Dapol Class 221 Avanti West Coast Sound Installaion

Mistakes may damage your locomotive, controller or other accessories. Use a multimeter to make absolutely sure you have completely isolated the motor from the track before testing. Always use the Programming Track for testing. Our guides are provided for reference only, and you proceed entirely at your own risk. Unsure about something - try our DCC Conversion Service instead.

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This guide shows how to install DCC sound into the Dapol N Gauge Class 221 'Super Voyager' models, including:

• Dapol Class 221 'Super Voyager' DMU 221109 'Marco Polo' in Virgin Trains Red (ND073A)
• Dapol Class 221 'Super Voyager' DMU 221110 'James Cook' in Virgin Trains Red (ND073B)
• Dapol Class 221 'Super Voyager' DMU 221130 'Michael Palin' in Virgin Trains Red (ND073C)
• Dapol Class 221 'Super Voyager' DMU 221144 'Prince Madoc' in Virgin Trains Red (ND073D)
• Dapol Class 221 'Super Voyager' DMU 221122 'Doctor Who' in Virgin Trains Red (ND073F)
• Dapol Class 221 DMU 221120 in Cross Country Trains Silver & Red (ND087A)
• Dapol Class 221 DMU 221135 in Cross Country Trains Silver & Red (ND087B)
• Dapol Class 221 'Super Voyager' DMU 221108 'Sir Ernest Shackleton' in Virgin Trains Original Livery (2D-023-001)
• Dapol Class 221 'Super Voyager' DMU 221101 '101 Squadron' in Virgin Trains 'Flowing Silk' Livery (2D-023-002)
• Dapol Class 221 DMU 221136 in Cross Country Trains Silver & Red (2D-023-003)
• Dapol Class 221 DMU 221101 in Avanti West Coast White & Green (2D-023-004)
• Dapol Class 221 DMU 221115 in Avanti West Coast Interim Livery Grey & Red (2D-023-004)

For the best effect, fit a decoder and speaker into both end cars, plus the motorized centre car. This guide uses the existing 6-pin decoder socket and an ESU Next18 wiring adapter harness, but for the that shows how to replace it with a Next18 socket to create more room, see Dapol Class 221 Virgin Voyager Sound Conversion Guide.

Step 1 - Remove Body

Remove the body by gently prising the body away from the chassis just underneath the driver's cab door. The other end should unclip easily after this. Unclip the lighting wire from the socket, and put to one side.

Undo the screw holding the rear weight in place, and remove the weight.

Step 2 - Modify PCB Wiring

Temporarily remove the 6-pin socket PCB from the mounting poles by undoing the two small screws. Remove the longer red and black wires that are routed towards the back of the coach.

Step 3 - Attach New Track Pickup Wires

Solder new, longer red and black wires to the socket PCB, leaving enough spare wire so that it can comfortably be routed around the speaker later.

Step 4 - Fit Speaker

Fit the speaker into the chassis tray, close to the PCB mounts. Use black tack or a blob of glue to hold it in place. Solder brown wires to each speaker terminal.

Step 5 - Refit PCB

Refit the PCB and tighten the two screws to hold it in place.

Step 6 - Refit Weight

Place a piece of Kapton tape on the top surface of the weight, then refit it. You will need to make a hole in the tape so the screw can pass though it. Once fitted, add another smaller square of tape over the screw head.

Step 7 - Fit Decoder

Connect the 6-pin to Next18 wiring harness (available in our online shop) to the decoder socket. Solder the two brown speaker wires to the harness, and the new longer red/black wires to the rear pickup tabs. Fix the Next18 socket to the weight using black tack or glue.

Fit the sound decoder into the decoder socket.

Step 8 - Refit Body

Reconnect the lighting wire from the body to the socket, and clip the body back onto the chassis. You can now test the conversion on your programming track to confirm all sound and light functions work correctly.

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