Dive, dive, dive - ping, ping, ping

[Kazzer]

I've just received a sampling of the Mtroniks sound module for submarines. Although I haven't completely rigged it up in a boat and run it underwater, I have done a bench test (dining room table actually -another bollocking for that too!)

I placed the speaker in a jar of water and ran the dive, sequence, and it worked just fine. Of course, the sound was very muffled underwater, but as soon as it surfaced, it was loud and clear. Try doing that with an ordinary speaker and the paper middle would fall out in no time.

I have a call in to Steve at Mtroniks for a little help with the pinger, but aside from that, this looks like a winner.

The speaker is about 2" diameter, so this puppy won't fit in the smaller boats. The electronics box is about the size of an Mtroniks Speed Controller.


Here are the instructions.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I see wires going to the motor terminals. Does this thing make diesel sound too?

David

[oztruck]

more information, PLEASE!!!~!!!!!

[Kazzer]

I see wires going to the motor terminals. Does this thing make diesel sound too?

David

So, you want 'dive,dive,dive', 'ping, ping' AND klunky diesel noises too?

I can also arrange for flushing head noises if you like! Good grief- they're never satisfied! Seriously, I don't know why those leads go to the motors. I'm inquiring as we speak!

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I also want the thing to put out the banging of a chipping-hammer, the buzz of a deck-crawler; and the thing should smell of old socks, BO, **** and diesel oil.

DBF!

David

[Scott T]

Could you also add a sonic mist machine to make vapor cloud come out the exhaust.
Serious; though off topic; have you ever seen those mist fountains. It would look cool
coming out ot the exhaust. Maybe?

Scott T

[Kazzer]

It seems that I need to wire up the motors to the unit. Then we will have the sound of engines revving up as we speed up the motors.

Damn! This could be good! Tomorrow, I'll hook it to a sub-driver!

[Reckless]

consider one for the type 7 ... but their ain't no room in the SD LOL and well... it's in english...

... maybe do an albacore with an SD? ... or something... I'm NOT doing a gato...

[matthewnimmo]

It seems that I need to wire up the motors to the unit. Then we will have the sound of engines revving up as we speed up the motors.

Damn! This could be good! Tomorrow, I'll hook it to a sub-driver!

So ive found this old thread that david had asked the same question that i am now with the diesel engines. Did anyone ever figure out if this module has the engine sounds?

[redboat219]

How about substituting one of those tiny speaker you get from musical greeting cards, they're usually around an inch in diameter.

[Subculture]

If you want to move air then you need the biggest drivers you can fit. Linear excursion of drivers is generally limited to a few mm for most speakers of sensible dimensions, this means you need a lot of area if you want to hit lower frequencies and achieve decent sound pressure levels. A small driver will sound like a bee in a can.

Also it's important to note that the speakers should be baffled to avoid frequency cancellation in the lower ranges(this is why hifi speakers are mounted in boxes). Submarines present a special challenge in that if you expose a diaphragm to the water surface you have a compressible element which will affect the trim of your boat. Fully waterproof speakers are really hard to find, and the ones available tend to be expensive and give poor sonic performance compared to more conventional drivers.

I did a lot of research and expermentation with putting sound into a model submarine for the Yellow Submarine project, and I came to the conclusion that-

1. No substitute for conventional diaphragm based speakers. Mylar and most plastic coned speakers are watreproof at the front, but I have yet to find a diaphragm speaker that is waterproof on the other side.
2. As I said earlier, you need to baffle speakers if you want a decent frequency reponse. Builing them into a sealed box or cylinder creates an 'infinite baffle', but then you have created a compressible element in your boat. You have to build a special tank for them to operate in, so that when the boat is submerged the speakers are protected from water pressure, but when surfaced the sound can escape. This basically means a servo controlled port.
3. You only require about 1 watt of musical power max, which translates to about 4 watts of electrical power (amps and speakers aren't 100% efficient).

[matthewnimmo]

@kazzer: i believe you were the last to experiment with this sound module. Did you ever find out if engine sounds are part of this package?

[crazygary]

Quite a "plethora" of very small speakers get used by many model railroaders who
install DCC ( Digital Command Control ) decoders in their locomotives.

All shapes and sizes!!

Search, "dcc decoder speakers"!

CG

[matthewnimmo]

Ok, now i haven't received an official answer from anyone on either of the sites (www.sub-driver.com nor www.mtroniks.net); but from my trials this is what I know. There isn't any engine sound only dive and ping. When one attaches the motor terminals and applies throttle (and if the ping is turned on) one will here the ping becoming more higher in pitch. When the throttle is reduced the ping returns back to normal. Same happens when going in reverse. So, long story short; if you're hoping for diesel sounds this isn't your module; but the ping and dive sounds are very cool.

Furthermore, if you pre-wire/rig up your model with the harness included you can always purchase both modules and just change them out on days you wish to have that diesel sound instead of the pinging as the harnesses are identical. In the end i guess this makes sense as some of the newer subs you probably couldn't hear any noise due to the nuclear powering ... just us WW boats running diesel will have less of an experience.

[greenman407]

Interesting. Has anyone got one of these yet?