Bachmann Tender used in DCC conversion

[richd286]

Is there anyone that has experience or information about using the "sold separately" Bachmann tenders as a part of a DCC conversion.  The tenders come in varied styles and have an 8 pin NMRA plug so the decoder installation is practically "plug & play".  The tricky part will be to route the engine wiring to the connector at the front of the tender.

Thanks for any information you can send my way.

richd

[Tom M.]

When I do these kinds of conversions, I generally strip out the PC board from the tender and start from scratch.  Depending on what features I need to add to the loco (for example, cab light, marker lights, firebox flicker light, etc.) beyond the motor and headlight, I use either a TCS 6 wire connector socket/plug set or the 9 wire version offered by SoundTraxx.

In the long run, I find it faster and more straight forward to hardwire the entire unit.  This is especially the case since you have to hardware the loco anyway.  Using the TCS or SoundTraxx harness then provides the quick disconnect between the loco and tender.

Tom