Class 66, By Accurascale

[Rugd1022]

On 06/07/2024 at 16:56, classy52 said:

 

It is this piece on the inside of the left hand bogie frame at the exhaust end.

 

 

Hope this helps.

Cheers Steve

 

Smart arse pedant mode on 😉 : that is the parking brake chain in the 'on' position, ie: stretched nice and tight, for anyone actually running their (fabulous) new 66s the chain should be slack in the 'off' position!

 

On our FLHH 66s we have to physically check these when applying or releasing them as the indicators on the control desk are utter pants! I had 66 536 on a Rugby - Willesden job this morning and had to yank the chain by hand to make sure it was fully released. If the automatic mechanism doesn't work we have a large handle to do it manually which is tucked up in the vestibule at no.1 end, if it's missing the loco is not allowed to enter service.

 

Smart arse pedant mode off 😉.

 

 

[big jim]

7 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

If the automatic mechanism doesn't work we have a large handle to do it manually which is tucked up in the vestibule at no.1 end, if it's missing the loco is not allowed to enter service.

 

Smart arse pedant mode off 😉.

 

 

Don’t forget to trip the parking brake MCB out first! 
 

Had a few fail over the years but normally just going to the other cab and trying it from the button in there works

[classy52]

Hi Accurascale...do you have an eta for the Accurathrash 8ohm speakers and clips for the Class 66?

 

Cheers Steve

[Midnight-Freight]

On 05/07/2024 at 22:56, classy52 said:

 

How funny, I was about to post another finding which I just came across but you posted just before me, got nothing else to do on a crappy and rainy Friday night.

Anyway, just now I was playing around with my 60004 where I had installed a spare latest ESU 8ohm 50346 speaker to see how it would perform in the AS Class 66 whilst I wait for my pre-ordered Accurathrash 8ohm speaker and to be honest I was disappointed, set to the same sound levels (bass, treble & volume - 30-30-192 respectively) as my factory sound 66122 the ESU speaker had a noticeable crackle when the engine started up as if it couldn't handle the sound decoder/file and yes adjusted down the sound settings but the crackle was still there and just didn't sound as deep as the AS factory fit thus overall just sounded inferior to the Accurathrash speaker in my 66122.

So I whipped out the 8ohm Accurathrash speaker from my Class 92 92020 and swapped it with the ESU 8ohm and it sounds pretty good in the 92 with no crackles thus I can safely say the ESU speaker isn't faulty but weird how it couldn't perform in the 66004, maybe the sound file in the 66???

Now, when I put in the AS speaker in 66004 straight away the sound vibration/buzzing started but weird this time because this is the Phase 0 decoder/file which hasn't given me any issues in 66122 or when I had the ESU speaker in 66004 there was no resonation but appeared as soon as I put in the Accurathrash thus buzzing when engine is on and when I put my finger on the speaker on the left hand side  of the speaker the buzzing stopped and whilst doing that I had an epiphany looking down on the PCB...see photo below.

 

 

Don't ask me why but I decided to remove one of the PCB screws, circled in blue, and the buzzing instantly stopped!

The buzzing always eminates from that end of the speaker/PCB which was also evident on my other 4 Class 66's (Phase 1/2's) which are with Simon at Accurascale currently being investigated so I can't test this out on those 66's but that screw being removed has turned my 66004 into somewhat of a beast just by removing that PCB screw.

 

If anyone else has any sound vibration/buzzing in their 66's try removing that screw and see if that resolves it, will be interesting to see if it does or perhaps I got lucky?

I'll let Simon at Accurascale know as well.

 

Cheers Steve

Just tried that on mine and didn't make any difference. To me it sounds more like the speaker is distorting. I've lost interest in it now in all honesty.

[Mooresby]

11 hours ago, classy52 said:

Hi Accurascale...do you have an eta for the Accurathrash 8ohm speakers and clips for the Class 66?

 

Cheers Steve

I messaged Accurascale a couple of days ago. on this and the speaker clips will be back in stock early August

[Accurascale Fran]

12 hours ago, Midnight-Freight said:

Just tried that on mine and didn't make any difference. To me it sounds more like the speaker is distorting. I've lost interest in it now in all honesty.

