TOC and other Gurus,
Can I use the NMRA/LS switch as a means to provide an “OFF” or battery power option on the Annie?
Can you give me the procedure to do so?
Would you have a wiring diagram available for the Annie?
Thank you,
Andre’
Andre’ You sure can. I wroite this up a few years ago. The full article can be found on my website Car_&_Loco_Mods Here is the wiring diagram…
JR P.S. OR - If your lazy like me, there is a dead spot in-between the LS and NMRA position on the switch - just push it half-way across 
Yeah, the dead spot came about later.
Since I rip them all out anyway, can’t readily recall if the 4-6-0’s all had the center off, but the Heisler not only had it, I believe it was shipped in “off”.
Dave -
Not sure if we are talking about the same thing. The Annies and my Connie don’t exactly have a center OFF position; there is no detent in the switch to stop it in the center, BUT, since they are cheap slide switches of the break-before-make design, if you slide them slowly it is possible to stop in the center where neither circuit is connected.
If that’s what you meant, then OK. When someone says “center off” I expect a detent where the switch will stop, and the few I’ve seen (far less than you) didn’t have a stop. Did some of the early models have switches that actually stopped in the center?
Jon
Jon Radder said:
Dave -Not sure if we are talking about the same thing. The Annies and my Connie don’t exactly have a center OFF position; there is no detent in the switch to stop it in the center, BUT, since they are cheap slide switches of the break-before-make design, if you slide them slowly it is possible to stop in the center where neither circuit is connected.
If that’s what you meant, then OK. When someone says “center off” I expect a detent where the switch will stop, and the few I’ve seen (far less than you) didn’t have a stop. Did some of the early models have switches that actually stopped in the center?
Jon
All my Bachmann engines have the detent in the center, except one. The Heisler. On that engine I have to find that dead spot, Jon mentions.
Looks like that will work and if I want to go to the trouble I can also use the two crossing wires as the battery feed wires. Just means I’ll have to snake wires thru the loco .
Thanks you gents,
Andre’
It’s odd. I have tried to discern a point at which there IS and IS NOT a detent, yet it seems they have unlimited supplies of each and mix them, even in production runs.
I cannot recall which it was, but several folks were reporting the engines as being DOA out of the box, and I mentioned the switch.
Every one was in the middle, and worked fine when selected otherwise.
TOC
See - Ya can larn somethin even by answering a question
What is the purpose of that NMRA switch anyway??
Its a convenient place for a wire to break!
Andre’
Ray-
When the Germans re-introduced Gauge 1 for the masses, they wired up everything backwards of nmra standards (right rail positive, loco moves forward).
Seems almost everybody else followed suit.
The Director of Product Development at Bachmann is a long time nmra person.
So, on the 4-4-0, he had it wired to “nmra” standard.
The screams could be heard from Tasmania.
Folks had to re-wire them to run with everything else.
So, they put this polarity-reversing switch in, which, as Andre says, is a good place for wires to break.
I have one of what must be an early Spectrum 4-4-0 that doesn’t have the reversing switch. Yup, everything runs backwards on track power. Nice to have batteries.
madwolf
We had a “procedure” to re-wire the 4-4-0 to run “left”.
I don’t have a copy, but I can recite it from memory if you need.
TOC