I picked up a Bachman HO Daylight 4-8-4 at a train swap last year. It runs great, but does not have "chuff".. I run striclky DC, as it has its own track and none of my units are DCC... I don't have the need. I have 4 seperate tracks... one has a siding so I can run 2 trains.. one at a time. Is it worth trying to add some sound? Can it be done without diving in to DCC? I just want the engine to chuff when it's movng, maybe a whistle, but not a lot of stuff. I have seen the same engine with sound, on Ebay for a few hundred $$, and there will be a train swap in November in Eugene , Oregon , so I could wait and see what is there. My unit may have smoke, but I don't know what to look for. Thank you for an interesting and informative forum. Richard M. Corvallis Oregon.
Thank you for the details..... I may have to DCC... it would actually allow me to run my two HO Santa Fe on the same track at the same time, instead of keeping one on a siding . And the Daylight would be 100% more interesting.
I grew up "training", then had to give my set to a friend's kid. Then back to it when the son was 10-15... . then a long pause . Now that I am at the "age not for wimps", I back in training; keeps us young. Thank you.. Richard.
Look in the stack with a super bright LED flash light. If smoke equipped, might be obvious.
Below is an older link on converting to DCC. You could use a Tsunami, LokSound or TCS, Wow decoder.
http://www.wiringfordcc.com/sbhgs4.htm
Check the current draw at 12 VDC.
Is it DCC ready?
Is there a speaker location in the tender? Look at the bottom of the tender for speaker location.
SoundTraxx site has a recommended decoder, speaker and baffle.
The Bachmann website with forums has a diagram of the loco and tender the last I knew but no idea on how old yours is. I have not seen this loco with smoke sold by Bachmann in some time.
I wonder if it has the old pancake motor or a can motor?
Are there two sets of wires between the loco and tender? A four wire and a two wire. Needed for DCC.
If you join the forums, scroll down a little ways and post any questions in the HO forum. Compamy reps there also.
Some have asked in the Bachmann forums about DCC and sound for the GS4.
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.
Thank you for the great questions..... There is no electrical connection, jsut a coupler, between tender and loco. I would have to start from scratch. There is a swap meet in early November. I may try to pick up one already equipped. For now, I am recording some sounds... It's on a 5'x6' oval... I just like the train and its whistle is nice... so I'll make do. I have seen a video of a sound equipped HO Bachman.... it sounds very cool..... so it's on my "bucket list". Thank you again for the great info... gives me a starting point when looking for my next engine.
Look at the below link. One of the many primers for DCC.
http://mrdccu.com/
He shows a few installs and is a regular contributer to the MRH forums.
There are many variations for decoder installs in various locos.
You can usually do better buying sound on board already until you develop the necessary skills. Adding sound can usually be more expensive depending on what you paid for the loco.
Micro Mark and The Favorite Spot are two good sources but there are others. I have bought from both.
Bachmann sells non sound locos but those are low end decoders. They can be converted to sound but again, there are different variations of steam and diesel locos sold by Bachmann and installs in them.
When someone tells you it is easy, they have the experince.
I have installed my own sound and bought sound on board.
From shows, you never know what you are getting without being able to try it there.
I have since put together a mixture of sounds from online videos. some the actual Daylight recorded on excursions , some recordings of O and HO Daylights "chuffing" around layouts. The latter have more pronounced sound. Since most feature the train approaching and passing by, they lend themselves nicely to my large oval. I'm not done editing, but the first edit produced "passable" results using a small bluetooth speaker and my phone. Enough to impress my wife and grandson.... so for now, I'm satisfied. But there is an HO club swap meet not far from here on Satuday Nov. 7. Who knows..... Again thanks for all the great information. I can at least search with some background knowledge. Half of getting good answers is knowing what question to ask.
as usual... I'm always in "training'. Richard M