I bought a used Spectrum 4-8-2 Heavy Mtn with DCC and sound last week and just got around to playing with it. The good news is that it looks mint, the motor runs smooth and the sound works. But it has a few issues and hoping that someone has experience with this loco and can help.
The front coupler broke off during shipping. The front of the loco looks fine and the coupler box is intact, but I can't tell what parts I need to put it back together right. To me the broken piece looks like the one circled in red but it could be the one circled in blue. And I will need a new coupler. Can anyone here tell me for sure what I need to do?
Also the sound effects work but there is no chuff or exhaust noise when the loco is moving. I played around with settings in JMRI with no success and thinking now of doing a complete decoder reset to see what happens.
The last problem is most aggravating. The power from the wheels on one side of the loco is not getting to the encoder. The tender pickups are fine so it will run, but with frequent stops going over bigger turnouts. I checked the wipers on the loco wheels and they look great, and used a meter to confirm continuity from the wheels to the contacts on the board under the rear of the loco. And reseated the plug connectors to the tender several times. So it seems to be a problem with the loco connector board itself, or bad plug, or maybe a broken wire to the decoder. Does anyone know whether the power pickup goes through the two-wire small connector or the big one, and the pin arrangement? Any advice on how to chase the problem down?
Huntington Junction - Freelance based on the B&O and C&O in coal country before the merger... doing it my way. Now working on phase 3. - Walt
For photos and more: http://www.wkhobbies.com/model-railroad/
Have 9 of those, they all run great. BUT, mine are not DCC/sound.
Yes you need the little coupler clip - hopefully Bachmann has some.
The two wire plug should be the power from the loco pickups to the tender.
The four wire plug is the headlight and motor from the circuit board.
But Bachmann uses different pin assignments between DCC and DCC/sound versions so I cannot give you more detailed info.
But I would start inside the tender. If you have continuity from the loco wheels to the plug, the loco pickups are fine.
If not Bachmann does generally have in stock the whole wiper assembly - easy to change.
Good luck, let me know how you make out.
Sheldon
Contrary to Sheldon's positive experience, I once owned two Spectrum 4-8-2's, and after many repairs and many struggles, I finally returned both to Bachmann, and they were replaced under the lifetime warranty with different steamers.
In my experience, the construction of the Spectrum 4-8-2 was too fragile and too unreliable.
Rich
Alton Junction
I have a few suggestions tha may help here. First, the coupler, Why not just replace it with a Kadee coupler. If you got to their website they have intructions on how to do this to your loco. Now the other. I would place the engine on the track without the tender then check with your meter if you are getting power to those two connector pins in the loco. If so then pull the tender shell and with the tender plugged into the loco check that power is coming throught the connector. Also it wouldn't hurt to to a reset on the decoder. That would be my first thing to do. Anyway, good luck and hope you get it all sorted out. That is a very nice looking engine. Ken
I just tried doing a decoder reset. It wouldn't work through JMRI and I had to use the Powercab throttle to manually set the reset code. Then it didn't act like I expected during the reset so I paid a bit more attention and noticed that JMRI identified the board as DSD-steam instead of Bachmann Tsunami. I found the manual on the Soundtraxx site. The chuff rate can be set using a cam input off one of the wheels and that's probably not working. If I reset it to normal mode then my bet is the chuff/exhaust sound should work.
My laptop somehow decided it was time to upgrade to Windows 10 during the process, so I will have to wait a bit before getting back into the program.
Question- did Bachman ever use the DSD decoder or was it added by an owner?
In the meanwhile guess I need to remove the tender shell and figure out what is in there and how it is hooked up. The plug connections on the loco point straight down so it is not possible to check for power there with the loco on the track. But I can ohm it out to see if I have continuity from the wheels to the connector.
HObbyguy I just tried doing a decoder reset. It wouldn't work through JMRI and I had to use the Powercab throttle to manually set the reset code. Then it didn't act like I expected during the reset so I paid a bit more attention and noticed that JMRI identified the board as DSD-steam instead of Bachmann Tsunami. I found the manual on the Soundtraxx site. The chuff rate can be set using a cam input off one of the wheels and that's probably not working. If I reset it to normal mode then my bet is the chuff/exhaust sound should work. My laptop somehow decided it was time to upgrade to Windows 10 during the process, so I will have to wait a bit before getting back into the program. Question- did Bachman ever use the DSD decoder or was it added by an owner? In the meanwhile guess I need to remove the tender shell and figure out what is in there and how it is hooked up. The plug connections on the loco point straight down so it is not possible to check for power there with the loco on the track. But I can ohm it out to see if I have continuity from the wheels to the connector.
I don't think Bachmann ever used a DSD decoder, and, the loco does not have a chuff cam from the factory.
Bachmann does show the front coupler snap as being in stock, and that part will work with a Kadee long shank wisker coupler.
http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_68_165&products_id=4329
HObbyguyMy laptop somehow decided it was time to upgrade to Windows 10 during the process, so I will have to wait a bit before getting back into the program.
You have my sympathy.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Henry the computer didn't complete the upgrade (gave me an error code) so it looks like I am still on Win 7 for now. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
I set the chuff control to normal and now the sound works as it should. The sound is pretty lame compared to the new decoders though, and there is not much control over it. So I may consider upgrading the decoder down the road. But that is another topic.
Sheldon if you look at the pic of my broken part it does not look like the one in your link. I am guessing that it came with the one with the third "leg" that I circled red in the diagram. But maybe the one that is available will still work? I also looked at the Kadee site and can go that route but it looks like a good bit of work.
First I need to get the power issue resolved- I haven't tackled that yet.
