Just finnished installing G3 decoder and a Phoenix sound in my USA F3a&b. I now want to install Phoenix Sound in my Bachmann 2-8-0. I installed a G3 decoder last year. The battery is in the tender and the G3 decoder is in the fwd part of the boiler. Any words of wisdom before I start this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Lou
I used Paul’s article on the OVGRS site when I did mine, I went with a Revolution with sound but his article is helpful. Did use a Phoenix speaker though sounds good.
Thanks Steve, that will be a big help.
Where do you want to put the sound? The tender is the easiest place, so you would need to run the commandcommand and battery wires from the g3 to the phoenix. If you want to use a chuff sensor on the loco then you need two more wires to run between. Another option would be to put the phoenix in the loco. Then depending where you put the speaker you would only have to run speaker wires.
If it were me, I’d move the g3 to the tender. More room and less wires between loco and tender. Also, I’ve used the stock b Mann harness between the two for 6 years now with zero issues.
Terry
I’m a fan of putting the electronics in the tender, because it makes access for maintenance much easier. No need to disassemble the locomotive if something might go awry. There’s plenty of room in the Bachmann tender for a 3" speaker, batteries, and Airwire board.
A few thoughts…
First, replace the yellow LED in the headlight with a proper warm white one.
You can get away with using just the 6 stock wires that run between the loco and tender. The 2-pin plug is the chuff contact. I’m not a fan of Bachmann’s mechanical connection, so I’d be tempted to replce this with magnets and a read switch, but if it works for you, run with it. On the 4-pin plug, two wires will go directly to the motor, the other two will go to the track power input on the main PC board in the boiler. That will feed the headlight, cab light, and firebox flicker. (Make sure you disconnect the wires going to the pick-ups on the locomotive drivers.) With this wiring, the headlight will always be on. If you want to power the headlight off of the G3 headlight outputs, you’ll have to run an extra pair of wires directly to the headlight. The tender light can be connected to the G3, so that light can come on only when the loco is in reverse.
Call Bachmann and order the replacement axle with brass gear. While it’s not mandatory to replace the stock plastic gear right off, if you’ve got the loco torn apart, it might be a good time to do so. At least, you’ll have it on hand for when the gear does finally decide to give up the ghost.
Routinely check the screws on the counterweights, as they have a tendency to work loose.
Later,
K
Thanks for all the input. To get to the G3 board I just remove the front of the smoke box and slide it out. I did away with the smoke unit and now I have the antenna up the stack. I was not planning on installing sound units in my loco’s due to the price, that’s why I put it there. I do see the logic for putting it in the tender. I have allready replaced the gear.
Lou
Placing the sound unit in the engine makes for only 2 wires needed to go to the speaker in the tender. I would do it this way.
The battery is in the tender, so 2 wires more from tender to engine. Also, backup light for tender? So 6 wires… counting wires between the 2 locations is a “push” if you don’t have extra lights in the loco and no chuff switch.
That said, for track power, I find the number of LEDs in the loco and the chuff switch there makes it make more sense to put decoders in the loco, and speaker, power pickup and backup light in tender… subtract 2 for battery power.
(so I’m usually for the decoder in the locos no matter what)
Greg
Thanks guys. On the four pin connector two wires are for battery, the other two for the light on the tender. I am going to use the two pin connector for the speaker. My problem is the G3 card is not a drop in and this is where I get confused. In the Phoenix booklet it says to not use pins C1:6 & C1:7. On the Airwire web page it says to use C1:6 &C1:2 to one input to the DCC driver and pin C1:1 to the other input to the DCC driver. Am I reading this wrong and where do I connect the chuff sensor?
I used “Option 1” in the Phoenix P8 manual to hook up the P8 to the G3. There’s only one wire going from the DCC booster output to the Phoenix board. (Use the orange wire on the Phoenix harness.) The battery power goes to C1 and C2 (the two green wires.) The chuff trigger goes to C2, pins 1 and 2.
Later,
K
Thank you Kevin. I might just finnish this up tonight.
I have one small problem. None of the function work. the engine runs, the chuff works, the bell and whistle works when you stop or start to move but no function keys work. What am I doing wrong?
On the phoenix always turn off MTS mode if you do not use mts.
Is the phoenix at the same address as the G3 decoder?
The phoenix comes programmed for address 3. Once everything is wired up and powered up you have to re-address the loco. If you did that then I would check the comm wire between the two.
Terry
Thanks Terry. Reprogramed and everythings works.