Hornby Class 31 with a Soundtraxx Decoder and iPhone Speaker

[@wrrail4428]

Hi Julian, Great video, I really enjoy that you look for the most cost effective option in all your videos, not everyone can buy the top of the range products and imho, it is far more satisfying to repurpose other products. Thanks Again

[@midsomerrailwaynscale]

I enjoy the install and the modification to fit everything in. It was great to hear the comparisons of the speakers thank you Regards Greg

[@jontaylor1652]

Good vid. I love the class 31's, they're amongst my all time favourite locos, along with 24/25, 50's, 40's and 44/45's.

[@pierre-de-standing]

Thanks for this review and comparison of speakers. TTS decoders are not suitable for speakers of less than 8 ohms, so that is something to bear in mind for the future. Certainly looks a very tidy installation, I like the use of the heat shrink around the chip! The final clip - very satisfying sound!

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

I heard claims the iPhone speakers are rated at 23.5 ohms but I have since had the iPhone speakers tested and they're all rated at 8 ohms. Even with some decoders having a lower limit of 4 ohms, the iPhone speakers I have been using would seem safe to use.

[@Madonsteamrailways]

You’ve done marvels!! That sounds very nearly like the one we have at the Epping Ongar Railway!!

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Many thanks for your kind words and reference to the a real Class 31. I've looked up Epping Ongar Railway and it's now another place to visit when I eventually travel the UK. Cheers, Julian

[@ewoodrailway]

Great loco and matching sounds, thanks for sharing

[@jameshennighan8193]

Always liked these Brush Types, (before the numbers classifications came in), from my spotting days in the 1960's. From Lancashire we had to travel to the then Eastern Region to see them. Although they did work Excursion Trains to Blackpool, often from Sheffield or Cleethorpes, routed along the Calder Valley, and then over the Copy Pit route at Hall Royd Junction, to East Lancashire and Preston. Well before the curse of the dreaded 'Yellow Ends' lunacy... Very nicely done electrical work here.. Who would have thought Cellphone speakers types could be so different..? Heat Shrink is clearly sent from Heaven, (or maybe the other place), to assist us....! James Hennighan Yorkshire, England P.S. Speaking of the dreaded 'Yellow Ends' it has always surprised me that manufacturers don't turn out models without these, and just supply pieces of yellow sticky cut-outs, (or 'Whiskers' for DMU's), for possible use of those who want them on their locos...? In fact, in this day and age of various, and it has to be said, sometimes ghastly liveries, I feel we should always have plain black as a production option from manufacturers. At least this would allow us some flexibility when it comes to livery choice and painting. Just a sayin'.......

[@Madonsteamrailways]

Great to see how to install a sound chip and speaker. There’s a new, even better Class 31 diesel that I shall be using.

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

I've just seen Hornby announce it's new Class 31's with some retoolling I understand? Is this what's on your shopping list?

[@jimmyduncan7650]

I'm looking at a new Hornby Class 31 to begin railway modeling after a 30 year absence and your video was extremely helpful. Clever use of the phone speaker. Some time ago, I gave my old collection to a friend for his son and am amazed at the technology leap to current locos etc. Wonder what automaton advances we'll see soon.. Thanks so much. Subscribed 👍

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Thank you Jimmy and welcome to Station Road. Yes, the Model Railway industry has seen some massive leaps in technology. I returned to the hobby in 2014 after last modelling a layout in 1989, and the advancement was significant... and train automation is already here, something I plan to incorporate on the bay platform to hidden branch for a back n forth DMU service.

[@kiwitrains]

Liked the vid I installed the Hornby TTS as it has the oblong speaker now and I even got the fan fastened to the grill no problem with space the chip goes under the PCV board.

[@onnomulder9775]

Great how to Julian!! Thanks for sharing. Cheers Onno.

[@jontaylor1652]

'8' definitely sounds the best from where I'm sitting.

[@mikerees6871]

Hi julian thank you for a very informative and well explained insight into chips and speakers an excellent video 😎😎😎

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Thanks Mike. I won't say I'm an expert in this field of Railway Modelling but more a case of learn as I go with loads of research. If I can find a solution or workaround to a problem, then all the better. Cheers, Julian

[@Madonsteamrailways]

Out of all the speakers you showed, the iPhone 8 speaker sounds the best!! I’m listening and watching on an iPhone 10XS.