HObbyguy Henry the computer didn't complete the upgrade (gave me an error code) so it looks like I am still on Win 7 for now. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I set the chuff control to normal and now the sound works as it should. The sound is pretty lame compared to the new decoders though, and there is not much control over it. So I may consider upgrading the decoder down the road. But that is another topic. Sheldon if you look at the pic of my broken part it does not look like the one in your link. I am guessing that it came with the one with the third "leg" that I circled red in the diagram. But maybe the one that is available will still work? I also looked at the Kadee site and can go that route but it looks like a good bit of work. First I need to get the power issue resolved- I haven't tackled that yet.
You are right, I forgot about the C&O pilot being different - I have both C&O and non C&O versions of the Heavy Mountain.
I can't comment on the sound issue - I run DC and don't do sound.
As far as the PC goes, buy a new one with W10. My stepson upgraded W7 to W10. Terrible. He bought a new Dell W10 For $340. No problems now.
The Bachmann Spectrum with onboard sound are Tsunami, not DSD. Below is a link to what you should have. One PC board is the Decoder and plugs into the other PC board.
If you have one someone added sound, they would have a sound decoder that plugs into the eight pin socket on the other PC board.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/H842X-IS001.PDF
I would also suggest looking at the Bachmann parts, repair page.
Bachmann and SoundTraxx have the CV list.
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.
Erie-diamond I have a few suggestions tha may help here. First, the coupler, Why not just replace it with a Kadee coupler. If you got to their website they have intructions on how to do this to your loco. Now the other. I would place the engine on the track without the tender then check with your meter if you are getting power to those two connector pins in the loco. If so then pull the tender shell and with the tender plugged into the loco check that power is coming throught the connector. Also it wouldn't hurt to to a reset on the decoder. That would be my first thing to do. Anyway, good luck and hope you get it all sorted out. That is a very nice looking engine. Ken
His coupler has no problem, his coupler box's cover is broken.
So yes the item circled in red is the part you need.
I had the same sound chuff issue. Try changing CV115 to something other than 0 or >255 try 100 per say.
(for some reason, turning cv8 to 8 aka factory defult for cv115 is 0. )
To fix the electrical pickup, you must open the tender to check. Maybe a wire broke off! Or maybe you should check the 2 prong plug.
Hope this helps
Charles
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Modeling the PRR & NYC in HO
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/@trainman440
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HObby Guy, Hey
Have you found the pick up problem yet?
I had the same problem with one of my Bachman steam. I think it was my 4-8-2 mountain. I haven't been able to find where I fixed it but I remember how. There was a pick up wire that was supposed to be connected right behind the drivers on the dead side. There was a little square black cap that was supposed to slide over the the wire and onto the the terminal to hold the wire in place.Since the dumb thing fell off I reached in with the soldering iron and soldered the wire on.
No more problems, but I can not find the terminal. Fuzzy eyes.
If this helps great, if not file it away for future reference.
Cheers
Lee
I finally got to spend some time on it with a meter and the pickup problem is in the loco. I get continuity from the wheels at the bottom through the brass contacts to the pin on the right in the two-pin connector. But nothing from the wheels at the top to the pin on the left. Also the firebox glows with the loco on the track and the tender disconnected so power IS getting in from the wheels. My bet is a bad solder joint or broken wire to the connector itself.
Before I break something trying... how do you get this thing apart so I can fix it?
I also opened up the tender. It looks like all of the original stuff was removed and the speaker and decoder were installed by a previous owner. The wires from the tender pickups and the plug to the loco are spliced together. I checked and got good continuity from the tender wheels to the loco plug so the decoder wiring in the tender is not the problem. Not an ideal setup but everything should work OK if I can get the loco pickup problem resolved.
So again, how do I get to the wires at the rear of the loco?
If I remember correctly, the screw that attaches the drawbar will release the boiler and allow it to lift up in the rear and slide forward for removal, exposingthe small circuit board in the back.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL If I remember correctly, the screw that attaches the drawbar will release the boiler and allow it to lift up in the rear and slide forward for removal, exposingthe small circuit board in the back. Sheldon
http://www.trainweb.org/nrmrc/dccconv/ba482.pdf
Thanks Rich and Sheldon, both posts were a big help.
I've got it narrowed down to the connector itself. I get continuity from the connector pin on the right to the lower strip on the PCB, but not from the pin on the left to the upper strip on the board. I do get continuity from the pin in the connector to where it sticks out the top of the board (second photo). So it is definitiely a bad solder joint between the connector and the board.
The connector is good and tight, not loose, and I expect that it came from the factory this way. My guess is that the erratic operation was probably blamed on the DCC/sound boards in the tender and that's why they were replaced. And it never ran correctly so probably "low milage" which accounts for the mint condition.
Now the question is how to fix it. My impulse is to take a soldering iron to the pin on top of the PCB and see if I can get the solder to flow and make the connection to the contact strip underneath without destroying the board. Dicey proposition for me but worth a shot.
What would you guys do?
The PCB with the connectors is listed as available on the Bachman site for only $21 so replacing it is a possible backup plan. But that would involve further disassembly and a wiring adventure.
Edit/add- I am going to need to pick up a fine tip soldering iron for this. Is it best to go with high or low watts? 15, 25, 40, 60W?
The pickup problem is fixed. I ended up pulling the plastic socket off and found no solder connecting the bad pin to the contact strip. So I soldered it, replaced the socket over the pins, tested and put it all back together. Sounds easy, but those pins are tiny! It took several hours for me to do the repair and reassemble the loco. Here it is in operation, finally!
I ran it for about 30 minutes continuous without any problems. The drive had quite a gear rattle at first but it quieted down considerably once the loco got some run time in.