Wow, so many views and no comments…

I did some research and it says make sure your coffee grounds are dry, otherwise they will go moldy.

Something else that was suggested was ground walnut shells.  I have several five gallon pails full of ground walnut shells.  And of course, if you need a finer grind, throw them in a coffee grinder.  Anyone use walnut shells?

Kind regards,
Max

Hey Espeelark,

Did you ever finish this install?

I spent many hours on installing a LM-3S-21 and later, a LM-3S in my BN SW1500. It's still not right.

I am trying to shoehorn a PBM-2 in there as well. I keep having to shorten the wires, file the chassis and reconsider other ways to do it. Probably NOT a good candidate for my first install. Then my HC-3 failed and I had to return it to RE.

Now that I have done some other installs in larger locomotives (Two GP35's and a GP38), I am going to revisit the SW1500 and try again.

I think I might replace all the Athearn bulbs for LEDs and that might simplify the wiring a bit.

Let us know your status, if you would. Thanks.

Rob S. "sieggs"

Hey Ian,

Thanks for the response.

I'll take a reading with my multimeter and get back to you. It's discouraging to hear that the older modules can blow out speakers. In this case, it seems as though the pins are dead.

Did you end up returning your modules to Ring Engineering for replacements?

Rob S.

Hey all,

I have installed a used LM-3S in my old Athearn blue box GP-35 diesel. I have all the light functions working including a PBM-2.

The one thing I cannot seem to get working is the speaker. I have a single, wired speaker that will NOT work when plugged into pins 1 and 2 of the 6-pin connection on the LM-3S. I have another GP-35 with the SAME speaker plugged into another LM-3S module that functions beautifully.

Has anyone ever had specific pins on an LM-3S fail? Doesn't sound right. I tried another speaker and it still didn't work.

I changed up the sound files on the buttons on the HC-3 for the locomotive and I can't get it to play any sounds.

I did have to flash new firmware for this module and the new version was confirmed in the controller.

Is there some kind of reset I need to do to get this to work? I don't see any physical damage to the pins and I have confirmed the speaker works with another module.

Any ideas?

Thank you,

Rob

yeah, run it at 9 volts and check the current draw, then run it briefly at 12v and note the current.