Piko G-Scale BR80: DCC sound module installation

After the successful installation of the DCC decoder on my first G scale locomotive (described here), the time has come to install the sound module and bring some more life to my train. I again bought it from MSL and it set me back a little over 100€ which is quite a sum, so my expectations were rather high.

The PIKO 36193 sound module comes in a box that looks identical to the one the decoder comes in. It's very sturdy so you can be sure your new purchase is safe during transport.

It differs on the inside. The speaker is held securely inside some polystyrene foam. Included you'll also find a documentation describing the installation and the functions of the module in both: English and German.

The module itself is very small. It looks tiny compared to the size of the speaker. You also get some screws and a small piece of a double sided adhesive tape.

Let's move to the installation. We already know how to disassemble the locomotive, so I'll skip those steps. This is what the inside looks like before the sound module is installed.

The basic installation of the set is really trivial. The SUSI connector fits easily into the socket in the decoder and there's a dedicated space for the speaker. No doubt at all about how those should be connected.

And once connected, the first tests are immediately possible.

In the next step you want to attach the module to the chassis, so that it does not move around, This is where the double sided tape comes into play. And I also added some extra insulation tape to hold the wires.

The speaker gets attached using the provided screws. You do have to use some force to screw those in. Or perhaps you just need to use a bigger screwdriver than the one I used. But once it's done you do have a feeling that it really holds.

 

I did have some trouble closing the chassis. Once the speaker is in place, there's not so much space left for the cabling. So I used even more insulating tape to hold some of the wires. Even with that the boiler would not go back in.

And then I noticed that the front light cables were loose when they should have been kept in the dedicated grooves. Once I forced them there, the chassis closed.

Now I only needed to put the engineer back in his seat. He was previously attached using an adhesive tape similar to the one provided with the sound module. But since I did not have any, I used some hot glue instead.

And here it is. My locomotive with a DCC decoder, a sound module and a smoke generator installed. Making its sounds for the first time in my garden!

Some final notes about the sound module:

• the installation is extremely easy assuming you know how to disassemble the locomotive
• there's no DCC configuration needed - once installed it immediately works
• the produced sound is clear and loud
• there aren't that many sound functions in it - it's just motor, whistle, bell, coupling and some extra noises when running
• I don't think the locomotive is fully weather-proof once converted to DCC/sound. Even PIKO makes a point about this in the manual. I definitely won't be running it during a rainy weather.