I recently inherited a Bachmann UP #809 4-8-4 Overland engine. It's age is unknown, but it is DC, of course, and has a smoke unit. It runs fine, but has the typical "jack rabbit" starts as the power is raised to the point it actually starts moving. (The headlight lights and the drivers move a bit well before the engine itself starts moving at a speed that's too fast.)
I haven't opened it to see what type of motor it has, but I can see a covered gearshaft running from the boiler vertically to the chasis (correct term?) between the 2nd and 3rd drivers. Hopefully, that means there's NOT one of Bachmann's old pancake motors inside.
Assuming that it's not a pancake motor, I'm thinking of installing a decoder and running it on DCC.
Questions:
1) Will converting it to DCC make a real difference in its performance -- smoothing out the jumpy starts and stops, giving it much better slow-speed control?
2) If yes, is it worth doing?
3) If yes, what decoder with appropriate sound would you recommend?
Will appreciate some wisdom and voices with experience.
Thanks. JHF
A poor running loco will not be improved by adding a decoder. That is a well known issue.
Get out your DC power pack and measure the motor current at about 12 or 14 vdc.
Make sure neither motor contact connects to the frame, both leads free.
Go to the SoundTraxx site and look at what they recommend for this loco for decoder and speaker. The decoders come with instructions. The decoder has a 1 amp max for motor and lights.
You will have to drill a bunch of small holes in the tender frame for the speaker.
Make sure tender has all wheel pickup.
Below is a link. Look in Curriculum. There is SoundTraxx, motor current and a lot of other info.
Right now I figure you are new to this.
http://www.mrdccu.com/
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
MANY thanks. Exactly what I needed to know. Much appreciated. JHF
The first thing you need to do is determine how much current the motor draws from your power pack. The measurement should be taken under load.
From your description of how much power it takes just to make it start, I'd say it is not worth the cost of a sound decoder. DCC will not make it run any better than it does now; in fact, it may run even worse with DCC.
You'll probably wind up with a model with sounds that make you think it's running 100 MPH but it's still not moving.
Thanks. I'm convinced it's not worth the time/effort/cost. Appreciate your taking time to respond.
Thanks. I'm convinced: it's not worth the time/effort/cost. Appreciate your taking time to respond.
However, there are masochists out there, me included, that like to mess with old gems and try and get them to work well under DCC. Be warned that this is an addictive past time, quickly exposes your own shortcomings and exposes you to a fair amount of wasted dollars and futility. It is in many respects, a hobby within the hobby!
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum