this is my first attempt at installing a DCC decoder in a loco . maybe i should have picked something a little easier [:)]
first i built a decoder tester . i wanted to be sure the decoder was working before i started messing things up
everything works !
my 4-6-0 has the short coal tender and there really isn’t a lot of space in there . after considering a 1/2" speaker mounted under the coal load (speaker pointing up) with holes drilled in the load , i decided to try mounting the speaker on the floor of the tender with holes drilled in the underside (speaker pointing down at the track)
unfortunately the weights , dcc adapter board , and some plastic supports were in the way and all had to be removed . i forgot to take a photo of the complete tender , you’ll just have to imagine it
lucky for me all those parts are right in the middle of the tender , between the bolts that hold the trucks on . i removed everything between the bolts
here is the tender with all the ‘un-needed’ parts removed
i traced the outline of the speaker bezel on the tender floor and spent some time with a drill
next i glued the speaker bezel to the floor
time for some more testing . first i tried it without the tender body , sound was very thin and dissapointing . then i put the body on . big difference ! this just might work !
now for the fun part , wiring up the decoder . the functions of some of those wires were obvious while removing the board but i was unsure of a few . i thought a couple were the motor leads so i hooked my DC power pack to them to test . well the headligh
note: bachmann is known for being inconsistant with their wiring and there are variations in the dcc boards from loco to loco . the colors of the wires in my loco won’t necessarily be the same as yours
wires from the engine to the tender
red - right side track power
green - left side track power
orange - motor lead
red - motor lead
brown - headlight -
yellow - headlight +
(yes there are 2 red wires , this is why careful testing is needed!)
the tsunami uses orange for motor + and grey for motor - (i think that’s part of the DCC standard… would have been nice if bachmann used the same standard inside the loco!) . i found that connecting orange to orange and grey to red made the engine run in reverse when my zephyr was set to forward . i swapped the leads and it ran normally
Great job! Now that you are an “Xpert” the next ones will go alot smoother. I prefer to gut the loco/tender and hard wire everything particularly like in your case where space is limited.
How does it sound? Have you tried it yet or did I miss that part?
Terry
This is an awsome how to I have a tsunami and speaker to install in 4-6-0 as well you took all the fear out of it… Now I don’t see any in the play by play pics but did you have to add any resistors with the tsunami or did you basiclly just use the decoder and speaker ?
Ah just wandering but are you familar at all with installing the thing fro syncronizing the sound to the wheels movement I think there called chuff or cams something like that ?
That’s interesting because I’ve found that pointing the speaker up out of the coal load gives a better sound - maybe its just personal preference? My most recent sound installation (and my first Tsunami) was in a P2K USRA 0-6-0 - I managed to squeeze a 1" speaker in there without too much surgery (the factory circuit board and its mounting lugs had to go).
I think the other secret to getting good sound is making sure that wherever you mount the speaker its mounted completely air-tight (like Ereimer did here) to the front mounting plate otherwise the speaker won’t work efficiently because there is no difference in air pressure between the front and back of the cone.
My 4-6-0 has suffered from not being wanted on the shelf for lack of specific installation information.
This topic is perfect.
It is my understanding that the wires between the tender and cab are 6 in number, all are black in color. Did we learn anything about the function of each of the 6 pins on the back of the cab floor?
I did one each (low boiler and high boiler version) with Tsunamis and the wires were different between the two. Use an ohm-meter/volt meter to identify the wires. 2 are pickup wipers, 2 are motor and 2 are headlight.
I only just purchased a meter some time ago and only know how to read Amps at the moment. How would I set the meter to target each the three pairs of pins you listed?
Im worried about the headlight. Im thinking that I can install all of the decoder wires by color and leave the headlight out until last. Has anyone a specific “Headlight-safe” procedure to protect the bulb from burning out during decoder installation?
it seems there have been a few questions since i last had a look at this thread , i’ll try to answer them all here
Spikee asked
it was from Tony’s trains , probably their generic 1" with enclosure
Scubaterry asked
i only have a 3 foot test track , but it sounds great on that
Wickman asked
since i blew the headlight and haven’t replaced it yet i haven’t used any resisitors . none were required for the speaker . cams for chuff synch are way beyond my capabilities !
boxcar_jim said
i can’t argue this point , not having done an upward facing install . the small bachmann tender would have only allowed a 1/2" , maybe 3/4" speaker facing up . facing down i could use a 1" and my guess is that the larger speaker should give better sound . also i could drill larger holes in the bottom of the tender than i could in the coal load . that’s my theory and i’m sticking to it until someone actually does a comparison test !
Safety Valve asked
[quote]
It is my understanding that the wires between the tender and cab are 6 in number, all are black in color. Did we learn anything about the function of e
