ESU loksound installtion in a Powerline models T-class

Introduction

NOTE: I decied to redo the decoder installation some time after writing this article because of issues with lighting. That endavour is described here.

I own a T class produced by Powerline models. I have previously written an article about the steps I did to install a Soundtraxx decoder in the locomotive. That decoder no longer works for me. The power indicator on the decoder turns on, but nothing else works. The issue seems to be compatibility problems between the Z21 DCC control system and the decoder.

I therefor decided to buy a new decoder from a brand I know works well with Z21. The decoder i ended up buying was the Loksound 5 micro from ESU. I choose that decoder model because I found this blog post featuring ESU sound decoder installtion in T class locomotives from Powerline models.

The store I choose to buy the decoder from where willing to add sound files free of charge. The sound I asked them to program was EMD 8-567C NT.

Tools

I used the following tools for the decoder replacement.

Removing the decoder

The first step was to remove the Soundtraxx decoder. I used the desoldering pump to remove all of the soldering. The wires used for the rear lights where way to short to be properly soldered to the wires on the new decoder. I therefor decided to replace both wires. The new wires where soldered on by simply reusing the old solder on the circuit board. Bellow is a picture taken with the new wires in place.

Installing the new decoder

The ESU decoder I bought came without any interface. I choose to buy it without an interface, so I could simply solder the wires together. Shrink tubes from Sondtraxx where used to protect the solder joint. I used Brawa decoder wire 32407 where the exising wires where too short.

I decied to remove the bracket used for holding the previous decoders to get some more space before starting soldering. Bellow is a picture taken after removing the old decoder bracket and after soldering the motor wires.

The wireing ended up as illustrated in the bellow table.

Decoder wire	Function	Locomotive wire
Orrange wire	Motor	Red wire
Grey wire	Motor	Black wire
Black wire	RHS pickup	Black wire from the rear and red wire from the front
Red wire	LHS pickup	Black wire from the front and red wire from the rear
Yellow wire	Rear light	Blue wire from rear and red wire from front.
White wire	Front light	Blue wire from front and red wire from rear.
Blue wire	Common wire for all lights	White wire from front and white wire from rear.
Green wire	Light, AUX1	Not used.
Violet wire	Light, AUX2	Not used.

Please not that there is one error in my wireing. The engine is wired backwards. I therefor had to change the "Locomtive direction" to "Reversed" and the light outputs on the decoder, as it was easier than resoldering the lights. The change i did on the decoder using JMRI Decoder Pro (Function Map tab) is shown bellow.

I tested the engine after soldering all off the pickups and the motor wires. It worked at first try! I also tested it after soldering on all the wires for the lighting.

The speaker was secured to the chassis with a double-sided tape. I initially mounted the speaker facing towards the chassis, but I later turned it around so it was facing upwards. The decoder itself was secured with a regular office tape.

The metal between the tip and the handle of my soldering iron was used to shrink the shrink tubes into place. Make sure to distribute the heat as evenly as possible. Be carefull when shrinking, as your soldering iron might hit parts you do not want to melt. Bellow is a picture that shows a shrinked tube and some ready for shrinking.

I choose to cut the wires way to long to make it easier to solder wires and shrink tubes. The challenge with having long wires, is that it will be harder to have proper cable mangement. Bellow is a picture of how I did the cable management.

Its quite messy, but it gives me more flexibility if I need to access the motor for example. I used regular office tape to make sure that the wire stays somewhat in place. I also used office tape to secure the wires for the lighting, as they tend to jump out of their tracks when the locomotive body is assembled or disassembled.

I also had to resolder the black wire in the rear as it broke of. Bellow is a picture after resoldering that wire.

Testing the locomotive

It was then time to do some more testing after putting the locomotive together. I once again had some wired lighting issues due to some wires that werent properly laid in its tracks. The locomotive is otherwise working great with the new decoder.

It should be noted though that the sound sometimes stops working. Its luckily not a severe issue, as it can be fixed by doing a power cycle of the decoder.

Final thoughts

My initial thoughts about the ESU Loksound 5 micro decoder is that it works great with the T-class. Sound is also nice, however it should be noted that the speaker is not the best due to its tiny size. The noise from the locomotive is higher than the speaker sound, meaning that no sound will be heard at higher speeds.

I have done some adjustments to the volume based on settings from my other Loksound 5 decoder, but it might be wise to spend some time experimenting with the volume settings. There are also a lot of sound effects that I havent tested out.

Lets hope this decoder will last longer than the previous one.