interchanging bachmann tsunami and dcc ready tenders

[timit]

Hi
I was wondering if it was possible to interchange my working HO bachmann 440 tsunami tender with a bachmann dcc ready decapod tender (i prefer the decapod) and get full use of the tsunami features. ie is the wiring the same from loco to tender for tsunami and dcc ready locos. I notice that the decapod has forward and reverse lights while the 440 has only a headlight (if that makes a difference).
Hope you can help

[richg]

Not all Bachmann tenders are wired the same. That has been discussed a lot here.
As an example, I put a Bachmann USRA medium tender behind a Bachmann 4-6-0 and had to use two short jumpers that come with the tender. The jumpers reversed the pickups, loco light and motor connections.. I had to rewire the tender.
All that happened was the DCC controller was shorted out. One function, the tender/loco pickups are shorted when the jumper is put in.  The jumpers are needed because of the connectors on tender and loco. Many are not aware of this until they try it.
Also, the tender did not have a resistor for the loco which has a LED but I figured that out when rewiring.
Bachmann was not consistent with the connection between the loco and tender.

Compare the tender and loco connections. If you can plug in without the jumpers, the other issue might be if the loco has a LED or light bulb.

Rich

[timit]

thanks for that Rich

[Searsport]

Hi, the wisdom I received when asking a similar question here is that the best way to make sure things work when swapping Bachmann tenders is to transfer all of the decoder, speaker and connections from your present 4-4-0 tender into your ex-Decapod tender, i.e. keep all the electronics, wiring and connections native to your 4-4-0 together with the loco itself.  If it fits in the 4-4-0 tender it will surely fit in the Decapod tender.  That would not solve your tender-mounted backing headlamp issue.

Bill.