Sound Decoder

Since it has been awhile, let's review.  I have Bachmann GP-7 locomotive, I am quite fond of it, but it needed work.  I have already added some MU details, sprayed it til it looked dirty and tried to add a sound decoder.  That last one did not end well.  After melting the poor decoder (again, literally melting it) I sent it in to Digitrax.  The lovely people there simply replaced it free of charge as it was under warranty without asking any questions.  Quite fortunate really considering I did not have the money to pay for a new one, and I'm pretty sure it was my fault it died.  But I digress...

I promptly installed the new decoder and have run it several times down at the club.  Not a problem has arisen and boy am I happy with it.  It sounds nice and was a good cheap decoder, on $45.  Much better than the $100 of some others.  Now that it works, I can review it for all of you lovely people to know about.  This is the SFX0416 SoundFX Decoder.  It has a 4 function output but does not control direction, speed, etc.  It can do lights but that isn't my forte.  It comes preloaded with sounds for a steam locomotive or a SD 38-2.  It comes with a capacitor for uninterrupted sound on dirty track and simple 28 mm speaker. 

Good stuff time!  I have been running this thing crazy to see how it is.  F. U. N.  I am now spoiled on decoders because of this thing, and I want sound in everything.  Running a train around a large multi-level and -mushroom layout is fun, but when you can hear it coming, going, blowing its horn, or anything like that just beats all other things I can do to that locomotive.  But enough gushing.  I installed the decoder by splicing the power wires from the decoder to the main power leads.  This put it on the same circuit as the factory decoder.  The speaker was a bit of a pain to put in.  I had to unsolder it from the decoder inorder to slip the wires through the appropriate gaps in the frame.  I took this time to also lengthen the connecting wires to ease the "fun" of installation.  The worst part though came when I had to put the speaker in the baffle in the fuel tank of the loco.  The enclosure is 1 inch in diameter and the speaker is 28 mm.  1 inch = 25.4 mm approximately so you see the problem here.  So, I got out my Dremel, put in a grinding wheel, and got to work.  Working slowly so as not to overheat the speakers electronics I made the speaker a little smaller by removing the metal around it until it fit.  That took 3 hours.  Yeah.  That was why it was a pain.  However, everything fit and ran beautifully so it was worth it.  The sound decoder found room under the long hood behind where the factory decoder plugs into the pc board.  The capacitor fit at the very end of the short hood infront of where the factory decoder sits.  Below shows a picture of how the decoder fits in with the rest of the locomotive.  The two wires going down the sides of the frames are the speaker wires.

Here is the speaker:

I was going to do a video to display the sounds of the locomotive and decoder, but my phone is odd on recording the sound and my camera battery is dead and I lost the charger...  If I can get one I will post it.  So in conclusion, the decoder is worth it since it was cheap and realiable and gives the proper ambience needed for railroading.  Sound decoders are definetely worth the time and money and I highly suggest them.  Until next time!