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

It's a bit tricky try to demonstrate the sound differences on KZbin as the differences are more significant in actuality, but you can make out the slight variations in sound on YT.

[@clivecobbold6815]

Hi julian another great video mate I really enjoyed it every interesting I have one of the bad hornby class 31 locomotives for ten years I lost it 3 years ago I could not repair it I not have two lima class 31 locomotives with hornby motors in them stay safe and well mate goodbye for now clive in N.lreland

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Thanks Clive. I was quite shocked when I researched the earlier Hornby Class 31s and the issues they had with Mazak rot, that was pretty bad! My class 31 was manufactured in 2019 so I think it will be ok, there's certainly no signs of the chassis deteriorating. Cheers, Julian

[@pierre-de-standing]

Watching this for the second time. Speaker polarity is only important if you are wiring them in parallel or series. A single speaker is in effect polarity neutral, in fact they all are, the polarity is just so that you get all the speaker cones moving the same way. If you get the cones moving in opposite directions, it has the effect of trying to cancel pairing out leading to volume loss and a severe drop in low frequency response. I also spotted a fairly large area under the PCB. Could that be utilised for locating the chip/speaker?

[@marklittlejohn1457]

Thankyou for the tips sounds great

[@stevensmith2398]

Nice video. The different speakers is interesting and the soundtrax seems a good alternative to tts. The tts are in very short supply for the 31. You may like to consider rail exclusive speakers, a baby boomer fits in ahead of the fan unit with no modification or need to remove fan. I usually place a tts chip underneath the main pcb board with kapton tape. Done 8 so far this way.. Great channel!

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Thanks Steve, and great to hear of some alternative devices and methods being used. I did have the previous chip tucked under the PCB but there's not really the room for the Soundtraxx decoder and adaptor in that space. I'll definitely look into the baby boomer speaker - just curious to hear how they sound. However, I had the iPhone speakers at hand and thought I'll save myself $25.

[@stevensmith2398]

@@StationRoadModelRailway Hi Julian, thanks for the reply. I agree the iphone speakers are great value and offer a crisp clear sound and low height makes easy install.. Perhaps the iphone speaker could sit under the pcb to help with the fitting of your fan? The sound would still come out of the loco just lower down. I did notice the soundtrax has very large capacitors on board, so that is a limiting factor .The baby boomer offers the same high frequency as the iphone 6 but with better bass. I havent tried the 8, will get some. The megabass speakers in uk, offer better bass, but at some clouding of treble. I have one in class 31 railroad. Lots of space! Model not a patch on the superdetail version. Cost is always a signifcant factor. In the uk baby boomer is £10 v £3 ish for a iphone 6. However Soundtrax £70 loco £80+, so extra few quid on speaker? I do like your extension and time you have spent on videos. Note The super detail class 31s do run better with lubrication of the bogie gear towers brass bearings. I have only loksound and tts chips to advise on cvs not sure on the soundtrax. Best Regards Steve

Great video as usual. 😃👍

[@hollyruston2444]

When I fit a 21 pin decoder, I remove the pcb completely, wire in my own 21 pin harness, then plug the decoder straight in. I've never had a problem yet with this method.

[@Ron_Ventura]

Hi Julian. Interesting video. I noticed you put heat shrink around the speaker. Doesn’t that affect the sound? It still sounds good on the video, but I would have thought it might have made a difference.

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

I can't imagine it would make much of a difference. It's to protect against any shorts on the out metallic casing and terminals. The sounds comes out through the hole in the end which is important not to obscure. Cheers, Julian

[@kitchenhamfarm]

nice one julian going to use this method to fit a 8 pin tts to my 21 pin bachmann 47 as you mentioned all the 21-8 pin adaptors makes the fitting to high mine is just opposite to yours 21 pin to 8 pin decoder. plus i found you could fit a iPhone speaker in a class 31underneath the pub board and you can leave the fan in place..................tony

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Thanks Tony. I've got a TTS in my Bachmann Class 47 with a double iPhone 6S setup, and I think I used a Bachmann 21-8 pin adaptor but I might need to double check that if you're interested to know. Yes, there is some room under the PCB in Class 31, that's where I had the previous chip hiding, but to avoid a iPhone speaker rattling about in such a space it really needs firmly mounting which would require removing the PCB, mounting the speaker firmly and then reattaching the PCB over the top. There isn't enough room under the PCB for both the iPhone 8 speaker and the Soundtraxx decoder and adaptor. Cheers, Julian