 

Hi @Midnight-Freight,

 

If you are having an issue with your loco please contact our technical support team support@accurascale.com and they will see you right.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[Rugd1022]

On 09/07/2024 at 17:03, big jim said:

Don’t forget to trip the parking brake MCB out first! 
 

Had a few fail over the years but normally just going to the other cab and trying it from the button in there works

 

I'll give you three guesses as to how I learned about tripping the MCB first...! A painful lesson in not listening to the instructor!

[Dutch-Traindriver]

Funny, only now discovered on my class 66. The two-tone horn does high>low, but also low>high.

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

On 13/07/2024 at 10:45, Dutch-Traindriver said:

Funny, only now discovered on my class 66. The two-tone horn does high>low, but also low>high.

Its for the new section of the London philharmonic,playing the accurascale 66 horns,most little boys got into touble for this kind of thing as you were told you go blind,must have been true it seems now.

[zr2498]

On 05/07/2024 at 22:56, classy52 said:

 

How funny, I was about to post another finding which I just came across but you posted just before me, got nothing else to do on a crappy and rainy Friday night.

Anyway, just now I was playing around with my 60004 where I had installed a spare latest ESU 8ohm 50346 speaker to see how it would perform in the AS Class 66 whilst I wait for my pre-ordered Accurathrash 8ohm speaker and to be honest I was disappointed, set to the same sound levels (bass, treble & volume - 30-30-192 respectively) as my factory sound 66122 the ESU speaker had a noticeable crackle when the engine started up as if it couldn't handle the sound decoder/file and yes adjusted down the sound settings but the crackle was still there and just didn't sound as deep as the AS factory fit thus overall just sounded inferior to the Accurathrash speaker in my 66122.

So I whipped out the 8ohm Accurathrash speaker from my Class 92 92020 and swapped it with the ESU 8ohm and it sounds pretty good in the 92 with no crackles thus I can safely say the ESU speaker isn't faulty but weird how it couldn't perform in the 66004, maybe the sound file in the 66???

Now, when I put in the AS speaker in 66004 straight away the sound vibration/buzzing started but weird this time because this is the Phase 0 decoder/file which hasn't given me any issues in 66122 or when I had the ESU speaker in 66004 there was no resonation but appeared as soon as I put in the Accurathrash thus buzzing when engine is on and when I put my finger on the speaker on the left hand side  of the speaker the buzzing stopped and whilst doing that I had an epiphany looking down on the PCB...see photo below.

 

 

Don't ask me why but I decided to remove one of the PCB screws, circled in blue, and the buzzing instantly stopped!

The buzzing always eminates from that end of the speaker/PCB which was also evident on my other 4 Class 66's (Phase 1/2's) which are with Simon at Accurascale currently being investigated so I can't test this out on those 66's but that screw being removed has turned my 66004 into somewhat of a beast just by removing that PCB screw.

 

If anyone else has any sound vibration/buzzing in their 66's try removing that screw and see if that resolves it, will be interesting to see if it does or perhaps I got lucky?

I'll let Simon at Accurascale know as well.

 

Cheers Steve

Hello Steve

I did try the screw removal, but sadly it made the vibration much worse. 'Bag of spanners!'

 

Anyway, I have fully fixed the problem on two 66s.

It was accomplished by damping the vibration between the speaker and PCB.

 

The clips were removed, and 2 sided sticky pads used to hold the speaker in place.

 

 

 

The pads have a layer of low density foam which acts as a damper.

 

The amplitude of vibration in the speaker body is quite large, and is the source of excitation. So any hard contact between the speaker and the PCB will transmit vibration. This will search out for any loose parts or contacts, and cause vibration particularly at the resonant frequencies. I guess every assembly will be slightly different, and the screw removed in your case gave clearance between the PCB and chassis on that corner.

 

The vibration source can also be felt in the wires from speaker to plug, that is why I have used black tac to tie the wires down, so as not to vibrate against the roof.

 

I also made sure that the speaker was sitting centrally in the PCB recess, as the ribs on the speaker are very close to the PCB.

Ideally this would have a greater clearance.

 

I had another check of the horns F3 and F4. It seems that they are always partially distorted when F1 is also ON. There is much better clarity when F1 is OFF.

