I checked the bachman site but nothing there
and posted on the forum
I need to be able to figure out the wiring connection plugs
there are 2
one is a 2 wire plug (guessing that’s the lights)
the other is a 4 wire plug (guessing that’s the Red / Black pick up wires and the 2 motor wires
but need to know which is which
TIA
Terry
Hi Terry,
I think you’ll find, checking with a meter, on the loco side the pair of pins are pickups from the rails. Touch one pin to on of the drivers to find which.
The flat 4 are Motor and lights, which pair is which right now, no idea, a check with the meter if it bleeps that will indicate the pairs. Can’t remember which is lights but if you tag a 1K resister on a DC supply and tap the pins that should give some light to indicate which is which without blowing anything.
Hope I’m making sense, last time I put in me two pennyworth it all went wrong.
Be in touch.
pick.
I got a closer look at the PC board by taking the tender apart and the wires are labled on the PC board
but would still like a drawing as some of Bachman’s tenders are wired differently than thier locos
I don’t have the loco yet
Just the tender
As was said, get your meter out and do some research. This is what you have to do when you work at this level in DCC.
The decoder instructions/drawing will show you which of the eight pins are used for what.
Don’t “guess” when it comes to DCC.
The only drawings of electrical in almost any DCC loco/tender is what the user makes.
The two connector is for track power. The four connector, light and motor. SOP for Bachmann. I have some Bachmann steamers.
Does your loco have a light bulb or LED? Some, not all tenders use both light pins on the PC board with a resistor to dim the headlight.
I have one tender with a resistor but it is only to dim the light bulb in the loco. Not made for an LED. I had to add a 1k resistor to use it with a loco with an LED. As I said, do some research, first.
Some tenders might have a light and use the second light pin on the PC board.
Rich
Sorry Rich as i stated before i only have the Tender >No Loco
and from what i’ve been reading on other forms Bachman has no >SOP< on tender wiring see the copied post below in quotes
" I just spent several hours trying to resolve what should have not been a problem. I bought a Spectrum Vandy tender to put behind a Spectrum 2-10-2. The models had the same plugs on tender and locomotive that are used on all the spectrum steamers. For all intents and purposes it should have been a simple plug and play to put a decoder in the tender and go. Little did I know Bachmann wired the plugs different. On the locomotive the 4 pin plug had to the two motor leads between the two front headlight leads. On the Tender the pairs of leads were side by side. Need less to say I blew the front headlight right away, and the locomotive was trying to run forward continuously without control. So much for a simple project, I tore out the circuit board in the tender and re
The loco might have had an LED and some tenders come with no LED resistor.
Below is the standard
Pin 1 Motor right Orange
Pin 2 Light rear Yellow
Pin 3 Optional
Pin 4 Power pickup left Black
Pin 5 Motor left Gray
Pin 6 Light front White
Pin 7 Common Blue
Pin 8 Power pickup right Red
What my issue was, both the loco and tender and sockets on them. I had to use the two pin and four pin adapter that came with the tender. Those two adapters reversed all three functions. I rewired the tender to match the loco which has a LED so I added the 1k resistor. I had to do my own troubleshooting, drawing and rewire.
To my knowledge, all the Bachmann have the pickups on the two wire connector. A simple continuity check will prove that. I said before, do some research and you will learn more about DC. You probably do not know much about wiring but if you insist on working at this level in DCC, you are going to have to learn how. Sorry to be so blunt.
Put you meter probe on the side of each connector. There is a small metal strip. The other probe on the PC board pin. Look for essentially zero ohms. The two light pins will show maybe 2k resistance if there are resistors on the PC board. Look at the PC board for R!, R2, R3, etc.
Cut out the capacitors C!, C2, etc. The two inductors will not be an issue.
When you get the loco, find out which pins connect to the drivers with your meter.
Find out if the loco has an LED or light bulb.
Normally, a light bulb will be a few ohms resistance.
A LED, very high resistance. On a digital meter, you will usually see OL on the display.
A motor, maybe 50 to 100 ohms. When you work at this level, you really need to know what you are doing. With a 9 volt battery, the plus on Pin 1 and minus on pin 5, the drivers will spin in the forward direction if the two wires are correct.
