Battery power / radio control / live steam

Long time lurker, first post.

I have a Bachmann K27 in to which I just installed the new Aristo Revolution TE. Could not have been easier. Just plug the board in, link the transmitter and away we go. Took longer to read the instructions than to do. 

The problem arises in trying to install the Pheonix PB9 sound system. I have the bell and whistle, controlled from the transmitter which is what I wanted. The idle sounds all work as well. The trouble I am having is in getting the chuff to work. I can do it with magnets on the axle and a trigger relay but am trying to figure out how to use the optical chuff sensors in the loco. The Pheonix instructions show how with the dummy board that is in the loco from the factory but not with the Revolution reciever. 

 If anyone has any positive advice it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hi Vulcan,

   I Cant help you, but would suggest that you inquire over on the MLS [mylargescale site]. There are a few people over there that may be able help you out.

 Chuckger

Hi Vulcan,

                      I run Bachmann Consolidations i found that the eletronics from loco gave intermittant chuffs so switched to axcil magnets and reed switch found that works 100% better  Magnets are strong they do not move or fall off.      Hope this helps

                          

From Bachmann's page - instructions for the K-27 chuff: http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/k-27/installdocuments/Phoenix_Sound_2K2.pdf which you probably already looked at. All the connections are made on the "dummy plug," which--with the Revolution--needs to be removed. Fortunately, there are solder pads on the main board for all the pins that are on the dummy plug, so you can solder everything you need onto that board instead. The only thing I'm not 100% sure about are the four traces on the dummy plug you're supposed to cut. I know the first two traces live only on the dummy plug, so by installing something else in its place, you don't need to worry about that. I'm fairly certain you needn't worry about the other two, either, but I'd have to dig out the dummy plug to see what those two traces actually go to.

The on-line review of the K-27 elsewhere on this site has a link to some simple modifications you can make to the loco. Included in that are instructions on installing magnets and a reed switch instead. http://www.trains.com/grw/default.aspx?c=a&id=871 The catch here is that you'll have to run an additional two wires from this new chuff sensor to the tender. The advantage is that you needn't do any weird wiring or anything like that to the circuit board in the tender.

Later,

K

Hi Vulcan,      Just looked at K reply unless you are good at engineering I would be very reluctant to do this.    If your loco is new be careful NOT to void the warranty by doing modifircations to it. 

Bachmann assured me that doing the necessary electronic modifications described on their web site would not void the warranty. I had asked them specifically about that when I wrote the review on their socket. Adding a magnetic reed switch and magnets to the driving axle also would not void the warranty, as you're merely adding something to the locomotive as one would add detail parts or new paint. So, nothing to worry about on either of those two fronts.

Later,

K

One more quick thing--in looking over Dave Goodson's magnet installation article, he suggests that you need to lock the rear axle via spacers to keep it from sliding back and forth, so the magnets stay in line with the reed switch. If you use long rectangular magnets, then the axle can slide back and forth and still trigger the switch. (Miniatronics makes reed switches that come with such magnets).

Personally, I think locking the #1 and #4 drivers via spacers is a good idea, but if you don't want to do that and still want magnetic chuff triggers, that's a way to do it.

Later,

K

 Thanks K, I have seen both of those sites. I also was confused about the traces to be cut. I looked at putting magnets and a switch on the rear drive axle but due to the side to side motion wondered if they would make contact all the time. I guess it would depend on the sensitivety of the reed switch.

I remember reading somewhere, not sure where, that putting two magnets on the tender axle would give about the same number of chuffs per revolution as putting 4 on the drive axle, due to the difference in diameters. So, this is what I have tried. As I am not too worried about whether of not the chuffs are exactly timed to the driver rotation this seems to work very well, on the test track anyway. 

I am aware that this will probably not give prototypical chuff sounds and timing but am more interested in just having sound. As someone said somewhere, "even bad sound is better than no sound".

Perhaps as more Revolution units come in to use someone with more electrical smarts than me will figure this out and then I can always change mine.

Now, on to installing the Revolution and PB9 in my Connie.

Thanks for the input.

Hi Vulcan   I have my P89 in the tender and use 4 reed switches for my sound 1 chuff 2 waterfill 3 coal fill  4 bell sounding when loco goes over turn outs     I use LGB magents to trigger reed switches all work 100%   so im happy with it   The sound card is programmed with all the usual sounds IE start up slow down ect

I have installed my RCS PnP-3BK battery R/C and Phoenix sound in 10 x K-27's for customers.

They simply plug in and everyone of them uses the stock Bachmann optical sound triggers.  The chuff signal is reversed by the PnP-3BK for use by any sound system without any other wiring or components needed.
They have all worked flawlessly since.

Before I replied I wanted to try the Arito unit with the K27 and Phoenix sound out in a K27.

 You simply plug in the Aristo unit in the K27 socket and hook the Phoenix sound unit power to J1/J12 (the track or battery inputs)  and then connect the function outputs of the Aristo unit to the Phoenix sound trigger inputs..At a minimum you likely will desire a whistle/bell/ and chuff trigger.

 The chuff for the K27 is inverted to what the Phoenix desires as a chuff input so you have to use a simple inversion transistor.  The Bachmann/QSI instructions show a simple way of doing this.

 This inversion transistor is not needed for a 2-6-6-2 install.

Stan Ames