Bachmann analogue sound board on eBay

[Portsladepete]

There are a few of these available on eBay U.K. at the moment, I was thinking of a cheap and cheerful sound unit to go in a box car, but looking at these it would seem a few other parts are needed, but there doesn’t seem to be enough wires! I’m assuming 2 for a speaker, and 2 for power, but there doesn’t seem to be anything for a chuff signal. Anyone recognise this?

 

[AusrailQLD]

Probably not the best photo sorry. (Ignore the horrible green and yellow tape, this was before I discovered heat shrink.)
But here is one I was given from a bachmann Big hauler.
Had it for a few years, but then swapped it out recent for a different sound unit to get more features.

Basically looks the same, except your Speaker wires are red and 'grey'?
(where as mine are green and brown for some reason, can't remember why.....)

The other green and Brown wire connect to the 9 Volt battery.
Green + (plus)
Brown - (negative)

The Black and red wire (on mine) connected to a reed and magnets switch to activate the chuffs.

 

[Portsladepete]

Thanks for that, assume a reed switch and a magnet on an axle would make it work?

 

[AusrailQLD]

That's exactly what I did.

Glue a magnet to the axle, and the reed switch on the bogey.
Test to make sure the magnet triggers the reed switch.
And that's about it.

Example:

(Image belongs to girr.org model railway.)

 

[Portsladepete]

That's exactly what I did.

Glue a magnet to the axle, and the reed switch on the bogey.
Test to make sure the magnet triggers the reed switch.
And that's about it.

Example:

(Image belongs to girr.org model railway.)

Really grateful for your interest, I’ve splashed out £9.99 on it! Not expecting much, but should be similar to the Stainz toast scraping lol.

 

[dunnyrail]

but should be similar to the Stainz toast scraping lol.

Anything is better than that horrid row, but if it is like my very early Big Hauler one the sound is much better than Stainz, though that is not saying much.

 

[The Shed]

Really grateful for your interest, I’ve splashed out £9.99 on it! Not expecting much, but should be similar to the Stainz toast scraping lol.

Bu**er, whist tidying up a week or so ago, came across two of them, threw them in the nearest bin, not you understand the throwing away bit, it's the loss of nearly £20 that hurts!

 

[Rhinochugger]

The Bachmann Big Hauler sound card can be modified to produce a reasonable chuff for very little cost - the details are to be found on George Schreyer's pages

George Schreyer's Large Scale Trains Page

www.girr.org

I have used them in three or four of my locos, and while the volume is nothing like that of, say an LGB Sumpter Mallet, the modified card will give a pleasant chuff, loud enough to announce the locos presence, but not too loud to resonate around the garden

I wouldn't worry about the £20 John, I was given three for nothing, the owner was so desperate to off-load them

There re no bells or whistles, just the simple chuff but, once modified, for a bottom end sound card, they're not too bad

 

[Portsladepete]

I even find 00 dcc sound irritating after about 5 minutes, although it’s only a cheap Hornby TTS, and yet sound does have the ability to add a little more realism. I heard a dcc loco sound that was the best, (for me), it had a nice mellow sort of uneven chuff, but my memory is having another bad day, so can’t remember what loco it was fitted to. . Anyway, on here, I found someone who took the trouble to take a picture, and even what polarity the power wires were. Many thanks again Ausrail.

 

[PhilP]

I found someone who took the trouble to take a picture, and even what polarity the power wires were. Many thanks again Ausrail.

Please remember this card needs the correct polarity.. - You can't 'just' connect it across the incoming track-power pickups..

PhilP.

 

[Portsladepete]

Please remember this card needs the correct polarity.. - You can't 'just' connect it across the incoming track-power pickups..

PhilP.

Think this is powered by a 9v battery Phil, not track power

 

[AusrailQLD]

The chuff sound unit runs solely on a 9 Volt battery.
No input from track power.

To make things a little more confusing, Bachmann has made two versions of chuff sounds.

The old ones sounds like this.

Newer version sound like this.

The unit Portsladepete is looking at is the newer of the two.


