DCC & Sound in powered SW-7 CALF Loco

[Danny Strain]

Does anyone have experience in installing a decoder and Sound system in a powered [Athearn] SW-7 CALF?

 

[diburning]

Theres not much room in there so I don't know how big of a speaker you can get in there.

 

[wheeler1963]

Danny, if you have a calf, why not make it a dummy?? DCC the cow and run the wires for the speaker from the cow to the calf.

 

[Danny Strain]

Sw-7 calf

That's one solution. My lead units are all sound equipped. I just don't like permanent connections. But it IS a reasoned solution. Thanks, I'll consider it if no other solution is available.

Regards,
Danny

 

[wheeler1963]

Danny, doesn't have to be a permanent connection. Mark has DCC'ed a lot of my switchers for me. But I always make him put a plug between the DCC board and the lights so I can remove the shells.

I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 switchers now. The majority are Athearns. The only ones that have both sound and DCC are the newer MP15's and RTR SW1500's. I have quite a few of the older ones that are DCC'ed now, but trying to fit a speaker in a powered calf would be darn near impossible in my humble opinion.

 

[diburning]

Get two of those single pin micro connectors and use those for the speaker wires. Try to get the smallest connector possible and maybe you can simulate MU cables.

 

[bnsf971]

I put a speaker in a small enclosure in a gondola with a plug. I can then run any of several switchers, simply plugging them in to the gondola to enable sound. The decoder is in the switcher, with a plug for the speaker. The wires are black, and look kind of like air hoses.