ESU LokSound Select Micro Install in Bachmann K4 4-6-2

I needed a "small" project to keep me occupied, yesterday, so decided to finally replace the stock Soundtraxx Economi sound board in my Bachmann K4 with an ESU LokSound Select Micro. The stock sound was [ sigh ] fine [ /sigh ] , but sounded identical to any other SoundTraxx heavy steam, plus with the Economi there was no way to turn the sound off except by removing the loco from the track (so it sat in a box).

But first, which ESU sound project to use? I decided to use the (relatively) new #73474 -- SOO #1003 2-8-2. While not exact, it is the closest available, today, and comes with a PRR Banshee whistle.

Having done other Bachmann steamers, I knew the process would be simple: [a] Strip out just about anything already in the tender; [ b] carefully mark each wire coming from the loco (since they will all be black); [c] hook up the new decoder. The only real question was the speaker -- would it be good to use, or would I need to replace it, too. I connected it to the decoder, and using the LokTester gave it a shot, with the tender open. The sound was totally anemic, so then I carefully pulled the wires down the side of the tender, and put the shell on (not totally snug, but enough) and the sound magically became wonderful (you can hear on the video). While it fires down at the track, there was no need to remove the speaker for a sugar-cube style one. (but, this did cause a bit of an issue, later)

Here we see the tender. The original 2 part board is on top (the Soundtraxx at very top; the Bachmann mother board next. Below the open tender is the Select Micro and the three Ta caps for keep alive. I cut fake motherboard from styrene, which gave me a place to mount a PC board for soldering wires, and one small one for the 1K SMD resistor for the headlight. I also brought wires from each truck to the board. The speaker wires are poking up just below the resistor.



Here we see the loco, with colored wires added to the leads. The wires are in the standard Bachmann order (from the left: black, grey, white, blue, orange red), but one needs to clip them from the connector one at a time, or else you quickly lose the order.



Here we see the almost finished install. Just need to tape everything down and fit the tender shell back on. Simple, yes? Well, silly me. Leaving the stock speaker in, and then adding the styrene board... well just not enough room for those capacitors! So, figured, it ran fine with no keep-alive before.... Out they came (can always figure something out later, if necessary)



And here is a little video, with a bit of JACALAR scenery highlighted

 

Nope, as far as I could tell, it is always on

 

That might have been it. Drove me nuts.