Tender pcb g 460

[Bearnhardt68]

I have ordered a new Annie chassis (81088) for my old Ringmaster (90020). I have done a little modification for the shell to fit.  Had to cut another rectangle notch in the back of the shell where the pcb plugs in to chassis. My question is can I order the tender pcb g460 to swap with the one on my old ringmaster tender and does this one have the 2 plug-ins to fit the new chassis

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Have you tried calling the parts folks on this?  It is their busiest time of year so you might have to keep trying.

[Bearnhardt68]

Yes, the guy I talked to said he don't know. Said the service guys were unavailable to help today

[A Trainman]

Bearnhardt68,

I think the other plug is for the rear light on the Annie's.
You would have to mount an LED in the rear light housing, with a resistor, and wire it to the other, second, plug on the Annie chassis.
Otherwise everything should work the same as before the chassis swap.

Adam

[Bearnhardt68]

Thank you, but the wires seem to be  connected  down to the motor somewhere.  Would I need to  Connect two wires off the back of the plug-in ?

[Loco Bill Canelos]

I seem to be confused by your question.   Not all Annies have a rear headlight on the tender, those that have the wood burner tender do not have a rear tender headlight.   Chassis for  the Annie meant for a wood burner tender will not have the plug in for a rear light.  It is important to get the correct chassis with both the sound and light plug ins.  If I understand things you have the chassis with both plugs.   The tender sound PCB's have only the plug for the sound.

Since your old Ringmaster was not an Annie it will have a  dummy rear headlight.  You can run two wires with either a mini 18 volt incandescent bulb or a 5MM warm white LED (LED recommended)to the dummy rear light on the old tender. If the bulb in the rear headlight is incandescent then no resistor is needed.  If the rear headlight is an LED then the resistor is necessary(I use a 1K OHM resistor) and is polarity sensitive.  You can buy a compatible plug (go to one of the online electronics stores and buy a plug)  You can then run the wires from the light out of the tender and solder the plug on which will will then allow you to plug the light circuit directly into the connector already on the chassis.   Use shrink wrap to cover the solder joints.

Your old sound board should work fine with the ANNIE chassis just plug it in as you would on your old chassis.   Some say the newer sound boards are better than the old ones made before 2000.   The ringmaster 4-6-0 was made starting in 1993 untill 2006 and your loco could be any one of the 4 versions of chassis noted below.

Version 2  1990-1994  Smooth Bottom Cover  You can turn drivers by hand and motor will turn                           
Version 3  1994-1998  Smooth Bottom Cover You cannot turn the drivers by hand                           
Version 4  1998-1999  Large wide hump dead center between the rear drivers on bottom cover                           
Version 5  2000-after  3/8th inch wide hump offset between the rear drivers and a plastic lubrication plug the size of a dime to the rear of the hump..      

My personal opinion is to keep the existing sound board, and wire the rear light as noted above and by Adam.

Hopefully somewhere in the notes above you will find what you need.      

Bill   

[A Trainman]

Bearnhardt68,

Looking at the rear of the loco there is a connector to the left of the switch. this connector is connected to the switch and to the "chuff" actuator located at the front driver axle. the switch closes or opens the chuff circuit for chuff sound or no chuff sound.

The connector on the right side of the switch has two wires that are connected to the motor. Because the rear light is an LED it is a diode (light emitting diode) and will only light when the d.c. voltage is flowing in the correct direction. reverse the voltage and the LED wont light up. It's a simple way to make the rear light illuminate when the loco is moving backwards and not illuminate when it's going forwards.

You can use your original tender as before. just make sure you plug the chuff connector, from the tender, to the connector on the left side of the switch.

If you want to install the rear light, here is a link for the LED and resistor.
http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_69_623&products_id=4901

You'll have to call Bachmann Service an see if they have just the plug.
Mount the LED in the housing (you'll have to do some drilling and be creative) solder one side of the resistor to one lead of the LED and the other lead of the resistor to one wire on the plug. solder the other lead from the LED to the other wire on the plug and try it in reverse. if it doesn't light, but does light in forward, swap the wires on the plug. you have a fifty/fifty chance on getting it right the first time.
I hope this helps.

Adam

[Bearnhardt68]

Thanks to all, you guys have been very informative  and very helpful.  I wasn't sure what the right side plug-in was for on the chassis. I have ordered the LED and resistor and I will let you guys know how all turns out.thanks again.