Bachmann DCC-Ready 4-6-0

[bapguy]

Radio Shack is still around on line.   Joe
https://www.radioshack.com/

[Gearedenginefreak]

And meny Hobbytown USA stores carry Radio Shack products.

Tom

[dcclocoman]

I've built a big inventory of electronic hardware to support my DCC, lighting and animation projects.  I've got resistors, capacitors, diodes, led lights and a wide assortment of other bits.  I've ordered most of it from AliExpress.  The quality is excellent, prices are very good and delivery is generally free.  The only downside is delivery time.  Most items are shipped from China, and can take anywhere from a week to a month.

Here's an example of a resistor assortment - 2600 pieces for $12, including a storage box.  I have this kit, and I've used it for dozens of projects. 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32836787997.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.1fcc356206ua0q&algo_pvid=e86941e4-074e-47a9-a129-ade5a2350ba5&algo_expid=e86941e4-074e-47a9-a129-ade5a2350ba5-0&btsid=0ab6f8ad15868617931153205e9eb4&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

You can find all the same material on Amazon and get faster delivery, but the price will higher by a factor of three or four times.

[graywolf]

I received the XL decoder today and noticed that the included 18mm speaker is glued directly on the bottom of the PC board. I was planning to use the existing speaker that is installed in the engine. As of right now I have not opened the engine to see how it all is going to fit. Before doing this I was going to video record the operation of the engine so that I have something to compare to once I make the change over. Just as a thought would you think it wise to try to run both speakers if I were to hook up the existing speaker in parallel to the new speaker? Just to be clear I believe that the speaker wires should be connected to the same positions as the new speaker to be in parallel??

[Len]

If you wire the speakers in parallel you'll be reducing the load impedance seen by the sound board. If both speakers are 8 ohm then the board will see a 4 ohm load. If they are diffent impedances the value will fall somewhere in between. There are on line calculators that can tell you exactly if you have the seperate speaker impedances.

Make sure whatever value the parallel hook up results in, it's within the load specs of the decoder.

Len

[graywolf]

Thanks Len, would the better choice be to wire them in series? Before that happens I will try the speaker XL supplied and if it sounds good I will leave it at that.

[graywolf]

Briefly the XL decoder is a piece of junk. Wired it in with the supplied speaker. On the program track with my Powercab the squeal from the speaker and the hum from the motor was terrible. The engine would not move until I brought the speed contol up to about 60. Engine sound was phony. I checked the CV's 2,3,4,5 and found them set at 255. I brought them to the default numbers noted in the instructions and the operation was the same as when I started. At a speed setting of 75 the engine just crawled along still squealing and humming. Put the Sound Value back in and learned my lesson ---wasted $34.

[rich1998]

Like someone said, you get what you pay for. Found it in Merriam-Webster.
I never heard of anything that bad. Really sorry you had to go through that. I was sure wrong.

Rich

[dcclocoman]

I've received my replacement 4-6-0.  I attached the XL 1911, and tested the unit.  The loco runs well and the sounds great.  The chuff was synchronized right out of the box. As I noted above, the included 18mm speaker is not the best, and I was able to much improve the sound by using an MRC speaker.

Unfortunately, there is no way to fit the XL 1911 in the tender.  Bachmann provides very little room for a decoder, and placed the 8 pin connector in the worst possible place, in the center of the circuit board.  My measurements indicate that I'll need a decoder which fits within a 1" x 0.5 " x 0.25" space.   Digitrax has an SD166D decoder and claims it will fit the Bachmann 4-6-0, but my measurements indicate that it's too big.

XL has an N-scale steam decoder model 1961.  They claim it's the "worlds smalled N-sale steam sound decoder".  Is there any reason this would not work for the HO 4-6-0?

[rich1998]

I thought you said the XL was no good? A previous message.

I have the large driver version with onboard sound and it has the DCC ready PC board with a stripped down sound decoder that is the same size PC board and a seven wire harness that plugs into the DCC ready PC board. Spectrum model.

Rich

[dcclocoman]

I have installed eight XL decoders and they all function perfectly.  All they need is a better speaker than the one supplied by XL.

The comment someone made about a bad XL may be related to a faulty installation.

Do you have the part number for the sound decoder?

[rich1998]

No. It was made by SoundTraxx for Bachmann. The tender was bigger than yours. Bachmann or SoundTraxx does not supply this decoder. It only came with onboard locos.
I have your loco and I put a Tsunami micro in it with a speaker firing ip through the coal load. I drilled tiny holes in the coal load. Painted thin white glue on the coal load and sprinkled coal dust on it. I stripped everything. Got the idea some years ago from a fellow online who is gone.

[dcclocoman]

I like the idea for the coal load.  I'll do the same with my installation.
I made a dummy for the XL 1961 decoder, and it fit the tender nicely.  The dimensions are very close to the Tsunami micro.
I'm going to order the 1961 for my loco.

[graywolf]

Hi Dcclocoman, I am not ready to accept your conclusion that I did a faulty install on the XL decoder. The engine moved when placed on the programing track, it was just a poor operation. Even setting the CV's to the default settings it still functioned poorly. After reinstalling the Sound Value decoder the engine worked as it did before. So therefore I think I know what I doing. Just accept the fact that the XL was a poor example and maybe I just got a bad one. Hope yours are better.

[dcclocoman]

I've done eight conversions with XL units and they all worked perfectly.  Sounds like you are due a replacement decoder.