[San Juan]

I'm converting my USA rotary plow to work via battery power. While I'm inside the shell I figured it would be a good time to add a Phoenix sound card and leave the option for adding a CVP Airwire decoder/receiver in the future.

I'm super familiar with installing 2k2 boards. But looking on the Phoenix website I see the 2k2 is now replaced with a new board PB9. I also see there's something called P5.


Reading more, it seems the new PB9 is way overkill for just a snow plow. And I'm not sure what the P5 is.


I guess my main question is, knowing I want Phoenix sound because they have a great snow plow sound, what board should I get? It must also be compatible with CVP Airwire. And compatibility via the computer interface for 2k2 and any other future Phoenix board is an absolute must for me.

Also are there instructions somewhere out there on how to hook up either a P5 or PB9 to an Airwire receiver? I can only find how to hook up a 2k2 board in my Airwire manual and online.

Also, does anyone know of any deals out there for old stock 2k2 boards? Being just a snow plow I don't want to be spending big bucks on something that will be used pretty sparingly.

 

[Bill Swindell]

If you are going to hook it to an AirWire, the P-5 is an excellent choice. It is compatible with the computer interface that you use with the 2K2. I have installed both the 2K2 and the P-5 with an AirWire receiver. The P-5 is less expensive and works the best.

 

[San Juan]

Thanks, I start reading up more about the P5.

 

[Doug Bowman]

Since it is for infrequent use. Try a Sierra sound board. They are, or at least were much less expensive. I have both Pheonix and Sierra and both function well. On the Sierra systems I have set the charger up by plugging into a 110 vac power strip and the power strip is plugged into one of those cheap timers that you get a most hardware store. The timer has the pegs to set the "on/off" time. I have mine set for 1 hour in every 24 hours. With this little bit of a charge every day, the battery stays up and the sound system works everytime I want to run the equipment.

 

[Bruce Chandler]

I don't believe that the old Sierra boards are available anymore...

 

[Greg Elmassian]

The AirWire receiver has DCC outputs to control a sound card. Matt wanted to have the path to use this receiver in the future. The fact that Sierra is out of production, and the Phoenix has the ability to have new soundfiles loaded and customized really points to that line of product, since the sound board needs to (apparently) run from DC right now.

You could also get a QSI for less money and run in DC mode, but it does not have trigger inputs, and they do not have a rotary snowplow sound set (yet).

Matt, the new P5 is supposed to have trigger inputs as standard, not an add-on board, so if you will be running from DC now AND want to trigger sounds by magnets, wait for the new one.

If you will not trigger now, then get the current P5... that's my opinion.

Regards, Greg

 

[TonyWalsham]

Greg.
The current P5 has two assignable DC trigger inputs.
One would be for the chuff, the other can be a whistle.
The add on extra P5T is only really required if you need more sound trigger functions than that.
The P5 can of course interface with DCC quite comfortably.

 

[K27_463]

The new pb9 i s fully dc and Airwire compatible, and is lower in cost than the 2k2 it replaced. so for dc track now, airwire later and full compatibility, the pb9 is the best choice. The p5 employs an external add on card for triggers, the pb9 is built in. The p5 has no provision for battery back up if run on dc, and does not wake up until about 7 volts is on the rails, and cannot bridge dirty track spots with sound without a backup battery on straight dc.
Jonathan/EMW

 

[eheading]

I just saw that an internet dealer here in Florida has the new PB9 board "basic" (speaker and charging jack not included) on sale for $189. That seems to me to be getting pretty competitive with the competition!!

Ed

 

[George Schreyer]

The P5 can be hacked with an external power source, either capacitor or battery, but at or near track voltage. Phoenix provides a method for the capacitor backup, you can substitute a battery at that point as well as long as you control the way that the battery charges.

 

[TonyWalsham]

The P5 is about to be replaced with a newer version that will have four sound triggers built in. Just like the PB9 has.
Essentially it will be like a PB9 without the low voltage big boost circuit and with plugs and sockets instead of the screw terminals the PB9 has.

In case you want to bug Phoenix on availability, the workong name is PLP5.