I have a bachmann spectrum F 40…just redid to look like the Cal train units…I purchased the Digitrax DH163D…the lights are simple to hook into the decoder wire harness…but its the motor…gray wire from the decoder to the neg side of the moter and the orange wire to the pos side of motor…and would anyone out there be farmilure with the Bachman engine I have and its pc board…would I be better hooking directly into the motor and discard the board…or would I be better keeping the board and find where the motor hooks into the board. The board has 2 springs that touch the metal weights that transfer the voltage to the board…any ideas would be welcome…and thanks…Im just a bit new to this hobby…and loveing it
Russ Trapani…Alameda County Model Railroad club
Not sure what you’re talking about. Digitrax decoders are covered in blue shrink wrap and don’t have any black round buttons. If you’re talking about the locomotive’s circuit board, it’s probably a capacitor, not a resistor, and it has nothing to do with the motor. You should probably remove the entire circuit board, throw it away, and wire the locomotive in accordance with the diagram that came with the decoder.
This should help a bit. It discribes how to install decoder. Hope its the right engine. http://www.wiringfordcc.com/bh_f40.htm
great going on this site…just printed out the instructions…this might just do it…makes sence to have the decodeer grab power from the truck and not the frame…I really appreciate your help…this is a great forum and great folks…Ill let you know…and best of holidays to you all up in Canada…
Russ[:)]