Fortunately, I don’t think I know who did this.
“other” control system, and Lithiums in a Bach 4-6-0 Anniversary wood burner.
So, they stick the HUGE Phoenix speaker in it, after cutting all the speaker mounts off. Okay.
Then, they cut both tabs off under the water hatch…and glue the Lithium pack on the floor under the hatch. Hmmm.
They use a PC board mount, with screw terminal on/off switch…in the front of the tender, because, gee, that can’t put it in the water hatch now, can they? They mount the volume control in the middle of the floor. Easy access. And, since the charge socket is on set length leads, and the switch is in the front of the tender…they mount the charge socket in the floor of the tender. REAL easy, and really offers the full use of the Auxiliary Battery function included with that switch/socket setup. STOOPID.
Then, they cannot fit this almost 5" long “other” control system anywhere, since they’ve filled the available spots with BIG speakers and a BIG battery block. So, for a locomotive owner in Western Washington, they cut the entire top out of the tender under where the wood pile goes, cut the bottom out of the “fence” piece on the wood pile, and for good measure, whack the mounts off the wood pile.
It’s now all garbage. Run in the rain in Washington? Speaker…Lithium Batteries…charge jack…volume control…on/off switch…all exposed…but wait! There’s more!
Now how to mount this “other” control system…Somewhere they find a big piece of bright yellow plastic, cut it to some odd shape, and glue it to the top of the speaker and the battery pack…with wires everywhere. Plus, the front edge is exposed to the drip from the cutout area under the front of the wood pile…and since it’s at an angle towards the rear, all the water runs all the way down the circuit boards…
There WERE a pair of 2-wire pligs…same MORON cut one clean off…so for this “other” control system, you now have a 2-wire plug for chuff…and a socket in a 7/16" holes, destroying the front of the tender shell, that is the SAME DIMENSION SOCKET as the charge socket. STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPID!
That one runs the motors. But, guess what? No separate power for lights…they run off the motor speed…pure genius!
Why in the hell didn’t I ever do it that way?
Now the good part.
The owner has I think all NiCad and NiMH batteries…and this one, lone Lithium…and the freaking moron installer used the same socket for the Lithiums as used on the Nickle-based! Oh, I would bet a Nickle-based charger is going to get along real well with Lithiums.
Carp (purposeful spelling)
