Hi folks. Photos and explanation of my AC-12 Sound install (video coming later). For this installation, I decided to remove all the internal tender components (weight, circuit board) in order to get more room for a larger speaker. Here is a photo of the "clean" tender floor. I drilled 1/16" holes around the rear tender truck area for sound egress, since I was going to mount the speaker at the far rear of the tender shell, firing down. Also note the routing of the rear tender truck pickup wire: Here are a couple of photos of the speaker. The speaker is a 16x30mm oval, encased in an air-tight enclosure made of 1mm lead sheet glued together with CA cement. The overall dimensions with enclosure are 18mm wide by 13mm high by 32mm long. The white things at each end are pieces of .020 styrene that provides spacing between the speaker cone and tender floor. This photo shows the speaker mounted in the tender shell (it's a snug fit, so if you try this, remember that 18mm width is the ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM you can use): More in next message John C.
The final photo shows everything wired up. Not very neat, I admit, but it all fits, even the rear backup light (you can barely see the wires for the backup light wired up to the blue and yellow - which has a 570-ohm dropping resistor). I'll try to take some video later, but so far it sounds great! John C.
John, are you using the Tsunami for motor control as well? I couldn't tell from the pics. Regards, Otto
Hi Otto. I did at first (the pics are of the TSU-only installation), but after a couple of circuits around my layout, I decided that the TSU just wasn't as good at motor control as my old-standby, the Lenz silver mini. So I opened up the tender shell again, and wired in a Lenz for motor control. There's plenty of room in the shell for both. The YouTube video of mine running around the layout ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yWMK8eX8Tg ) has the Lenz installed. That both improved the motor control AND made it much, much easier to match the chuffs with the driver rotation (the Lenz implements CV's 5 and 6 so you can independently control mid-point and max voltage without doing a whole custom speed table; the Tsunami does not). The TSU is still running the lights, though. What I did was program the Tsunami to the engine number (4275) before installing the Lenz, and then programmed the Lenz to a different number (1275), then consisted them. This allows me to separately program the TSU and Lenz on the main using ops mode (I select 1275 in ops mode to program the Lenz, 4275 for the TSU). Yes, it's an extra $35 for the Lenz, but at this point I'm in hock $250 for the engine and another $115 for the TSU. The $35 for the Lenz seems like water under the bridge . . . John
John, that's what I thought, the loco just runs soooo smooth. I am with you on this... Thanks for sharing. Otto
John. Have you ever tried to adjust the CV's 209 and 210 on the TSU decoder to make the loco motor control better. I have found the by changing these CV's the TSU runs very well. I just dislike the extra $35.00 for a install. And yes I do know how well the Lenz decoders work, I have worked with them and they are very good motor control decoders. The best IMO. Just dislike the fact of $35.00 plus now you have to consist them.
I had seen an AC-12 with the loksound micro installed. Sound and motion was excellent. It ran at Niles, CA and Nick Lorusso can give better insight and information about it.
Yes, I've played endlessly with the TSU's various motor control settings. Nothing I have done puts the TSU in Lenz's ballpark. I have no argument with folks that want to save the $35; in my case, I've simply decided the extra cost and complexity is worth the better end result. John C.