This was the case when the speaker was completely moved away from the PCB. That must be a problem with the combination of sound files somehow?

I have removed the tranmission to the PCB, which in turn benefits all of the remaining parts in the locomotive that might otherwise decide to rattle. I did have a go with fixing the speaker to the PCB with black tac and there was some improvement, but the foam is a better damping material.

 

Dave

Edited July 18 by zr2498

[classy52]

2 hours ago, zr2498 said:

Hello Steve

I did try the screw removal, but sadly it made the vibration much worse. 'Bag of spanners!'

 

Anyway, I have fully fixed the problem on two 66s.

It was accomplished by damping the vibration between the speaker and PCB.

 

The clips were removed, and 2 sided sticky pads used to hold the speaker in place.

 

 

 

The pads have a layer of low density foam which acts as a damper.

 

The amplitude of vibration in the speaker body is quite large, and is the source of excitation. So any hard contact between the speaker and the PCB will transmit vibration. This will search out for any loose parts or contacts, and cause vibration particularly at the resonant frequencies. I guess every assembly will be slightly different, and the screw removed in your case gave clearance between the PCB and chassis on that corner.

 

The vibration source can also be felt in the wires from speaker to plug, that is why I have used black tac to tie the wires down, so as not to vibrate against the roof.

 

I also made sure that the speaker was sitting centrally in the PCB recess, as the ribs on the speaker are very close to the PCB.

Ideally this would have a greater clearance.

 

I had another check of the horns F3 and F4. It seems that they are always partially distorted when F1 is also ON. There is much better clarity when F1 is OFF.

This was the case when the speaker was completely moved away from the PCB. That must be a problem with the combination of sound files somehow?

I have removed the tranmission to the PCB, which in turn benefits all of the remaining parts in the locomotive that might otherwise decide to rattle. I did have a go with fixing the speaker to the PCB with black tac and there was some improvement, but the foam is a better damping material.

 

Dave

 

Hi Dave,

 

Thank you, this is really helpful.

I just purchased my 8th Class 66 with sound, 66167, and that one vibrated really bad which was unusual as I've not had any of these issues with 66122 or 66004 thus came as a surprise and the vibration was solely coming thru the exhaust part on the removable roof.

Taking off the removal roof eliminated the bad vibration/buzzing sound and there was no evidence of sound vibration anywhere else within the body/chassis so this time I pressed down on the exhaust part of the roof and heard it creak a bit and when I put the roof back on the vibration had disappeared and combined with my other 66's (Phase1/2 variants) with Accurascale Support atm that exhaust part plays a major role in causing the vibration/buzzing sound due to its off-centre fitment which I have documented previously.

Yes, it is sort of like playing whack-a-mole in trying to eliminate these sound vibration issues and I know Simon from Accurascale reads these threads so hopefully we are providing good customer feedback on these sound issues which will be compiled, investigated and resolved before future runs of this wonderful model.

 

I will go out and get a pack of these Sticky Fixers and give them a go so thanks for the heads up on these.

Cheers Steve

[rorz101uk]

Any update on the sound decoder and clips? 🙈

[Accurascale Fran]

3 hours ago, rorz101uk said:

Any update on the sound decoder and clips? 🙈

 

Hi @rorz101uk,

 

The sound decoders have been in stock for a few weeks now?

 

Still awaiting clips and speakers. The speakers are due in stock next week.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

So on the speaker front the 66 and the latest 37 are the 8ohm listing

is this the speaker to use now on all the model’s including the earlier released ones?

 

[Accurascale Fran]

14 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

So on the speaker front the 66 and the latest 37 are the 8ohm listing

is this the speaker to use now on all the model’s including the earlier released ones?

 

 

Hi Eric,

 

The 8 ohm speaker is indeed backwards compatible with our previous models. It's just a simple plug and play just like the 4 ohm. We should have the 8 ohm in stock as an accessory next week.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[SulzerPeak]

59 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

 

Hi Eric,

 

The 8 ohm speaker is indeed backwards compatible with our previous models. It's just a simple plug and play just like the 4 ohm. We should have the 8 ohm in stock as an accessory next week.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

Are the 8ohm speakers quieter than the 4ohm speakers? Excuse my lack of electrical knowledge, just remember reading that somewhere.

