Using Lionel's 6 wheel tender truck/hall effect sensor to control Lionel's early Mighty Sound of Steam

Ron,  I posted a photo of the reed switch that I have used in my upgrades a week or so ago it is rated at 10W .  I just dug out some old Sound Of Steam boards and though I have a couple like the one you are showing they are all dead and I am not going to waist time repairing them However I have several one generation newer SOS boards that also have whistle. I hooked one up to see what kind of current it draws. Now it wires somewhat different than the board you have. I don't think your board has whistle.  The board you show makes and breaks the AC power from the track and since my boards like yours are dead I cannot verify what their current draw is. The board I did test uses three wires instead of two so AC track voltage goes to two of the connections and the third wire times the chuff whenever it is attached to common (outside rail)  I hooked it up and ran the power through my meter and the board with 18v on the track it pulls around 100ma and during the chuff it pulls somewhere between 150 and 190ma. Now that is read from the main power inputs to the board. The wire that triggers the chuff has no where near that current going through it more like 30ma or less. The reed switch I show in my photo is rated at 10w or 1/2amp at 20VDC. So lets say just for illustration that the board is operated at 20V and it pulls 200ma and the chuff trigger pulls 50ma. At 20V that reed switch should be good for around 500ma. giving about a 10:1 margin for the 50ma that the chuff trigger pulls. These SOS boards with whistle can be easily had for $10. You can see what it looks like from my photos.  I have bought 4 of them at York for $10 out of junk boxes under sellers tables.  I will post a link to an eBay ad for the reed switches in a following post because the last time I tried to put a link in a message I lost the message. I think the going price is around 10 for $1.  I have another easy way to trigger the chuff that I will write about another night. Look for the reed switch link in my next message. This switch is somewhat larger than the reed switch another member posted and can manage a little more current. Photos below are of my SOS board current readings in ma.  J

Link to magnetic reed switch

https://www.ebay.com/itm/10Pcs...7:g:xH0AAOSwYmZXMuIy

JohnActon posted:

Ron,  I posted a photo of the reed switch that I have used in my upgrades a week or so ago it is rated at 10W .  I just dug out some old Sound Of Steam boards and though I have a couple like the one you are showing they are all dead and I am not going to waist time repairing them However I have several one generation newer SOS boards that also have whistle. I hooked one up to see what kind of current it draws. Now it wires somewhat different than the board you have. I don't think your board has whistle.  The board you show makes and breaks the AC power from the track and since my boards like yours are dead I cannot verify what their current draw is. The board I did test uses three wires instead of two so AC track voltage goes to two of the connections and the third wire times the chuff whenever it is attached to common (outside rail)  I hooked it up and ran the power through my meter and the board with 18v on the track it pulls around 100ma and during the chuff it pulls somewhere between 150 and 190ma. Now that is read from the main power inputs to the board. The wire that triggers the chuff has no where near that current going through it more like 30ma or less. The reed switch I show in my photo is rated at 10w or 1/2amp at 20VDC. So lets say just for illustration that the board is operated at 20V and it pulls 200ma and the chuff trigger pulls 50ma. At 20V that reed switch should be good for around 500ma. giving about a 10:1 margin for the 50ma that the chuff trigger pulls. These SOS boards with whistle can be easily had for $10. You can see what it looks like from my photos.  I have bought 4 of them at York for $10 out of junk boxes under sellers tables.  I will post a link to an eBay ad for the reed switches in a following post because the last time I tried to put a link in a message I lost the message. I think the going price is around 10 for $1.  I have another easy way to trigger the chuff that I will write about another night. Look for the reed switch link in my next message. This switch is somewhat larger than the reed switch another member posted and can manage a little more current. Photos below are of my SOS board current readings in ma.  J

I tested mine at work using a ac wall power supply and it pulled 90 ma at 9vav. I saw the link for the read switch and saved it to my watch list. Will follow it and bid when it gets close to ending. Then you.