Mogul tender wires.

[Terry Toenges]

I have a dilemma now. On my On30 DCC 2-6-0 Mogul, 4 of the wires broke from the tender connector that plugs into the loco.There's no way I can fix those.
Does anyone have a spare DCC Mogul tender I could buy? I don't need the body or decoder.
I would rather do that than try to solder little wires.
If not, I looked in the parts section.
There is an HO connector - Connector 6 plugs large ( HO Universal ) Model: CONNIE-10548 8".
Is this the same one used in the Mogul?
If so and I order it, how can I find which wires go where on the pcb board? The wires are all black. There are only two wires still connected on old one so I tell where they go.
What little soldering I have done hasn't been little bitty stuff.

[Dbarefoot]

I'm in the same frustrating situation as you are in. I've been told to use a Multi-Meter to find where each wire goes. I just hope I can find the 2 pin plug and a 4 pin plug.

Hope this helps

~Dusten

[Terry Toenges]

I wouldn't know how to figure it out with multimeter and what readings to look for. There are six wires that go to the loco. The circuit board is labeled. None of the wires are connected to the plug now. I was trying to straighten them out after I unscrewed the board and the last one came loose.
I ordered what I think is the correct wire harness with the plug from Bachmann but I still won't know in what order they go on the board.
 I looked through all the exploded diagrams on this website for On30 and HO steam locos with tenders. The On30 0-4-2 had a picture of the six pin connector on the loco with it marked. I don't know if it would be the same for the Mogul. Other locos with six pins have a four pin and a 2 pin one so that's no help.
I wish they would have a marked pic of the loco connectors for all their steam locos with tenders.

[Terry Toenges]

I found a good deal on another Mogul so I bought it and I got a diagram of the Mogul tender board from the paperwork in the new one.
If the "right pick-up" pad corresponds to the left hole in the socket and they are are in the same order in the socket, then things should work out once I get the harness in the mail.
With the new one, I'll switch bodies on the tenders and put the sound card in the new one. That way I can run my old "custom" Mogul again. I put super glue on the wires on the new one where they go into the connector and filed a little on the connector itself so it's not so hard to get out.
When get the harness from Bachmann, I can attempt to fix the old tender. If I fail, all is not lost becasue I have my old Mogul running now anyway. I'll just have a spare Mogul for if my old one goes down.

[Fred Klein]

Terry, glad you were able to locate another Mogul. I was going to suggest the multimeter route that someone else had already suggested - other than that I was out of ideas. Anyway, glad that you were able locate that Mogul and the wiring diagram. Best of luck and keep us posted.

[Terry Toenges]

Thanks Fred. The trouble is, I just don't know how I would use a multimeter in this case. I'm not savvy enough when it comes to something like. I have a multimeter but it has sat there unused for years other seeing if a battery still has juice. I don't know what to attach to what to get what reading.
It would have been easier if the circuit board was turned around with the pads in front. The pads are in the rear. The wires run between the board and the frame and the connector is toward the front. I had to enlarge the hole in the tender frame just to be able to pull the connector through from the bottom.

[Terry Toenges]

I got the tender bodies switched and the sound card switched and my old Mogul lives to run another day.
I think I take that tender back apart. I'll straighten the wires out (very carefully) and see which wire runs to which hole on the connector. That way I will know for future reference.

[Quentin]

And this is why I don't like tenders connected to the loco with wires.......

[Terry Toenges]

I have the Mogul tender wiring figured out.

[Terry Toenges]

Another question - On this pic, the two tabs on the left side are for a rear light (according to the black and white diagram), Could I add a rear light to my tender just by attaching the wires to those two tabs without any additional electric stuff? Would it work when I put the loco in reverse or would that require some additional programming?

[Fred Klein]

Terry, I think you could connect a rear light to the board. A couple of things: 1. Whether or not the light only comes on in reverse would depend on whether or not the decoder supports that in one of the CVs. 2. Before you go to the expense of purchasing a rear light for the tender, I would try connecting your multimeter to each tab and then turn on the lights with your DCC controller to see if you get voltage (usually 12V). Keep track of which tab is positive.

You can then connect a LED to the tabs with a resistor connected to the LEDs positive lead (it will also work on the negative lead but usually in electric protocol the resistor is connected to the positive). The resistor value is not critical but should range somewhere from 500 to 1000 ohms - 580 ohm comes to mind and it should probably be able to handle at least 1/2 watt. When you turn the lights on with the DCC, you should be able to tell whether or not the rear light terminals function OK. Hope this helps.

Fred

[Terry Toenges]

Thanks Fred. I could do that. I have some LEDS and regular bulbs laying around here. If I was going to do that, I would just get a box type housing for it like I have on the front of the Mogul. I might even have a spare one somewhere.

[Terry Toenges]

I made another pic of the Mogul wire connections between the tender and loco. It took a while figuring this all out.

[Terry Toenges]

I just tried a light on the reverse light tabs and it works. I took the tender body off and put it back on the layout with the Mogul. I fired up the Mogul and turned the lights on. I poked the wires of an led through the holes in the tabs(One tab is marked "BL" and the other "V+" so I put the black wire to BL and red wire to V+.) The light stays on in forward and reverse. It get much brighter in reverse. I didn't think to try it with the Mogul lights off to see if the tabs were still "on". I already put the tender back together so I'll try it again later
I got my harnesses in the mail today from Bachmann so I'll try to resurrect the old tender now that I know which wire goes where.

[Terry Toenges]

Decisions... Decisons... Always decisions... Asking myself... Do I remove the old wires from the board tabs and solder the new wires to them or do I just cut the old wires shorter and solder the new wires to the old wires? Seems like it would be easier to cut the old wires and solder the new wires to them so I wouldn't have to disturb the already soldered wires on the tabs.