[rorz101uk]

3 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

 

Hi @rorz101uk,

 

The sound decoders have been in stock for a few weeks now?

 

Still awaiting clips and speakers. The speakers are due in stock next week.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

Right right, the clips are on the same order, 👍🏻

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

1 hour ago, SulzerPeak said:

Are the 8ohm speakers quieter than the 4ohm speakers? Excuse my lack of electrical knowledge, just remember reading that somewhere.

Without going through reams of thread on the 37 I think it was someone into the electronics had picked up the resistance on the system should be 8ohms for ESU  themselves had stated that so perhaps why it’s changed,I doubt it has any bearing on loud or quiet and I guess only the dog has hearing good enough to notice

[McC]

25 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

Without going through reams of thread on the 37 I think it was someone into the electronics had picked up the resistance on the system should be 8ohms for ESU  themselves had stated that so perhaps why it’s changed,I doubt it has any bearing on loud or quiet and I guess only the dog has hearing good enough to notice

 

Earlier PCBs (and indeed ESU Loksound V5 chips) have different components, and therefore tolerances to more recent versions. While the 4Ohm worked amazingly on the earlier config, the tolerance change means the newer configurations work better and more reliably with the 8Ohm version. Nothing else has changed and you can still use 4Ohms in all earlier locos, as well as 8Ohms, should you prefer.

[SulzerPeak]

27 minutes ago, McC said:

 

Earlier PCBs (and indeed ESU Loksound V5 chips) have different components, and therefore tolerances to more recent versions. While the 4Ohm worked amazingly on the earlier config, the tolerance change means the newer configurations work better and more reliably with the 8Ohm version. Nothing else has changed and you can still use 4Ohms in all earlier locos, as well as 8Ohms, should you prefer.

Just remebered where i saw it. As the Loksound v5 amplifier can support 4ohms it does give a louder clearer sound

[TravisM]

I think I know the answer to this question, but it never hurts to ask.  Will the drivers cab side mirror's on the late EWS and DB Cargo versions of the Class 66 be available as a spare part?

[The Fatadder]

2 hours ago, TravisM said:

I think I know the answer to this question, but it never hurts to ask.  Will the drivers cab side mirror's on the late EWS and DB Cargo versions of the Class 66 be available as a spare part?

I might have set of Hattons ones going spare if you are in need of a set 

[Kaput]

5 hours ago, SulzerPeak said:

Just remebered where i saw it. As the Loksound v5 amplifier can support 4ohms it does give a louder clearer sound

 

The Loksound can handle 4ohms perfectly fine, the issue was until the 66 Accurascale's speaker setup (an 8ohm and 4ohm speaker in parallel) meant the resistance was 2.something which is outside the official ESU specs (but unofficially ESU say it was fine).

With the new speaker being 8ohm it means the sound fitted models will be running at 4ohm with both speakers in, should mean the 37 for example won't need the volume reduced to avoid cut outs from overloading the amp. Quite tempted to get one of the new speakers for my 37 just for peice of mind.

 

Edited July 22 by Kaput

[McC]

1 minute ago, Kaput said:

 

The Loksound can handle 4ohms perfectly fine, the issue was until the 66 Accurascale's speaker setup (an 8ohm and 4ohm speaker in parallel) meant the resistance was 2.something which is outside the official ESU specs (but unofficially ESU say it was fine).

With the new speaker being 8ohm it means the sound fitted models will be running at 4ohm with both speakers in, sound mean the 37 for example won't need the volume reduced to avoid cut outs from overloading the amp. Quite tempted to get one of the new speakers for my 37 just for peice of mind.

 

 

Not technically true, as posted earlier the components on the loksound changed during the period and tolerances changed as a result. The original speakers work perfectly well

as configured with the ‘matching’ loksounds but the new version works better with the 8ohm. 

[derekdoestrains]

59 minutes ago, McC said:

 

Not technically true, as posted earlier the components on the loksound changed during the period and tolerances changed as a result. The original speakers work perfectly well

as configured with the ‘matching’ loksounds but the new version works better with the 8ohm. 

I’m sure that wasn’t what the early loksound 5 manuals said…