VR NA class steam by Haskell

Items used:

ESU 58420 LokSound decoder with NA class sound

DCCSound Premium sugarcube NA class speaker

ESU 54671 Powerpack mini

DCCSound 3D printed gear cover

Decoder preparation:

DCCSound pre-attaches the ESU 54671 Powerpack Mini to the LokSound decoder. The connection is however shown here for reference:

Haskell's On30 RTR model has room for a decoder in the smokebox, and a speaker in the coal bunker, while the Powerpack mini resides in the boiler space, on a gear cover.

To access the 8 pin plug, remove the small hatch cover on the underside of the loco, near the 2nd driver. Once removed, use a jeweller's screwdriver to remove the screw inside the hatch and once removed, the boiler's top is free to remove.

The 8 pin socket PCB is located in the smokebox and needs to be extracted in order to plug the decoder in. Once the PCB is extracted, plug the decoder in, being careful not to pull on the red and black pickup wires. If they break (which they can quite easily), the water tanks must be removed in order to resolder the wires to the phosphor bronze pickups. Broken pickup wires have been seen in about 80% of models that we have seen come in for a sound fit out.

Place the 3D printed gear cover over the exposed gears. It can be held in place with semi-permanent adhesive.

Place the Powerpack Mini onto the gear cover using double sided tape. Carefully arrange wires in the boiler for a neat installation.

Next, solder the speaker to the small PCB in the bunker. The bunker is accessed by removing a false floor under where the coal would reside.

Ensure the PCB is wrapped in kapton or PVC tape to prevent a short with the speaker.

Next, solder the decoder's brown speaker wires to the PCB that the decoder plugs into, where the purple wires connect. These purple wires run from the PCB to the small PCB in the coal bunker.

Once all connections are thoroughly checked (so as not to present a short which will damage the decoder), test run the model to ensure proper operation.

If the model performs as expected, it is time to refit the boiler top. When positioning and fixing the boiler top back in place, pay attention to keeping wires away from:

a) the drive mechanism

b) the join between the lower and upper boiler parts

c) the boiler top stand/spigot which mates to the lower half and receives the fixing screw.

The wires are easily crushed so apply care.