I have a Marklin 48704 "Looney Tunes" Recording Car and the simple instructions tell how to make a recording but do not mention a battery. I assume it does have some kind of battery as it has no pickups that could contact the track for power. Does anyone know what type of battery it is and how do I change it?

Thanks in advance,

Peter B.

First step is to flick off the couplers with a screwdriver.

Under the couplers is two white sets of clips. Squeeze these together to release the upper body from the frame.


Whatever you do - don't undo this screw. You don't need to as the insides just fall out when you turn the wagon upside down..


There are two batteries. One of half out in this image. You will also note that the clip holding the speaker onto the tube is loose. I need to fix this will a cable tie before reassemly. There is also a grey rubber cup thing that has fallen out. I suspect that this goes over the record switch.


Another view of the circuit board and speaker housing..


The batteries are CR2032, but as that is standard international battery number, it probably means nothing in the USA..

Thanks very much Adrian for your quick response and super pictures, I really appreciate your help. I followed your instructions and have changed out the batteries. The battery number is correct for the US of A too.

Best regards,

Peter B.

Hello Howard,

It is actually the record switch for a message, which is later replayed by pressing the button on top of the wagon. When I pulled the cover off the wagon, a grey rubber boot fell out on to the table. It seems to fit into the hole that you see above the record switch and is held in place by the wagon base after the wagon is assembled. Peter should be able to confirm this for us.

My guess is that pressing the rubber boot close to the LDR must change the resistance and act as the switch for the recording function. Otherwise it is not a LDR and is something else like two halves of a switch that bridge when the conductive rubber (is there such a thing?) is pressed against the contacts.

Thanks for the explanation Adrian and Peter.
What appears to be an LDR is therefore probably the PCB contacts of a switch and the rubber button has a carbon face to make the switch.

I have a few of these small sound record boards and use them for station announcements up to 8- 10 seconds.
I type the announcement in English, then Google translate. Copy the translation (I use German) then paste to "Best Text to Speech Demo"site on the internet.
There you have a choice of which voice you want to use and if you want to modify it in any way.
I choose a woman's voice with reverb added and voila! the perfect station announcement.
It can be triggered by push button or any track switch method.( contact track, slider switch, IR etc).
Cheers,
Howard.