Large Scale Central

Bachmann Spectrum "DCC Ready" and Compatibility

Problem Solving
#1

I recently ordered the Bachmann 3 truck 55 ton, product code 82496 and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. It’s listed as “DCC Ready” and as I understand it, that means it is pre-wired to accept a decoder, aka Plug and Play.

The first million dollar question is whether or not this plug and play board is compatible with Aristocraft’s new 2.4 mHz TE Revolution? I’ve searched and searched and the answer hasn’t jumped out at me. However, I read in August’s Garden Railways that leads me to believe that it is in fact compatible as fare as plug and play goes. It states, “the receiver [TE Revolution] is small and plugs directly into the socket in both Aristo-Craft’s and Bachmann’s locomotives (if so equipped)”. I’d hate to gut the shay if it is plug and play compatible but I’m afraid I’ll fry the receiver, the motors, or both.

Second, I’ve read that there are some discrepancies with the wiring schematic on the Shay, any idea of what wiring problems I can expect when trying to incorporate the TE Revolution receiver whether it is plug and play compatible or not?

And lastly, what is the overall opinion about the Shay’s operation, reliability, etc? It looks great and I can’t wait for it to arrive.

Thanks for your time,
Jim

#2

I wish you a lot of luck. I believe this engine is designed to accept a customized decoder that is only available with the engine. I just removed the entire circuit board from one of them and am wiring without any of the original circuitry.

#3

I read on one of the forums that it is compatible with revo. If it comes with a wiring harness like the mallet which has a wiring diagram compare the two, if it is like the mallet it will just plug and play.

#4

The 3 truck Shay is not Plug ‘n’ Play for any R/C system.

At best you will have to figure out how to hook it up yourself.

There is no need to completely rewire it but I do agree that pitching the fitted Bachmann pcb is the most practical way of doing it.

Here is how I did it for battery R/C: http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/35/aft/103183/afv/topic/Default.aspx

#5

I appreciate all the replies and info.

Realizing the difference between RC and DCC, I kept hoping for a quick solution, but I guess that’s why they call it a hobby. I wired an LGB 2080D for the Revolution and was pretty impressed with it. There’s just this huge fear about dropping the money on a new loco and then start disassembling and modifying it. My wife just doesn’t understand. She laughs and says “Isn’t that the new one?” and followed by “What’s wrong with it?”

Thanks again to all.

#6

I can give you my experience with the Spectrum 2-6-0 Mogul, which is “DCC ready”. In my loco, the manual has a wiring diagram for DC power with existing circuit board and a DCC diagram with the existing circuit board and an older LENZ decoder. I did not use the Lenz deocoder, I used a G Universal Steam decoder by MRC. Yeah, some people laugh at the MRC but this is the newest one and is actually quite nice. It has lots of good features, and uses ALL 28 functions for various sounds and features, including a huge selection of chuff sound, whistles and bells. I like it a lot and it was only abou $70 with a small speaker, which I’m using until I get a larger one.

Anyhow, back to the “DCC ready” part. By DCC ready Bachmann uses screw terminals for the wires, so you can simply un-screw the wires from the board to connect to your DCC decoder. You could use some sort of plugs or directly solder to your DCC board. It is NOT plug-n-play like the Aristo socket in my Pacific and Dash9. Also, Bachmann makes no mention of the smoke unit or firebox flickering lights which are both disconnected when using the instructions from Bachmann. I do plan on connecting track power back to the smoke unit and/or the flicking fire box lights, not sure if they will work with the AC from the DCC track or if I will have to build a bridge rectifier.

In any case, I like the screw terminals but other than that, this loco is really not DCC ready. I know the 4-4-0 has the same setup and the K27 does indeed have a socket, like the Aristocraft socket. I think the new mallet has the socket too. If the shay is brand new, but I don’t think it is, it would probably have the socket.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Ted