All this is too much, rip out the PC board and hardwire. Forget
This is my Spectrum 4-6-0. I bought the USRA Medium tender. The three functions where reversed by the two short jumpers. Look at the wiring and you will see the functions are not according to the NMRA wiring because of the reversal in the jumpers.
The resistor was only to dim the headlight in reverse. No resistor for an LED loco.
The modified tender with the jumpers to plug in the loco.
Another fly in the ointment, non NMRA wiring colors.
Rich
Hi Terry,
Not pushing my luck here, but them Bachmann drawings look like they’re done by a left handed china-man used to working with mandarin graphics,
That’s why I have a 1K resister wired between an alligator clip and spare meter plug stuck in a wire wrap glued to me toolbox lid. The number of times a body has said to me this has stopped, can you tell me why and to teach them. I’ve stuck the meter and that probe in their hand and said you find it, I’ll show you. One junior has turned into a real good fixer and Decoder installer, I send em to him now the arthritis is starting to get at me.
It’s like cutting something, have a good look round the wiring twice then plug it in and pray.
Be in touch.
pick.
[quote user=“richg1998”]
The loco might have had an LED and some tenders come with no LED resistor.
Below is the standard
Pin 1 Motor right Orange
Pin 2 Light rear Yellow
Pin 3 Optional
Pin 4 Power pickup left Black
Pin 5 Motor left Gray
Pin 6 Light front White
Pin 7 Common Blue
Pin 8 Power pickup right Red
What my issue was, both the loco and tender and sockets on them. I had to use the two pin and four pin adapter that came with the tender. Those two adapters reversed all three functions. I rewired the tender to match the loco which has a LED so I added the 1k resistor. I had to do my own troubleshooting, drawing and rewire.
To my knowledge, all the Bachmann have the pickups on the two wire connector. A simple continuity check will prove that. I said before, do some research and you will learn more about DC. You probably do not know much about wiring but if you insist on working at this level in DCC, you are going to have to learn how. Sorry to be so blunt.
Put you meter probe on the side of each connector. There is a small metal strip. The other probe on the PC board pin. Look for essentially zero ohms. The two light pins will show maybe 2k resistance if there are resistors on the PC board. Look at the PC board for R!, R2, R3, etc.
Cut out the capacitors C!, C2, etc. The two inductors will not be an issue.
When you get the loco, find out which pins connect to the drivers with your meter.
Find out if the loco has an LED or light bulb.
Normally, a light bulb will be a few ohms resistance.
A LED, very high resistance. On a digital meter, you will usually see OL on the display.
A motor, maybe 50 to 100 ohms. When you work at this level, you really need to know what you are doing. With a 9 volt battery, the plus on Pin 1 and minus on pin 5, the drivers will spin in the forward direction if the two wires are correct.
All this is too much,
Yea Pick I hear ya Old age sucks when it comes to doing this kind of stuff esp Soldering
I used the oil tender from an old 0-6-0 but it does not seal very well for sound.
I had to put wipers on all the tender wheels using Kadee #5 coupler springs. I used a Tsunami Micro and 14mm x 25mm oval speaker. I followed the picture of a sound install in a DCC ready Vanderbilt from the Bachmann diagram page to drill holes and install the speaker.
Lots of bird shot glued in the shell for some weight.
I really suggest the DCC ready tender. Much better tender shell. Electrical is not a big deal. The only issue I have with their tenders is lack of all wheel pickups.
I have never considered the Bachmann PC boards and wiring to be an issue unless there was not enough room for the decoder and speaker.
Rich
I made that drawing, not Bachmann. Again, Bachmann does not and will not make electrical drawings.
Rich
The Short Vandy tender i’m using is DCC ready and comes with a PC board inside and uses an LED for the tender light
It has picks on both trucks but each truck picks up from an separate rail
If you remove the small board on the top it has labels on the board underneath
The Speaker holes are already drilled in the bottom
If you look closely at the second photo above
Hi RIch,
Right on mate, correct, not knocking your artwork, it’s great. It’s the Bachmann paperwork that leaves a lot to be desired, just keep em coming.
pick.