7mm Heljan GWR AEC Railcar project

John TAYLOR

Western Thunderer
My wife and I had an unexpected adventure in January. I contracted Coronavirus and gave it to her.

As junior 70 year olds we are grateful to have survived.

My wife treated herself to a new dining table set and I treated myself to Heljan`s RTR Railcar.

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My project is to convert her to DCC Sound using Youchoos Zimo products.

Which incorporate a prototype sound file of the real thing.

Because, Heljan have designed their model to work with a plug in Locksound V5 21 pin decoder. I am not certain, but most suppliers of this decoder only use generic DMU sounds which I find unacceptable for my needs. And a regular Zimo 21 pin sound decoder will not work the railcar lighting.

So......................................................................................................................................................................

This project will require using a Zimo MX645Plux22 decoder matched with ADAPUS breakout board and using YLR603010 3w speaker, all supplied by John at Youchoos together with his installation guide.

All of which will arrive on Wednesday..................................................

Naturally, I will be banned from working on the new dining table......
 
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John TAYLOR

Western Thunderer
Mission accomplished !!

A very pleasant evening delving into the workings....

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It`s not as bad as it looks !!


Lovely, easy to remove miniature plugs.....

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Provided you are confident at hard wiring decoders and using a soldering iron, the Zimo Adapus conversion board has large solder pads.


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achieving a satisfying result..................................

 

simond

Western Thunderer
John,

You’ll have fun with that!

why did you need the Adaplus board?

The white board PCB587 in the other photo appears to be a dummy decoder, which is plugged int9 a 21 pin socket.

Could you not have simply plugged your decoder into the larger board?

Atb
Simon
 

John TAYLOR

Western Thunderer
Hi Simon,

I`m a fussy old git nowadays and as far as I could discover if i plugged in the Locksound v5 I would have been stuck with ,to my mind at least, unrealistic generic `modern` DMU sounds as I could`nt find a Locksound supplier with the correct sound.

Youchoos is the only one that does, but only supply Zimo decoders which will not work with Heljan`s LED looms.

It was John at Youchoos that discovered that plug in 21pin Zimo decoders will not operate this model.

To make a Zimo decoder work this Heljan model Youchoos have adapted an MX645plux22 decoder but this needs the Adapus board to work the lighting correctly.

Cheers
John
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
As an aside, looking at that spindly wiring, this week I opened up a 1959 vintage 24v control box 2ft x 1ft for a stationary diesel (to Ministry spec) with alarm / shut-down capability.
Upon opening the lid I was gobsmacked to see such neat regimented wiring!
Of course this will all be solid copper, not the mutli-strand that I find so difficult to make a neat job with (especially when inevitably trying to cram it all into a space that is really too small), but even so this really is a work of art.
The wires disappearing into the blue sheath are the box-to-lid link.
I'm almost tempted to do the baseboard wiring in solid so I can have a go at the style!

Wiring1.jpeg

Wiring3.jpeg

Wiring2.jpeg
 

Allen M

Western Thunderer
When I started in electrics in the steel industry in 1956 that was the normal way for virtually all panels, large and small.
Regards
Allen Morgan
 

simond

Western Thunderer
Hi Simon,

I`m a fussy old git nowadays and as far as I could discover if i plugged in the Locksound v5 I would have been stuck with ,to my mind at least, unrealistic generic `modern` DMU sounds as I could`nt find a Locksound supplier with the correct sound.

Youchoos is the only one that does, but only supply Zimo decoders which will not work with Heljan`s LED looms.

It was John at Youchoos that discovered that plug in 21pin Zimo decoders will not operate this model.

To make a Zimo decoder work this Heljan model Youchoos have adapted an MX645plux22 decoder but this needs the Adapus board to work the lighting correctly.

Cheers
John

I prefer the Zimo decoders too.

I’m really surprised that you couldn’t plug in a 645 and it wouldn’t just work, the pins are the same on both ESU & Zimo chips. I guess John knows what he’s doing!

Atb
Simon
 
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