Can one Exchange tenders on Bachmann Steam locomotives with DCC?

[RGPerkins]

I like the Vanderbilt tenders and purchased one from Bachmann Parts; it is the one sold with the 2-6-6-2 locomotive. 
I hired the installation of dcc and sound in this tender and had the installer connect it to one of the 2-10-2 locomotives.
Recently I purchased a new Vanderbilt tender item# 89452. 
What steps will I need to take to exchange this new tender for the old one?
Thank you.

[Maletrain]

Hi Roger,

I think it depends on how the DCC was added to the various Bachmann locos that you have.  IIRC, you have some that were not originally equipped with the "DCC-friendly" tenders that have tender-to-loco wires.  The newer versions of locos with the wires have plugs on the wires that connect to pins on a circuit board in the tender.  Unless you specifically had the earlier tenders converted to DCC in a way that is compatible with the newer tenders, both having the same connectors and having the same wire arrangements to the pins in the plugs, you probably do not have compatability with the new arrangement.

On the other hand, I think that the newer tenders designed for locos with  the plugs can be swapped easily from one loco to another, so long as those locos use the plugs. I was thinking that would be a good way to be able to quickly swap out a tender with a bad decoder for a spare.  And, it seems to me that it could also be a way to switch from DCC to DC and back, just by swapping tenders, but that would require removing the tender shell for a swap.

I hope somebody with actual experience will also respond, because I have not yet done any of this swapping, but intend to set mine up for swapping.

[spookshow]

Both tenders have plug/pin connectors for the wiring harness to the locomotive, so it should be as easy as unplugging the plug from the old tender and plugging it into the new one. Of course, the new tender will not have a decoder.

2-6-6-2 tender -



-Mark

[Maletrain]

Mark,

I have some older DC locos that I want to convert to DCC and to Bachmann's new tenders.  But, Bachmann doesn't seem to sell the plugs to fit their tenders as separate parts.  Do you know where we can get the plugs to use for DC-to-DCC conversions?  If it is some big electronics outlet, do you know the actual part designation?

[spookshow]

If Bachmann doesn't sell them, I don't know where else you would get them. In my case, I've just been soldering the locomotive wires directly to the pins on the tender PC board. Here's what goes where (using NMRA color standards for DCC wiring) -



-Mark

[RGPerkins]

The "new" tender is one that MBK offered recently as a "warehouse find."  There is no indication on the package regarding DCC.
With every thing I own in regards to model railroading in storage, I have no way to disassemble the new tender to check the inside.

I anticipate that the decoder and speaker will need to be removed from the old tender and installed in the new tender, but I am not certain if any soldering will need to be done.

[I have exchanged tenders between two Bachmann dcc steam locomotives, and that just involved unplugging and inserting plug prongs into the tender decoder.  Not the same situation with this.]
Thanks for comments and photos.

[RGPerkins]

Both tenders have plug/pin connectors for the wiring harness to the locomotive, so it should be as easy as unplugging the plug from the old tender and plugging it into the new one. Of course, the new tender will not have a decoder.

2-6-6-2 tender -



-Mark

Mark, this tender for the 2-6-6-2 I purchased is from Bachmann Parts; it did not have a dcc decoder installed.  It came as parts when I assembled and then took to the installer with the locomotive I wanted to use it with.

[spookshow]

All of Bachmann's DCC-Ready tender PC boards have the same basic decoder contacts (the 7 numbered copper contacts along the bottom of the board in the picture below). The ala carte tenders come with a couple of analog mode jumpers attached to the contacts that you would remove before installing a decoder.



To install a decoder you would solder the color-coded decoder wires to the numbered contacts thusly -



To move a decoder from one tender to another, you would simply desolder the decoder wires from the PC board in the old tender and then resolder them to the contacts in the new tender.

-Mark

[Mike C]

Mark,

I have some older DC locos that I want to convert to DCC and to Bachmann's new tenders.  But, Bachmann doesn't seem to sell the plugs to fit their tenders as separate parts.  Do you know where we can get the plugs to use for DC-to-DCC conversions?  If it is some big electronics outlet, do you know the actual part designation?

I think Litchfield Station has the plugs , or something that would work .

[Maletrain]

I looked at Litchfield and saw a couple of 6-pin connectors that looked like possibilities.  So, I asked a question about them.  I was very specific about what I wanted the connectors to mate with and why. The answer i received was:

"I don't know what connector you have. These other connectors probably won't fit. I had another customer who wanted to interchange tenders, but Bachmann is not consistent in the way they wire locomotives, and he burnt one up."

To me, that sounds like the guy answering the question has no idea whether his connectors mate with Bachmann tender board pins.  And, he doesn't even seem to realize that it is how you connect the wires on the other end of the harness that is the factor related to burning-up a decoder, and that is irrelevant to the question I am asking.

This is typical of the problems I have with trying to buy many thngs on the Internet. I can't see or test the items for compatibility with my use, because the pictures do not indicate size very well and important components are not visible.  The people who answer questions don't seem to know their stock in many cases, and when they do, they don't often know how their components fit into the bigger picture of our hobby.

That is why I am asking for somebody who has an actual part # for a plug that fits Bachmann tenders.

[Mike C]

I'm pretty sure that the guy that does my sound installs said he uses a plug that they have . If you e-mail Jerry Rowley at [email protected] he should have an answer .