Athearn Genesis Pacific - Wiring help needed

[gmcrail]

Hi, Guys!

I have a first-run Genesis Pacific to which I would like to add tender-wheels pickup.  

Question:  Can someone translate the color code on the wire bundle from the engine that goes into the tender?  It terminates in a PC plug that is obviously intended to substitute for a DCC decoder.  I particularly need to find out which colors come from which side of the loco wheels, as I intend to tap into them for adding the pickups from the tender.

Thanks in Advance,

 

[Sierra Man]

 try hoseekers.net. They have a lot of information on almost all loco wiring.

[gmcrail]

 Thanks for the reply, but I can't find any wiring diagrams on hoseeker.net for the Pacific or Mike.  Just the exploded view and user leaflet supplied with the locomotives.  And only for the Mike - though I suspect the wiring is identical...

Thanks anyhow....

[cacole]

The wire colors used by Athearn may not follow NMRA standards, but the plug pinout of the JST header should be NMRA compliant.  Several decoder maker's and dealers have the color coding and/or plug pinout diagram on their web sites.

The color coding of a JST header can be determined by examing a wiring harness from any of the decoder manufacturers.  The black wire goes to the left rail and the red wire goes to the right rail, as viewed as if you were the engineer sitting in the locomotove cab.

Here are some pictures from the TCS web site:

http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Products/Harnesses/harnesses.html 

Your loco will have the T-Series harness.

[doctorwayne]

If you're not running DCC, it's fairly easy to eliminate that stiff "pigtail" and replace it with more flexible wire.

I used Bachmann trucks and wipers on mine, and installed them so each truck picks-up from a different rail, similar to Spectrum steamers.

Wayne

[gmcrail]

 Thanks, Doc!

If the tag-along soldering doesn't work out, that's just what I plan to do.  I hate the idea of trying to get into these buggers, though.  Major PITA.  With a little luck, and a little less caffeine , It won't come to that, though...   

[gmcrail]

 Cacole,

Thanks for the link!  Just the kind of info I needed!  'Pershiate the help!

 

To all responders:  Thanks much!  I'll let you know how it works out....