G scale Climax locomotives

[JNLRET1]

I have a Climax, 86096, with DCC and sound.  My layout is powered only with DC transformer power. In DC mode this loco will not start to move until about 10 volts of power is added.  All my other locos start moving at much lower voltage.  But the time my Climax gets to operating speed, my other locos are going way too fast.

I see that Bachmann also has a Climax, 85096, being DC ready , but not installed and no sound.

Does anyone know if this loco (85096) will operate at lower voltages like my other Bachmann locos?

[Kevin Strong]

Yes, the "DCC Ready" loco will run like your other traditional analog DC locos. What's happening with the DCC-equipped loco is that the decoder needs a certain voltage just to function. In many cases, this is in the neighborhood of 6 volts, but it may be more. Once the decoder gets this requisite voltage, it wakes up and creates a baseline zero voltage line to the motor. It does not all of a sudden feed that 6 volts to the motor. In the case of many decoders, once the decoder "wakes up," it feeds voltage to the motor in a more-or-less 1:1 relationship to the additional voltage going to the decoder. For instance, if you feed 7 volts to the decoder and the decoder needs 6 volts to function, it will feed 1 volt to the motor. 10 volts will send 4 volts to the motor, etc. The upshot is that with most decoders*, at any given track voltage, the DCC-equipped loco will run slower than a non-DCC-equipped loco.

The Climax has the plug-and-play socket in the tender, so if you want to run your loco on analog power, check to see if there's a "dummy plug" in the box that came with it. You can pull the decoder and replace it with the dummy plug to run your loco on regular DC. You will lose your sounds, though.

Later,

K

[JNLRET1]

Hi Kevin

So, if I can get a 85096 DCC ready Climax, it will preform like my other DC (track powered) locomotives?

I don't think the 85096 comes with sound, but I was thinking I could add after market sound.  Is that correct?

Thanks for you response,

John

[Loco Bill Canelos]

John,

You are correct that the 85096 does not come with sound, and yes it can be equipped with aftermarket sound.  It is DCC ready so that means you would have to add a decoder if you wanted to operate with DCC.  In any case it will function just like your other DC operated locomotives right out of the box.

Loco Bill

[JNLRET1]

Thanks Loco Bill

That's the answer I wanted. It is interesting, people at Bachmann I talked with didn't know that.

Thanks

John

[JNLRET1]

I got my Climax (86096) back from Bachmann.  What they did was replace the DCC board with the dummy board (that Kevin mentioned).  It runs great with my other track powered locos.  Of course, I don't have sound any more.

I would like to have sound.

My Loco Sound requires a board with wire terminals to install their system, but this dummy board doesn't have them.

Anyone have other suggestions so I can get sound on this Climax and still run on track power (DC).


Thanks

John

[StanAmes]

In your Climax box is a dummy board with wires.

This allows easy installation of after market sound and motor control products.

If you are only installing a sound board and not a sound with motor control product it might be best to solder wires to the track wire terminals.  Not sure how many other wires are needed for the product you wish to install other then track and speaker wires.

Hope that helps

Stan

[JNLRET1]

Stan

I do have a board that has about twenty wire pieces for various functions.  I don't know how or where to hook up the wires and which wires to hook up.

I tried plugging this board into the main board (without attaching any wires) to see it the loco would move.  It did not.

I have an Sierra sound card system from my old Shay loco and I have a My Loco Sound system.  There are no wire terminals on the Bachmann dummy cards to attach these two systems.

I'm still at a loss.

Thanks

John

[Bucksco]

All DCC decoders have common wiring protocols - at least those that conform to the NMRA suggestions. Each wire on the adapter board is marked with identification lettering such as M+ (motor positive), M- (Motor negative), etc....
All you need to do to use the adapter board ( the one with all the wires on it) is match the lettering on the wires to the spot on your decoder that is labeled the same. Doesn't hurt to have a set of instructions for the decoder you choose to install so that it is easy to match the wires to the proper socket on the decoder. Most large scale decoders feature small sockets to screw the wires into so it's easy.The adapter board is designed to mate a non 21 pin decoder to the 21 pin socket on the Bachmann interface board in the coal bunker.
Use the adapter board with the wires to adapt your decoder of choice to the 21 pin interface in the Bachmann loco.

[StanAmes]

John

As pointed out by Yardmaster, the adapter board with wires is the solution to use if you are installing a DCC decoder a radio control interface or other motor/sound control system that does not have a plug and play interface.

When installing only a sound board  that does not have a plug and play interface you must attach wires to either the main board using the supplied solder pads or solder wires to the (DC) Dummy PC Board.

Your Climax manual provides a table which shows the purpose of each pin.

For example using a Sierra board refer to Fig 9 of the Sierra's manual which displays its master wiring diagram.

To start simply connect track power to pins 7 an 8 of the Sierra board.  Using the pin assignment diagram for the climax you connect these pins to J1 1-2 and J1  11-12.

You will also need to connect wires from the Sierra's speaker connection (9,10 ) to either the speaker in the climax directly or to pins J2 -1 and J2 - 3.

Its as simple as that.

Stan

[JNLRET1]

Stan

I followed your instructions and got the sound to work.

Now, I have to get the various lights (head, backing, etc) working.

The Bachmann jumper board has so many wires and I don't know which ones to hook up to the Sierra sound board to get the lights working.   I think Nos. 4,5 and 6 on the Sierra board are the correct terminals, but what wires on the Bachmann board to hook them to, I don't know.

I tried #4 on the Bachmann board (front locomotive headlight) onto each of the Sierra #4,5 and 6 terminals, but no light.

[StanAmes]

Since the Sierra sound board does not have the ability to have its lighting functions controlled by an external control there is no need to hook up the light functions to the sound board.

To control the lights refer to the light switches which are located under the tanks at the rear of the locomotive.   Your manual provides a description of these switches.

There are three positions labeled DC DCC and off.  A better description might be DC = Always On, DCC = switched by the device in the socket, Off = off.

Switch the light switches DC and they wil be on.

Hope this helps.

Stan

[JNLRET1]

Stan

I tried your suggestion about the light switch on the rear of the coal box and switched to the DC position.  Still no lights

To review all four switches:  Motor = on; lights = DC; pick up= track and polarity = large scale.

John

[StanAmes]

If you have the Bachmann DC dummy board in the socket in the locomotive and you have the light switch to DC then the lights should be on.  If not something is damaged.

You can check to ensure that you have DC voltage on J1 6 and 7.  Best to turn the motor off and put 12 v track voltage on the rails and check to see that you have around 11 volts on pins 6 and 7.

Stan

[JNLRET1]

Hi Stan

I put the dummy board back in and the lights front and rear work.

I then removed the dummy board and reinstalled the jumper board with the Sierra board.

The way I have it attached now is:  J1 wires 1 & 2 to #8 on the Sierra Board
                                                    J1 wires 11 & 12 to #7 on the Sierra board
                                                   
                                                    J2 wires 1 & 3 to #9 & #10 on the Sierra Board for the speaker

I have tested this configuration and the sound does work when I hook up the battery, just no lights.

I'm in the process of wiring in the power on/off switch, the charging jack and the volume control switch.

I turned off the motor switch and put about 11 volts to the rails.  I heard a hum coming from the loco, but there was no voltage to J1 wires 6 & 7.  Just to be clear, I put one end of the volt meter to 6 and the other to 7.  No voltage

John and by the way thanks for all your help Stan