Not real good with electronic items seems I can easily let the Magic Smoke out no problems at all. Could some one recommend a reasonably priced sound decoder for this alco as i planned on adding a sugar cube speaker with the decoder. Also is there anyone here that could wire this up. Don't have a lot of extra money as on social security disability. But really want to hear the Alco chug. Can anyone help thanks in advance.
TCS, ESU LokSound and Soundtraxx have the proper sounds available, but those decoders range in the $90-$100 range. I would not recommend any of the others. The specific decoder depends on what is actually in the loco (is there a motherboard for plug-and-play, or a standard sized board, or need hard wiring). I have done lots of N Scale sound installations, but never tried HO. Not sure how I would react to all the room available . But am willing to help, if you want. PM me if interested
Your best bet is an ESU LokSound. There's a sound file specifically for 16-cylinder 251C prime mover that was used in the C424. I've done a custom install in an Atlas C424, but not sure it was a "yellow box" one. The one I worked on had a circuit board with a non-sound decoder attached. I pulled the circuit board, and wired in a LokSound Select Micro, a 13x18 speaker, and changed the headlights from bulbs to LEDs. Also added a TCS KA-3 keep alive. The total parts cost for this was $130 ($90 for the sound decoder; $30 for the keep alive; $10 for the speaker/enclosure/leds/misc). If you live anywhere near central Illinois, I could help you with the installation. Rick B. - There's not as much room as you might think. Most of the older HO locos really weren't built with the idea of sound. The circuit boards usually stretch from end-to-end between the gear towers, and then there is some kind of big honkin' steel weight over the ends. That's why in all the HO conversions I've done, I pull the circuit board and hard-wire a LokSound Micro. The Micro has plenty of amp capacity to run a modern HO diesel (the motors don't pull much more current than our N-scale ones), and then you've got plenty of room for a speaker and a real commercial keep alive like the KA-3. The biggest advantage of HO is that once you do all this, you DO have room for a 13x18mm speaker in a nicely-sized enclosure, and boy does that sound good . . . at this point, you start to get some real bass sound and the Alco sounds even more Alco-ish! John C.
Much like jdcolombo said, not a straight forward job.I know you you have to modify the weights/chassis to make space for the speaker in the classics and the yellow box predate them so suspect you will have the same if not more problems.
Yes, forgot to add to my earlier post that you almost certainly would need to mill one of the weights for the speaker. John C.
