# Connecting sierra sound to Revolution



## meta_mat (Sep 11, 2013)

Hi new to this, so in need of some help,

We have a Aristocraft mikado with a sound traxx sierra sound card installed in the tender, we have just brought a new Revolution controller/ receiver system and wondering is there a diagram location or site to show how to install/connect the both ?

sorry In the UK and not many people seem to have any knowledge locally to us to help

Many thanks

Mat


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Fairly straightforward, though if you're going to be wanting to use any of the voltage-controlled sounds (Fireman Fred, directional whistles, etc.) then you're going to need an opto-isolator circuit between the motor output of the Revolution and the motor input of the Sierra. Aristo makes one, as does Tony Walsham (RCS of Australia). They're both around $40 or so. I prefer Tony's because it's much smaller. 

Are you running track power or battery? If battery power, then take the power from the battery that's powering the Revolution and also run it to terminals 4 (+) and 2 (-) on the Sierra. That provides your power. If you're running track power, you'll want to run the track power through a bridge rectifier first because the Sierra is polarity sensitive. 

Motor power inputs go to terminals 7 and 8 on the Sierra. 

Sound triggers go from the accessory harness on the Revo to the trigger terminals on the Sierra. (13, 14, 15, 16.) I think it's bell, whistle, hiss, coupler respectively. Use whatever colors you want to for each sound; each color corresponds to buttons 1 - 6 on the controller. "Convention" has the bell going to 1 and the whistle to 2, but you can do whatever you want to. I don't think you need to connect the ground (black) wire from that Aristo harness to the ground on the sierra, but I may be wrong. I'd have to open up my tender to check. It's terminal 12 if you do. The chuff sensor would run from terminals 11 and 12, and the speaker to 9 and 10. 

Note: The non-sound Aristo throttles "bled" just a little bit of voltage when the throttle was set to zero. Even with the Sierra sound interface circuit, the Sierra never read a "zero" voltage to trigger the idle sounds like Fireman Fred or to know to trigger the directional whistles when going forward or reverse. To remedy this, you need to put some diodes in line with the interface and the motor outputs: 










This may not be necessary with the new sound receivers. I've not used the new ones in conjunction with the Sierra. So try it without the diodes first. If it works, then you're golden. If not, then add the diodes. You may need to add multiple diodes. Each receiver is different. I've had some that needed only one per lead, others needed three or four. 

Good luck. 

Later, 

K


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## meta_mat (Sep 11, 2013)

Thanks so much, was scratching heads for hours today Lol


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