Will be interesting to know if these sound cards will still be made, since Bachmann is updating the 4-6-0 Big Haulers with DCC sockets in future.
I don't know personally if other locos of the bachmann range include them.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Think this is powered by a 9v battery Phil, not track power

The chuff sound unit runs solely on a 9 Volt battery.
No input from track power.

Yes that is correct but, if you're not putting it in a Bachmann tender, then sometimes it's a bit of a PITA taking the tender apart to change the battery every once in a while.

So, you can power it from the track, but you need a bridge rectifier and a step down voltage unit. Neither of these are dear, and it probably makes sense to do

 

[GAP]

I made the improved board using the "better Bachmann sound for under a buck" from George Schreyer's pages and it sounds OK. As mentioned before it is not loud enough to start an over the fence dispute but gives a fairly believable steam sound as the loco passes. It is far better than the Stainz scratchy sound card. I triggered mine by putting reed switches on the body of a Stainz and an LGB tank engine behind the rear driver wheels and put the magnets between the spokes of the drivers.
It is battery powered but as my Stainz is battery powered I used a 9V regulator to drop the voltage from 12V. I does flatten the standard 9V battery fairly quickly so a good supply of them or rechargable ones (they are only 8.4V) is needed.
I am now modifying a Stainz and have pulled the sound card out replacing it with a mylocosound one.
It served me well for about 10 years and passed the wife and kids test with comments of "it sounds like a steam engine".

 

[Portsladepete]

It’s going to go in a into a box wagon, never thought of track power though.
Is there a recommendation on the speaker? I have a small (about 2 inch diameter) speaker, not sure of it’s wattage etc, that I intended to use. As stated, it’s just a bit of fun really, I don’t really want to go to the expense of adapting the wagon, although I do have a post office van, that I could use. Have to see what it sounds like I suppose.
I have been spending far too much lately, always something that tempts me

 

[trammayo]

It’s going to go in a into a box wagon, never thought of track power though.
Is there a recommendation on the speaker? I have a small (about 2 inch diameter) speaker, not sure of it’s wattage etc, that I intended to use. As stated, it’s just a bit of fun really, I don’t really want to go to the expense of adapting the wagon, although I do have a post office van, that I could use. Have to see what it sounds like I suppose.
I have been spending far too much lately, always something that tempts me

The Bachman sound unit gets its "beat" from one of the drive axles via a pick up from the said axle (that's why you have to plug the tender into the loco). Not being a DCC person, I find the sound OK (especially at shows) and, of course, the chuff varies with the speed of the loco.

 

[JimmyB]

So my big hauler has sound, but it picks up power from the track, there is an additional 9v battery, but this is only for sound at low power i.e. starting, so the sound still works without the battery, just rather badly at slow speed.

 

[AndyA]

I have just obtained a Bachmann 'James'. I intend to use 8 NiMh rechargeable eneloop batteries as in my other locos. However the loco also has a Massouth eMotion sound card. I'm not wanting full DCC control DC analogue is fine for me. The plan is to use Deltang Rx66 with Tx22, as in my other locos - but how can I use the eMotion card in this case.

 

[AndyA]

Incidentally, the sound card is an eMotion 4.0 XLS

 

[Rhinochugger]

It’s going to go in a into a box wagon, never thought of track power though.
Is there a recommendation on the speaker? I have a small (about 2 inch diameter) speaker, not sure of it’s wattage etc, that I intended to use. As stated, it’s just a bit of fun really, I don’t really want to go to the expense of adapting the wagon, although I do have a post office van, that I could use. Have to see what it sounds like I suppose.
I have been spending far too much lately, always something that tempts me

There are quality speakers, but they're expensive, so it's worth experimenting first.

Encapsulating the speaker brings significantly enhanced results. The classic method is to use the cap from a paint spray can to cover the rear of the speaker, and to seal with mastic the hole where you take the leads through. You will be surprised by the result

Also, setting the speaker back into a box can also help, so if, for example, you found a suitable diameter tube, and you placed your speaker about 25 mm down into it, and then sealed the back end with a disk for a lid, and sealed it, and the speaker leads with mastic, you'd get a very impressive sound.