So, I changed all of the trucks to MTL 1017-S. Not too much work, but I found that inserting the thinnest washer in the MTL box between the truck and the body really reduced the shake. For the diesels, here is the WVD-ESU 58828 sound conversion for the RG F3s pictured above: Both the A and B unit conversions are almost the same. I removed the engineers cab, the Kato lightboard and the rear keeper/insulator. I soldered wires to the rear power rails. I added an off-white 3mm LED to the front headlight connections on the WVD board. I have soldered wires to the speaker outputs on the WVD board, also. Below I have shortened the top bronze strips and 3D printed a 2mm backcase. The speaker is an OWS 11x15mm that fits perfectly across the rear opening. The plastic rear isolator will be sanded flat on the top- CAREFULLY! The LED is soldered to the WVD board- top lead is Positive. I mark the negative lead with a black Sharpie on the side of the clear plastic of the lens. Note that this is for the A unit. Here, I have tinned the cut ends of the bronze strips, put Kapton tape on the strips to the left of the "bump". I have run the wires up through the slots in the plastic retainer. Then I cut and soldered the power wires to the ends of the bronze strips. I put a small loop of the wires down into the frame cavity to allow for free movement of the truck (really hard to see). Now, the speaker is assembled with CA glue, held onto the frame with Kapton tape. The wires from the speaker-out terminals are connected to the speaker tabs. The speaker fits snugly into the cavity. The speaker wires will be pushed into the open cavity by the speaker just before putting on the shell. I used to mill the frame at the end block, but after a few conversions, I am a lot smarter... Things just drop in together now. I have soldered the motor leads to the two contact pads on the WVD, and positioned the cab (the front LED needs a bit of adjustment at this point). NOTE: putting the 58828 as shown, the engine will be running "backwards". Just change the code during programming to reverse the direction of motion. I do not like the board being close to the motor power leads. You could insulate the area over the motor leads and reverse the 58828, if you want. I loaded the F3 sound file S0746. A bit of tuning and speed matching, and they both run nicely together with the 5 car consist. I have one other RG passenger car but my station is too short to allow this car without fouling the points at either end of the station. For the B unit, I did not use the LED options as it will always be connected to the A unit. Compact and tidy install. BTW- these OWS speakers are very efficient- I had to reduce the volume settings for the engine, horn and bell, and also the master volume (CV63). I did add some bass and treble boost too.
Hey I also run a WVD board with ESU in my Kato F7/3’s it’s awesome and was easy to install. My question is this… there is a spot on the WVD board for a keep alive. Does anyone know if the new TCS KA-10 keep alive will work with the WVD board or will it only work with a TCS board. I know nothing about amps or power draw etc. Photos of Both are below.
The short answer is yes. A keep alive is basically a few supercaps with a diode or two, and a limiting resistor. There is no magic. The capacitors store the energy from the track power. It takes a while to charge the caps as they actually are quite large (but really small..). There are pads for a keep alive on the edge of the WVD board as you noted. You can check the ESU and TCS websites for any limitations. The bigger question is where to hide it... You could pull the cab out, and cut up part of the gray plastic insert in the front. The rear area gets the speaker. You could use 0201 LEDs glued into the lenses if you want controlled lights. Or, you could use an 0402 LED and light up the cab and the headlight. I do not always worry about lighting the cab as I like to run "night mode" sometimes and the lit cab helps find the engine. I do not use Keep Alive circuits in any of my diesels, so I cannot really comment further.
I think given the dimensions of the KA-10 it should fit just ahead of the speaker sitting on the board with a piece of Kapton tape under it. The chip in the photo you posted seems to face the back of the loco towards the speaker on mine it faces forward toward the cab (I guess it doesn’t really matter what direction it’s clipped in). I might buy one and give it a try as long as it doesn’t fry anything I’ll be happy, if it doesn’t fit… oh well I’m out a few bucks.
ESU designed the 58828 to go into the socket in either direction. The only issue is you might have to add "1" to CV29 for the correct direction.
