Here is a little side project I did. I installed a Phoenix P8 and CVP Airewire G2 into my Bachmann K-27.
This is a picture of my modifications to the Bachmann Dummy Plug. I did this because I originally ordered a QSI Sound board for this locomotive, but it has been on backorder for 6 months and I dont want to wait any longer. However, I wanted to keep the Bachmann wiring harness intact so if I decided to put the Titan in the loco, later. Then I could. The wiring is actually pretty straight forward. Phoenix offers a nice diagram for doing this on their website Bachmann K-27 . There is a few drawbacks, this uses the P5, so you will have to adjust the connections and it uses a obsolete AWD10SS board instead of a G2. But you can also look at the wiring for the G2 to adjust the connections.
This is a picture of the G2 mounted to the top of the Bachmann Dummy plug. The P8 is mounted to the deck of the tender to the left. Its not the cleanest wiring job, but I’m not a pro and it is functional.
I wanted a power switch and charging jack so I didn’t have to remove the coal load to get to it. So I used the wiring diagram that came with my G2 to wire a switch and jack in the water hatch.
With the tender cover on the G2 sits just above the lip, but the coal load covers it fine. I didnt take any pictures but I did add a reed switch and magnets to the one of the tender wheels to get the chuff sounds to work. The wiring to use the Bachmann optical sensor looked too complicated so I went the reed switch route. If you want a picture of how I did it, let me know and I’ll add one later. Overall, once I had it in my mind on how I was going to do the wiring, it was actually pretty easy. The Bachmann board inside the tender was labeled very clearly (which makes me think this loco is a second release one). The K-27 runs fine the sound is clear and the chuff is roughly 4 per revolution. Most wont know that it needs to be 4 and others probably wont care. If it bothers me too much I’ll change it. So thats it, any questions, go ahead and ask and I’ll try to answer.