Digitization of Traxx E 186 329-9 from Piko

 

I have several Traxx from Piko that I want to convert to DCC. Luckily, Piko just released a new sound decoder for it.

Piko 56613

A few weeks ago, Piko finally released the new version for many decoders. I bought several for Traxx E 186 engines and for G1206 engines. Today, we are looking at the Traxx one:

https://www.piko-shop.de/en/artikel/ger-psd-xp-5.1-sound-br-185.2-186-8polig-ls-33957.html

And here's a link to the documentation of the decoder.

Installation on Piko 59953

I largely follow a previous post: https://lagaredascq.blogspot.com/2022/03/digitization-of-traxx-hle-2901-from-piko.html; except that I don't need to load a sound project. 

First of all, let's run in analog to make sure:

Opening the engine is very easy: one screw then separate the body from the chassis by spreading the sides manually:

According to the notice, the speaker is supposed to clip on the mesh kind-of thingy, but the 4 little stops are not in the exact position. I cut two on one side:

Let's install the decoder and give it a try:

With the sound ...

Let's put everything in place:

And voila!

Configuration on the ECoS

I chose address #329 for this engine, but I might consider changing it to have a pattern for all Traxx E 186 engine. I was pleased to see that the decoder supports Railcom and I didn't have to configure all the icons for the functions.