Aristocraft Sloped back Sound Tender Question ??

[Madman]

The Aristocraft sound tenders have a small black electronic looking device mounted next to the forward axle. The axle has a magnet and cam set-up. As the axle turns, the sound gets interrupted as the magnet passes the little black box I mentioned. This box has three ridged wires that are soldered to a small circuit board. From there, the wires run up to the main PCB inside the tender.
Normally, sounds like this incorporate a reed switch where the little black box is.

Does anyone know how this box works ? Could it be replaced with a reed switch ?

 

[ntpntpntp]

The "black box" is a Hall Effect transistor.
I think George Schreyer's tip pages for the Aristo 0-4-0 and other steamers mention the sound, might be some useful notes/diagrams (cannot look at those pages @ work)

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips2/040_tips.html < Link To www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips2/040_tips.html

 

[Madman]

Should work..after all..the little wheel and magnet act as an interrupter so replacing the wheel with a reed with a magnet here and there in the track should open/close the sound. Try it.....

I ripped the sounds unit out of 4 slopebacks. they are crepe anyway! (and got in the way of the RC battery and "works") !

I picked up an Aristo sloped back tender on Evilbay for $40.00. I just wanted the sound unit to place in a generic trailing car for my steamers. The reason for the choice was that my G Scale Graphics Critter Controls and Railboss battery modules put out PWM to the loco motors. The LGB sound units that come in the green box cars don't like PWM. They go full tilt no matter what speed the loco is moving. On the other hand, my LGB sound unit from a motorized tender, does OK with PWM.
I didn't want to fork out the bucks for another motorized tender, just to rip the sound out of, so I opted for the Aristo tender with sound. I agree, the sound is not state of the art, but for me it does the job. The mechanics of it can't get much simpler. Matches my brain. I like that.

 

[PhilP]

I have found a lot of things do not like PWM volts..
Did an Alco for a mate. It had a flashing LED mounted cab-top (from memory) which flashed when running backwards. Flashing LED did not like the PWM divided function output volts one little bit.. Stuck a small electrolytic capacitor across it to smooth things out a little, and it was sorted.
Had the same with the lighting boards with a bit of 'intelligence' on Aristocraft, and USA Trains loco's. - Can be fixed in the same way, else you can use the Massoth 6v regulator board. Though this is an expensive (IMHO), overkill to my way of thinking.

 

[Madman]

So, thinking about the Hall Effect sensor alittle more, I would imagine that without any moving parts it would be a better choice for the job.

 

[Madman]

The "black box" is a Hall Effect transistor.
I think George Schreyer's tip pages for the Aristo 0-4-0 and other steamers mention the sound, might be some useful notes/diagrams (cannot look at those pages @ work)

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips2/040_tips.html < Link To www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips2/040_tips.html

So if I had to replace the hall effect sensor on the Aristocraft sound module, what would I ask for, i.e., are these things sized by voltage, watts, ???

 

[Tim Brien]

Dan,
the Aristo sound needs a chuff sensor (interruptor mentioned) and ideally PWM to get any low voltage response. Many battery operated toys have better sound units. Without PWM you will need almost full track voltage to get a chuff sound as low voltage is not sufficient and only produces static sound. On PWM the sound is reasonable. On DC the sound, well, best bet is turn it off.

 

[ntpntpntp]

So if I had to replace the hall effect sensor on the Aristocraft sound module, what would I ask for, i.e., are these things sized by voltage, watts, ???

They seem to be rated similarly to transistors, with a max voltage, max current etc. In a quick search I've seen different examples rated at 10V, 24V and 30V for example. There seem to be different designs which work slightly differently - eg. "latching" and "non-latching" types. I have no idea what type is used by Aristo. Are there any markings on the device?

They seem to be cheap devices, if you really feel you need to try replacing the existing one then a bit of trial and error won't cost much!

Here's an example of a latching type - I'm NOT saying this is the actual one that Aristo use:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9312

 

[trammayo]

I have two of the slope backs - poor (as already mentioned). If I was going to improve anything, I'd use a MrRails sound unit working off the motor feed and using a PP3 battery.