Hi, has anyone had experience DCC converting a loco using a Bachmann Vanderbilt tender? It seems to me that the wiring is rather non standard.
I am trying to convert an HO scale IHC 2-6-0 Mogul to DCC and mating a Vb tender to it at the same time. The tender has 2 little plugs mounted at the front. A 2 pin plug and a 4 pin plug. The 2 pin plug has a red and a black wire going from it to the PC board, these I presume are the rail pickup feed from the right (red) and left (black) from the loco. There is a black wire from the rear wheels of the tender connected to the PC board (left rail) and a red from the front wheels (right rail). The 4 pin plug however has red, black, brown, and yellow wires between it and the PC board. Two of these must be for the motor, and two must be for the headlight I guess. But which is which? The rear light on the tender has a red wire and green wire feeding it from the PC board.
The PC board has an 8 pin socket on it for a decoder plug, so that is no problem. It is just the connection to the loco wiring that is concerning me at the moment. It’s a little tricky getting the loco apart, but I managed it after a fair bit of careful trial and error, so I have isolated the motor brushes from the driver pick ups, and now it is just a matter of rewiring, and hopefully getting it back together in good going order. Oh and one other thing. How do you get the wire in and out of those little connectors that came with the tender?
I don’t have the answers for the questions that you have posted here but I do have an idea of where you may be able to find them. Bachmann has it’s own web site. On the Right hand side of the main page, they have a link to their own forum called “ask the Bachmann”
This forum deals mainly with Backmann related products. If you ask the same question there, you may be able to get a faster, more detailed answer. I believe that one of the “workers” from Bachmann actually answers alot of the questions.
Sorry that I couldn’t answer your questions, but I hope that I was able to point you in the right direction to where you may get your answers.
i’ll quote myself from an old message about installing a tsunami in a bachmann 4-6-0 (using the small tender not the vanderbuilt)
pay special attention to the first sentence !
i was just trying to figure out what the wires were used for at the decoder end , not at the connectors , so this may be only slightly useful to you
I’ve chipped a few Bachmann locos. The 2-pin plug is the track pickup - equivalent to red and black wires. The 4-pin plug is the motor connection (equivalent to grey/orange) and lights (equivalent to blue/white). Unfortunately I can’t confirm which of the 4 wires is which, as all mine were orange!
I’ve converted several of their locos to DCC. Not only is their wiring inconsistant, but so are their circuit boards. Since this is going to be attached to an IHC engine, I would follow the wiring scheme for IHC. Do they use the same plug setup as Bachmann? In other words does the B’mann plugs mate with what IHC uses?
That would be the only reason, in my mind, to even try to keep the B’mann board or plugs. Otherwise I remove those completely and hardwire the decoder to the engine.
It is an IHC loco I am trying to convert, but using an existing Bachmann Vanderbilt tender. Funny thing, when connected to a Bachmann loco, using ordinary DC control, it went backwards. Seems to be wired wrong all round. I think the suggestion to chuck the original pc board out and hard wire the decoder may just be the best solution. I was trying to avoid some delicate soldering but it looks like I will have to anyway.
Not to worry, it is an enjoyable project anyway (well it will be if the results are successful).
If all manufacturers stuck to the standards, everything should be interchangable! Unless I am missing something here.
Another example. A DCC ready IHC 2-10-2 ‘Santa Fe’ with Vanderbilt tender (representing a Southern Pacific loco) I converted to DCC had very non standard wiring. They must have only had supplies of red and black wire in Slovakia, because that was all that was used. However this was just a case of ‘plug-n-play’, so no problem.
Why am I wanting to mate a Vb tender to an IHC Mogul? Because I already have the loco and every prototype photo of a Southern Pacific Mogul taken around the period I model (the transition era between steam and diesel), has a Vanderbilt tender attached.
Another part of my original question that nobody has taken up was, how do you remove wires from those very small plugs that are commonly used between loco and tender? I don’t mean the soldered side of the socket attached to the tender or loco, as the case may be, but the plug attached to the flexible wiring.
I have an addendum to your question. I imagine the best way to get around the plugs is to snip and solder. But I would like to know how you got the vandy tender apart?
This is the Bachmann medium Vanderbilt tender, with 4 axles. The tender splits at the side running boards and down each side of the coal/oil hopper. There are two screws underneath to undo. One is easily seen right in the centre, and the other is just in front of the front truck pivot point and is obscured slightly by the front axle. You also need to carefully prise the front hand rails out from the top attachment point to the hopper. The top half should then lift straight off.