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$99 plus shipping and applicable sales tax |
Sounds will make your dull, quiet, lifeless
layout come to life!
The TRAIN
LAYOUT SOUND BOARD or TLSB allows model railroaders to easily add sounds to
their layouts. Any action or event can
have a sound attached to it. The sounds
can be anything from farm animals to train sounds to machinery to trucks, cars,
sirens…anything you like! The TLSB
block diagram is shown in the picture.
The sound
board comes mounted either: on a wooden base OR in a black
box. Both configurations are identical except for physical
appearance. Please let us know which configuration you prefer to
receive when you place your order.
There
are 3 push-button inputs and 3 speakers.
Press push-button 1 and hear a sound from speaker 1. The sounds are stored on an SD memory
card. Please read on because there
are many additional features.
You
decide what sounds you will hear because you place your own sound files on the
SD memory card. The most common type of
sound file is a wav file and this is the type used by the TLSB. There are loads of these files available on
the Internet. You can even use Windows
Sound Recorder to create your own wav sound files. Use your PC to transfer the files to the
included SD memory card using the included SD reader/writer.
The SD
card plugs into the TLSB. The sounds
are reproduced by circuitry on the TLSB and fed to 3 speakers. There is no need to have a computer other
than to initially place the sound files on the SD memory card. The included software CD comes with a good
sample of sound files that you can use.
The TLSB
is entirely self-contained and no PC (personal computer) is needed for normal
operation.
The
sound(s) get delivered to the 3 speakers that you place around your
layout. Each speaker is approximately 2
inches in diameter and should be installed in a baffle. A baffle is nothing more than a small
box or enclosure such as a building or mountain or even a cutout in the
layout surface. A 2-inch hole-saw does
a nice job. With the speaker mounted in a baffle you will
discover that the sound, sounds very local and realistic!
A
sound will be heard when:
1. An input switch has been pressed;
2. The TLSB timer has been enabled;
3. You requested
it using a Sony TV remote.
NOTE:
You can also use a magnetic reed switch instead of a push-button.
When a
push-button gets pressed a sound is heard. If the push-button remains pressed the sound will be repeatedly
heard. The sound will stop when the
button is released.
THE SD MEMORY CARD COMES WITH 100 SOUND FILES INSTALLED FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE USE.
TLSB
TIMER
If you
want to go automatic there is a timer on the board that will cause sounds
to be played at a time you choose by setting the timer adjustment pot. The time can be varied from 1 to 10
minutes. Setting the time for 5 minutes
means a sound will be heard once every 5 minutes. All the sounds will be played randomly when
the timer is enabled. Your quiet layout will become alive with
sounds. The timer can easily be enabled/disabled.
MULTIPLE
SOUNDS
Three
different sounds can be attached to each push-button. Press the push-button once to hear sound 1. Press again for sound 2 and again for sound
3. The reason for this is to allow
a different sound to be heard each time the button is pressed. You can enable or disable this feature. For example lets say the three
files for button 1 are named 001, 002 and 003.
If all three files are identical then the same sound will be heard each
time the button is pressed. If all
three sound files are different (for example cow, horse and chicken) then the
sound heard will be different each time the button is pressed.
Incidentally placing a speaker in a barn is a great place because there
are plenty of animals and animal sounds there.
RELAYS
Each of
the three sound channels on the TLSB is equipped with an extra
relay that can be used to control auxiliary devices such as led
lights or other automation effects. The relay contacts are rated at
0.5 amps.
For each
of the sound channels there is an LED indication of which
channel/speaker is presently being used. It is shown in
a bank of three colored LEDs.
WINDOWS
SOUND RECORDER
Use this
Windows program to edit and enhance your sound files. If your sound file
plays for 2 seconds and you would like it to play longer, you can splice
multiple copies of the sound together to get a longer playing
time. Or if you want to delete a portion of the sound file you can also do
this. You can even connect a microphone up to your
computer to record your own sounds.
SONY
TV REMOTE
The SD
memory card is capable of holding many sound files. An IR
receiver is mounted on the TLSB board so you can use a Sony TV remote to select
a sound file (not normally heard) and play it through the speaker of your
choice. For example if you had a speaker located at a train station
you could make a number of different announcements.
You can
even add an echo to your sounds using Windows Sound Recorder, to
make them sound more like the hall-like structure found on
a train platform.
NOTE -
Any universal TV remote can be configured to work as a Sony TV remote.
Download
Installation Manual – Download
Manual
Please
allow two weeks for delivery.
Use you imagination while you listen to sample sounds here: