In this discussion is a photo of the DCC ready version.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,19324.0.html
The sound version photo is in a recent EM-1 discussion in this Trains.com DCC forum.
A speaker comes with the DCC ready version.
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.
I'm trying to figure out what in the heck all those components are needed for. The larger black squares are diodes, so for directional lighting, I get that. Then there's an awful lot of resistors foa steam loco that probably only has 2 LEDs - a headlight and a backup light on the tender. That big cap - filter the DC for the LEDs? Hmm, maybe. ANd then there is a tranistor, with a spot for a second one. Not to mention the spot for a SPDT switch - smoke unit control?
At least the end where all the wires attach is decipherable: R = right rail pickup, M+ = motor plus, L- = headlight -, B+ is probably backup light +, L+ = headlight +, B- = backup light -, M- = motor -, L = left rail pickup
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I was surprised at all the "extra" parts so I assume it can be used for more than one Bachmann steamer.
No idea on future plans.
I just finished installing a Tsunami 750 in that loco. I hacked that Bachmann board right out and connected the decoder directly to the black wires from the loco. Worked pretty darn fine.
Sounds good. I use the 750 in Bachmann and Roundhouse locos. I have to assume there was not enough room for the 750 with the stay alive capacitor and PC board.
The photograph posted by the Bachmann Administrator clearly shows that there is no speaker mounted in the DCC ready PC board.
The confusion seems to stem from a picture of the Sound Aboard board being mistaken for the DCC ready PC board.
Note. For DCC there is the standard 8 pin plug.
Now for the question does Bachmann sell their sound decoder seperately or must we rely on third party sound boards? Note, that the use of the 3rd party board is not a bad thing. It is just that we will have to spend almost a much for the sound board as if we were to buy the engine with sound at the onset.
I have not seen the sound decoder for the 2-6-0 for sale yet. Someone has also asked in the Bachmann forums.
It is a known fact that some do not like the dumbed down SoundTraxx decoders or have no desire for sound.
The design of the EM-1 was a surprise to me. I figured DCC ready or DCC with sound like the 2-6-0.
Then some have no idea what they are buying and realize they should have bought the loco with sound. I have seen that a few times over the years. Some have no idea on how to shop on line.
But then I have never run a model railroad company or any kind of business.
I forgot that I saw a post about the speaker in the DCC ready 2-6-0 but after I looked, I saw it was not from a Bachmann rep.
Bachmann has done a rather poor job of telling people what is actually in the new series of sound locos.
Rich Q.
Yes, that Bachmann board was a wast of volume with no added value. I did keep the little backup light board since it was perfectly lined up to the tender light.
1" speaker, 220uF cap and 750 with a piece of aluminum for heat sink fit in the tender with no issues.
It sounds real good - no surprise for the Tsunami. It does take off on step one on the throttle though. I need to play with BEMF tuning to get it to slow down at minimum speed.
Dwayne A
Here is the one with the Bachmann OEM Soundtraxx decoder in it,
Also Bachmann has done alot of improvements on this 2-6-0 locomotive, They ran wires through the tender floor for the pick up wpiers on the trucks instead of relying on the screws to make contact like before. You can see the little tabs on the wipers the wires are soldered to next to the screws on the trucks.
Also the tender has plenty of weight, unlike the Spectrum series tenders which were light.
And the loco comes with a good size motor, it is twice the size of the one they put in the Decapod.
I did remove the capacitors on the circuit board on the back of the motor and it does run better now. You will see the two of them one above and one below the screwdriver in the picture. Those little green things.
And they are using the correct collor LED's not those orange looking things like before. You can see the tender LED in the first picture, it is on the right rear of the tender. They use the same LED for the headlight too. So for the money this is a well put together little engine and she runs good to.
The decoder is limmited on programming,
But for the price the sound is good . I give Bachmann a thumbs up on this one.
Truck.
Truck,
I am converting the tender on this model to a 'high-viz' narrow coal box. Unfortunately, I discovered after the modifications that those two big capacitors on the top of the DCC board are 3-4mm taller than the top deck of the tender, even when I cut down the mounting posts for the board. Any thoughts on removing/relocating those capacitors? Could I pop them off, solder extension wires, and relocate them to the back of the tender?
I've tried every other way of shoving that board into the tender...I hate to scrap the board for an after-market decoder... Thoughts?
Backpack
I installed a Digitrax SDH166D sound decoder in that loco. I kept the original PC board, so it was a bit of a tight squeeze in there.
I removed the NMRA 8 pin socket and soldered the wires directly on the PC board. Also, I had to remove a bit of plastic on the floor of the tender to install the baffle.
I'm pretty happy with the resut.