[@kitchenhamfarm]

that would be great julian as i used a dcc concepts adapter which is too chunky can't get body on...................tony

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

@@kitchenhamfarm Hi Tony, I went to investigate what I did for my Class 47 and forgot that I had to do some modifications to the adaptor. I actually use a DCCconcepts adaptor but hard-wired the decoder harness to the adapter. I've just posted and explanation on the SR Facebook page if you want to check out how I did it. facebook.com/station.road.model.railway/posts/565703028166894

[@kitchenhamfarm]

why didn't i think of doing that ? ,just checked out your face book page, great idea julian, ps have you had any model railway events as we've had none for well over a year i think the first one will be manic.......................tony

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

@@kitchenhamfarm Same scenario here in NZ, no shows for over a year now. I think are local Train Show here in Christchurch is on schedule for October (cancelled last year) and Christchurch is hosting the NZ National Model Railway Convention in April next year, so some events to look forward to.

[@NarrowGauge1]

Hi Julian : Great video again mate. Can you describe what the programming track controller is at 16:21 ? I can't recognise what it might be. Is it your usual layout DCC controller or is it purely used on the programming track? Thanks

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Thanks Rick. The Station Road layout is controlled with a Digikeijs DR5000 controller. The small controller you can see in this video is for programming only. You can check out the details here... www.JTElectronics.co.nz/quicklink/JTEDCC.htm

[@NarrowGauge1]

@@StationRoadModelRailway Thanks heaps Julian for the info. I've had a Digitrax DCC system since 2003 and I have a bunch of Arduino boards and project developments but in all these years I've never heard of the DCC++ system that uses these Arduino boards and motor shields like you have there. That's what intrigued me about what you were using to control your test/programming track. I must have been under a rock. I've done a search of your channel vids but can't see anything that relates directly to your DCC++ Arduino system. Do you have any installation / review videos of it?

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

@@NarrowGauge1 I haven't actually done a video on the DDC++ system I use for decoder programming and testing. The only solid info I have is what's in the link I provided in the previous comment.

[@vincenthuying98]

Hi Julian, great video, very innovative. Anyhow, I’m curious about the glue you used on the plastic from the ice container. As far as I’m aware, or over here on the European continent, those containers are made from either low or high density poly-ethylene or poly-propylene. As a former plumber I worked a lot with those materials and my knowledge up till now says they can’t be glued; therefore the interest in what glue you use, provided the material is similar. Thanks for your share and in advance for your attention.

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Thanks Vincent. I used Zap Goo for adhering the plastic. It's my go-to-glue for gluing almost everything to anything, and it works fine on the ice cream container plastic. It's particularly good in these situations (locos and rolling stock) where movement and vibrations occur because the glue has a flexible quality to it.

[@NicholassTrainChannel]

Nice sound instalation video Julian can iphone speakers be purchesed from ebay because if i get one of those Hornby TTS decoders i could swap out the stock speaker for a iphone speaker to get a better sound quality.- Nicholas.

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Thanks Nicholas. The first thing I do if I buy a TTS decoder is ditch the speaker, they are simply terrible. I did a video some time back comparing the iPhone speaker with the TTS speaker for a Class 37 install... kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGTZdIyknJh7lbs

[@anfieldroadlayoutintheloft5204]

good vid

[@catweazle9525]

You should do a vid on dcc. Because at 2..48 the info on this decoder implies that it just controls sound and not dcc running of train.

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Although there are some analogue (DC) sound options out there, a sound decoder requires DCC for it to work. And all DCC loco decoders (sound and non-sound) control locomotive movements so I naturally assume folks would be aware of this. I could do a video on standard DCC loco decoders but there's just so many out there of varying types and options, that it would be quite a momentous video. There's a multitude of channels that cover all manner of DCC loco decoders.

[@medwaymodelrailway7129]

Nice update and subscribe to your channel to see more

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Thanks Dave and welcome to Station Road. There's plenty more interesting topics in the pipeline over the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned. Cheers, Julian

[@medwaymodelrailway7129]

@@StationRoadModelRailway Thanks julian

[@dylansheppardmymodelrailway]

I've started a channel on my layout see what ya think mate DYLAN SHEPPARD all caps you guys all gave me the inspiration to build my layout many thanks

[@StationRoadModelRailway]

Thank Dylan, it's great to hear when inspiration has been shared. I'll be sure to pop over to your channel and take a look.