in a couple of places, just to clear the chips that sit on the decoder board... just keep the shop-vac running very close to where you're filing and you won't have any problems with metal filings in the motor or mechanism.

When you're ready to put it all back together, use RC airplane canopy glue or white glue to seal the windows into the cab, and the cab floor into the cab. This will make a big difference in terms of sound quality and volume.
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#60
Hey! Thanks for the reply and advice Squid. Much appreciated. Thumbsup

Especially tips like using the canopy glue for the windows to create a tight sound enclosure. That is definitely something I would not have thought of. I'll try and take pictures of mine when I get around to it. Start a whole new thread for it as well.

Just to be sure, is this the decoder you are talking about?

[Image: AT1000.jpg]

http://www.dcctrain.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=4492
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