Spectrum HO Vanderbilt Tender DCC Ready; best place for decoder with sound

[jhanleyjr]

I am new to DCC and have 2 of these highly detailed units. I intend to put my decoder in the tender as room in the steam Mehano is so tight. I can use the 2 pin for the rear light, and the four pin for loco functions. my question is how do I get inside without destroying it?

Another question, should I use the tender pickups or the loco for the DCC?

[jonathan]

jhanleyjr,

That's quite a project for being new to DCC. However, here are some points that may help.

This is the diagram of the Spectrum Vandy tender:

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/89841~42.pdf?bcsi_scan_42ED1B0805E22FDA=0&bcsi_scan_filename=89841~42.pdf

There are two screws, underneath, on either side of the trucks, that will release the shell from the frame.  Caution:  the vertical grabirons forward, and the ladders in the rear, fit into the underframe.  They could go flying.  Make sure they are loose on their bottom connections.  These parts should come up with the shell.  They innards will then make more sense to you.

For installing sound, may I recommend that you utilize both the tender pick ups and whatever pick up is available from the Mehano.  You will need as much pick up as you can muster to get the loco to run reliably.

I would also recommend mounting the speaker to the plastic coal load, sealing it as best as possible.  This makes the whole tender your baffle.  You will need to drill bunches of tiny holes in the coal load.  Won't be too noticeable and their are ways to hide the holes.  The other benefit it that the sound/movement decoder will fit in the long portion of the tender.  A Tsunami should just fit in the space.  It will be tight.  Sound decoders get warm so leave a little air space between the decoder and the shell, or funny things may happen.

The reverse light is an LED, and the resister is on the PCB.  If you remove the board for your installation, you will need to add a 850ohm to 1K ohm resistor to the reverse light.  Don't know what's in a Mehano.

I have done this install to a rectangular tender, not a Vanderbilt.  I imagine space will not be your friend. 

That's a start.  Good luck and good hunting.

Regards,

Jonathan

[jhanleyjr]

Thanks so much; have a much better feeling about trying this project. One further question; the Mehano has capacitors on the Motor power terminals; notice several comments about these destroying decoders (ouch); should I remove? I know the DC reason was to smooth out the running of the motor.

[richg]

Thanks so much; have a much better feeling about trying this project. One further question; the Mehano has capacitors on the Motor power terminals; notice several comments about these destroying decoders (ouch); should I remove? I know the DC reason was to smooth out the running of the motor.

I have never heard of the capacitors destroying a decoder. Improper installation of a decoder is usually where a decoder smokes which can include too much motor and light current for the decoder.
The capacitors affect the slow speed of a decoder is all I have seen many times. Cut them out. The two inductors are not an issue when the caps are removed.

Below is a good link about DCC and DCC with sound. Remember, a lot of DCC is not Plug and Play. There is a learning curve. Curriculum is a good place to start. There is a lot of info there so take your time. A lot of the info will apply to other brands of sound decoders but Bruce favors SoundTRaxx as does the Bach Man.

http://www.mrdccu.com/

Make sure you use the program track option in your DCC controller. A mis-wired decoder will usually found at this point.

Rich

[Doneldon]

jr-

The holes you drill through your coal load (I'm assuming you'll follow jonathan's excellent suggestions) don't have to be at a right angle to the surface. You can drill them a little sideways tohide them more effectively. And you don't have to perforate your whole coal load. Sound will escape through a modest number of small holes just about as well as through a ton of large holes.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        -- D

[richg]

This should probably be in the HO forum. Might make it easier to search out for others.

Below is what looks like the same tender that comes with the sound on board loco. Looks like a 16mm x 35 mm oval speaker but might be a 14mm x 25mm speaker. Might give you some ideas.

I have put a 14mm x 25mm in an old Vandy that came with the standard 0-6-0 and used this configuration. I drilled holes in the bottom and used styrene strips to make a base for the speaker.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/H842X-IS001.PDF

Rich

[Pacific Northern]

I have added DCC to a number of Spectrum steamers. When I test the engine with the DCC installed I will sometimes encounter erratic fast movement due to the capacitors, when cut the engine will then run very smoothly.

I now cut the capicitors on all of my locomotives when adding DCC.