Controlling G scale Spectrum 2-6-0 with Train Engineer Revoution

[stagecoach]

Can anyone help me connect the Train Engineer Revolution Controller to the Spectrum G scale 2-6-0 engine. The controller board is made to large to fit in the boiler and has a different wiring connectors. Has anyone done this and can help? Would be gratefully appreciated.

[Loco Bill Canelos]

I am presuming you are refering to the original 2-6-0 rather than the industrial 2-6-0.  My 2-6-0 is in storage, and I have yet to install a revo.  As I recall the tender has pickups for track power. 
I will install my revo in the tender and since I have no track power at all I will not disable the track power on the loco.
my plan which worked well with the Annie & connie is to cut the wires that go from the tender to the loco and attach one wire to the orange and the other to grey wire on the revo. Batteries will connect to the red & black wires respectively.  When using this method the lights do not have to be connected to the revo, because they will be controlled with the onboard circuit board.  If you are using sound the small boards will also go in the tender.  You will need to use 4 3.7 volt 2600mah lithium Ion batteries in series to get a battery small enough to fit everything in the tender.   
Be sure to get the batteries with the built in protection circuit (PCB) they are available from All-battery.com at a very reasonable price. 

If you will not be storing the batteries on board but rather in a trail car there will be plenty of room in the tender for the revo & sound card but of course you will have to run a connecter between the tender and the trail car.

I didn't plan on answering you hoping someone who actually did the 2-6-0 would respond. There are many ways to do it, and my way is only one way. 

Hopefully this will help in some small way.

[Kevin Strong]

You're not going to fit it in the boiler, but there's ample room in the tender for everything if you use Li-Ion batteries (14.8 volts--a "standard" pack is about 3" x 3" x 3/4".) You can also fit everything in the tender using AA NiMH batteries, but you'll have to use a flat (wafer) speaker for the sound system. In both cases, you'll have to build a new coal load, which is fine because a proper coal load looks better anyway.

Between the locomotive and tender, there are 6 wires as comes from the factory; the two-wire plug is for the chuff contact on the rear axle. Keep that one. The 4-wire plug carries track power forward from the tender to the main control board, and the back-up light power from the main control board in the loco to the back-up light on the tender. You'll use all four wires of this plug, but none for their original purpose.

Inside the locomotive, disconnect all track power from the main control board. Just clip the wires and toss them. It's therapeutic. Also, remove the wires that go from the control board to the motor. (The control board I'm referring to is that long thing that the smoke unit is attached to in the front of the boiler.) Now, find the four wires going to the 4-wire plug that runs back to the tender. Two of them will supply battery power to the control board via the spots where you pulled the track pick-ups off. That will feed the firebox lights, smoke unit (should you so desire to use it) and the front headlight. Note: It won't be directional--it will be on all the time. But that's okay because this is a c. 1870s locomotive that would not have had directional lighting. The fireman's not going to climb out on the front pilot and snuff the headlight every time the loco is put into reverse. (In reality, the headlight wouldn't be on at all during daylight hours on most railroads. Wastes oil and the old oil headlights really weren't all that visible in daylight hours to where having them lit would have improved visibility. So, that's two wires on the plug. The other two wires go to the motor. Remove the "filter" board on the motor. You don't need it with the Revolution.

So, your plugs should look something like this:

==chuff
==chuff


==motor
==motor
==battery +
==battery -

(Note - the front headlight is polarity sensitive, so if the firebox lights come on but the headlight does not when power is applied, simply reverse the wires going to the locomotive and the headlight should illuminate. While you're at it, though, consider replacing the orange headlight LED with a more proper warm white one.)

That's all you need to do inside the locomotive.

In the tender, remove all the track pick-ups, and trace the wires coming back from the sockets on the bottom side of the tender. There may or may not even be wires attached to them, particularly on the chuff socket.



Here's a 4-4-0/2-6-0 tender with AA batteries installed. They stand vertically in the opening where the stock coal load should be. I built a new coal load for this, and described it in Garden Railways a few years ago. I forget which issue. The Li-Ion packs I use now lay flat across the top. I do cut out a bit more of the top of the tender so I can get to them, then build a coal load over them using the same technique.

The "has to go here" things in the installation are the speaker and batteries. The speaker (3" speaker) goes in the floor where the opening is already molded in. The Li-Ion pack sits flat on top of that. Once that's in place, where you put everything else is entirely up to you. My battery packs are removable, so I don't worry about charging jacks. My only added electronics are a power switch and 5-amp fuse. If you're using AA batteries, they have to go in the middle as illustrated in the photo. Use a wafer speaker (the ones that come from those musical greeting cards aren't too bad) and put it in the floor, then the batteries stand on top. There's more room on the side of the tender in this installation if you need it for the sound system.

Later,

K

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Thanks Kevin,

I was hoping some one who did it would reply!!   

Great tips for all from a pro!!