Anyone recognise this sound card?

whatlep

whatlep

Registered
I was asked today to help with a loco which is not outputting sounds properly. The major issue is that the owner has no idea what board has been fitted or what its settings are or should be.

Does anyone recognise the long, thin board in the pictures? All help appreciated! :kiss:

95507434051a4515bea372582ab46c66.jpg

7f9689082a554b2083ab86752a8f95d0.jpg
 
emotionxls340px.gif
Is this it?
Massoth eMotion XLS Sound Decoder[/h1]

[size=14pt]eMOTION XLS Sound Decoder
Powerful 3 Amp HiFi Sound Decoder with up to 6 sound channels and 13 function outputs. Usable for locomotives with up to two motors. [/size]
 
Hi,

I don't know what the main board is beneath but the sound unit is from Phoenix Sound in the US. You can find there website here:

http://www.phoenixsound.com/

It looks like one of there earlier boards, the 2K2 model. I've had quite a fair bit of experience with these as all our of locos use them for the US sound files, from the earlier models right up to the newer P8 DCC boards.

When you say not outputting properly, do you mind if I ask how? I know this may sound stupid as this is the DCC section but is it running on analogue? The reason I ask is these boards were notorious for shutting down in analogue operation and going into a kind of sleep mode. what is the loco, LGB? If it's digital, is it an LGB factory decoder inside too?

Please drop me a message if I can be any more help?
 
It is indeed a Phoenix 2K board. I have a fair few of these great little pieces of kit. excellent sounds and can work with DC or DCC or battery very successfully.
They use a 3.7v back-up battery and will not operate if the battery is flat and the power voltage is below 6v.
If the battery is totally knackered it can cause the board to not operate properly.
The battery can be NiCad or
Here is the link to the Phoenix site with access to the complete 2K manual including hooking it up to a DCC decoder.
http://www.phoenixsound.com/support/support.html

If you friend wants to sell it, Peter, I would like to be in with a shout.
 
The other board is a LGB large onboard decoder, but I expect Peter knows this.
 
muns said:
The other board is a LGB large onboard decoder, but I expect Peter knows this.
Click to expand...

Yup - that one I knew! Out of curiosity what are the pin allocations for the red "sound" connector on that board?

Thanks to those who so quickly identified the card. The loco belongs to a friend of a friend and I haven't had time to check out fully how the beastie is wired so far, but checking the battery backup is an obvious next move, not least as I've been told the loco was OK until winter storage....
I didn't say (deliberately) in the first post that this combination has been installed in an LGB "Cambrai" Corpet Louvet loco. Obviously that's a single motor loco, but not one I've had dismantled before. Is the large (i.e. two motor) onboard decoder the normal factory-fit for that loco?

This thread has produced one other positive result. While looking at this and several other locos with DCC problems on Wednesday afternoon (all fixed except this one!), I stressed that the players should use GSC and its immense store of knowledge. Job done folks! :thumbup:
 
The Red connector used for sound is the "LGB bus" (+/RX/TX/GND - not sure on the order atm).
 
Peter, I'm sorry to repeat if you already know this, but I thought it might help.

With the Phoenix Sound boards they have a small mini-jack breakout socket similar to small headphones and with this you can use their programmer and PC software. It is a great fault finding tool as you can check the status of the board even if it is somehow not producing any sound. If you can get access to one of these it might help if you get stuck.

Good luck!
 
muns said:
The Red connector used for sound is the "LGB bus" (+/RX/TX/GND - not sure on the order atm).
Click to expand...

As it has power, as well as data, is it not "the LGB RAILbus"?!
:rolf::rolf:

Sorry, got to go now.. Nurse says I need my medication.
:'(
 
As Gav says the break out jack (obviously not the back-up battery charging jack) is a great little device for checking out the card. The 'inspection' jack uses pins 9 and 10 (top right of board near the big chip)
I have one of these...so If you need it checked you could send it over Peter.
By the way I noticed in my post that I had said that the 3,7v back-up battery could be NiCad or....
I couldn't get in to edit as it was after 30mins deadline that I noticed it (why has this editing timing changed to such a short time?) but I also meant to put in 'NiMh'
 
whatlep said:
I was asked today to help with a loco which is not outputting sounds properly. The major issue is that the owner has no idea what board has been fitted or what its settings are or should be.

Does anyone recognise the long, thin board in the pictures? All help appreciated! :kiss:
Click to expand...

Yes it's mine. Can I have it back please :bigsmile:
 
Loco said:
Pin allocation for the large LGB Onboard decoder:
Click to expand...

Beautifully clear. That's going into my "LGB databank" right away! Have 5 shiny things & my thanks.
 
The speed at which the card was identified and advice available was impressive - as always on here.
But, as an aside, where you are unsure of a component or even need the manual it doesn't matter what it is a, PC card, component, sound card or whatever it is worthwhile typing the model number, serial number, patent number etc in Google (where else?) in v many cases the ID and details appear as if by magic
 
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