Bachmann 4-6-0 Anniv. Edition conversion to AirWire and Battery

[George Shyavitz]

I have a new Bachmann (#81099, undecoratd) 4-6-0 Anniversary Edition locomotive with tender and chuff sound built in. I would like to convert it to be able to run from battery power with an AirWire.  The batteries would be in a box car, so that the setup can be used with different engines.

Has anyone done this?  I would appreciate any clues as to the wiring changes needed to make this work.

[Greg Elmassian]

This might not be much help, but I did a DCC conversion, and it was easier to remove all the wires from the boards in the loco than to figure out the wiring.

I may be completely off base, but I got no wiring diagram with my Annie.

Regards, Greg

[Eugene]

I did that 6 month ago , re wireing the engine, putting the airwire 900 and a P5 board into the tender plus 12 AA NIMH batteries plus a fan. But I am using a magnet + reed switch mounted on the tender for the chuff.

[George Shyavitz]

Great, any additional information you can give as to the actual re-wiring of the enging? Did you also add a switch to be able to go back to track power?

I hope to build my AirWire into a box car with batteries.  This will enable me to be able to use it with other engines.

[Eugene]

The engine is re-wired, no components in there, all are in the tender. As mentioned I use a 9 pin computer plug, matching male/female to connect the motor, lights, wheels, smoke unit etc. to the tender.
A separate , matching plug is wired to restore the engine to track power operation. I unplug the tender from the engine and plug the wired plug in to restore "as was" operation.
Eugene

PS, I should mention that I keep the 12 NIMH batteries charged  from the track through a bridge rectifier. Works great!