# RailBoss 4 and Bachmann Shay Flicker



## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

I'm connecting the flicker board on a Bachmann 2-Truck Shay to a RailBoss 4. Initially I thought that I could use a direct to battery connection but since the board apparently drives the lights based upon polarity and the firebox flicker changes intensity based upon voltage, that's not going to work.


I'm guessing that it will be best is to use the RB4's lighting connections:1, 3 & 4. Then connect the remaining flicker board power supply to the RB4's M- and M+ connections along with the motors.


Does this sound correct to you all or does anyone have another suggestion?


Thanks, Mark


Cross posted to LSC.


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## Curmudgeon (Jan 11, 2008)

Old Shay with flicker board in the firebox? I have always, for 15+ years, connected switched battery power to the flicker board so it's full intensity. Yeah, they say load dependent, but it isn't. Power in only, so it's maybe voltage dependent. 
The lights are dim enough, I even hot-glue the handle of the firebox door to the reverse lever. 
They are NOT direction sensitive. Power in, works both directions, period. Bridge rectumfrier on the board, so it makes no difference. You must connect to the corner junction point, where the motors originally went. 
Now, if you're trying to run lights off the board, and not run lights full-intensity, auto-reversing off the throttle, you will need a reversing relay board to drive the flicker board. 
Later ones with the BIG board in the tender shell, I always remove those fully, reverse all the LED's and drive from a Sierra sound card (Phoenix, and I quote "do not do lights". 
TOC


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

TOC:


The flicker board is mounted to the bottom of the engine's ash pan and accessible be removing two screws from the bottom. It has a foil mirror, yellow LEDs on the bottom and red ones on the top. The headlights are incandescent and are connected to the board. The trucks are 6 screw so I guess it's a 2nd issue Shay.






The headlights do not switch unless the polarity is switched and that's does not appear to happen unless the wires on board are reversed. They burn at a constant intensity once the minimum voltage is applied. 

The flicker changes intensity and rate the more power that's applied.

Thanks for your response.


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## Curmudgeon (Jan 11, 2008)

You do have an early (er) one. I really like these before Bachmann screwed it up with the horrible "dcc compatible" board in the tender even dcc manufacturers couldn't figure out how to use! 
What you need to do is either use a relay board (Raillinx and Tony should have them) maybe even Del, to reverse power to the board from the reverse light trigger on the throttle, or, best is to remove the wires from the board that go to each headlight (I'm anal...I unsolder them rather than cut them). Remove the board from the ashpan with one small screw in the middle. Then connect to the light outputs on the throttle. Really easy, and the incandescents are a plus in my book, rather than the wimpy yellow LEDs used later. 
Make sense?


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

TOC: 

Thanks, I'm willing to do everything. Just trying to verify that my approach in the OP will work. 

I still think that I don't need anything extra and all should work. Connections moved from the flicker board to the RB4 to handle the Head/Rear lights and the flicker circuit to the M+ and M- on the RB4 to handle the LEDs for the ash pan (it's not an issue of polarity, but of intensity and rate of the flicker.) 

Mark


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## Curmudgeon (Jan 11, 2008)

Unless you are running eyeball height at night, you won't see any difference. Once they get enough power to come on, the LED's are current limited and don't really change in intensity. 
I hook them up to direct switched battery power. 
The other issue you will have is the cab light. You run off motor power, it's incandescent, and it will vary all over. 
Running 14.4V through the little voltage regulator they use (12V, I think) I also remove the roof and paint everything around the edge of the bulb with two or three coats of black, just leaving the tip open to light the floor.


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

That's interesting since mine sure appear to vary significantly in rate and intensity with a change in voltage; I'm old and it's pretty obvious to me, unless I'm delusional! 

I am going to leave the cab light connected to the flicker board and just move the Head/Rear lights and flicker power to the RB4 as described in my OP.


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## Curmudgeon (Jan 11, 2008)

Just remember, voltage change does not equal load change.


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

I had hooked the flicker board up to the Bachmann transformer to do some testing since I was paranoid about using the RB4. As I increased the voltage, the intensity and rate of the LEDs also changed. There was no connection to the motors, so other than the flicker board, there was no other "load" and it operated as I have described. 

Again, thanks for your insight.


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

Just to close out this thread, I have connected the LEDs to the RB4 and the flicker board to the spare terminals on the Battery Conversion Module. I did try the flicker board on the motor terminals, but there was not enough difference when the train was running around the track and the flicker went out when the throttle was in the "off" position.
And now the bad news - The 6-screw plastic trucks have started to crumble as most everyone has predicted they would. This engine has been unused since purchase about 3 years ago as NOS. It has been run less than 30 minutes of break-in and testing. 
Well, I guess my XMAS gift this year is a pair of replacement die cast ones. I just ordered them from Reindeer Pass as their price was the best that I could find online today.
Ho, ho, ho!
Thanks to TOC and Jon Radder over at LSC for their assistance.


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

Just to close out this thread a second time - I received the replacement metal trucks on Friday and installed them today. Thanks to Reindeer Pass for the excellent price and service.


The Shay chugs along nice and slowly and all of the lights work as desired. So to recap:


Battery and boards in tender, room to spare (no sound).
Trucks have the wiper assembly removed.
Connected flicker board to the spare terminals on the Battery Conversion Module.
Headlights connected to RB4's LED terminals instead of flicker board.


Once again, thanks to all who helped.

Mark


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## dufmiester (Feb 16, 2012)

*Looking for Flicker unit.*

Where can I find a replacement flicker unit for use on a 4-6-0 (bachman) ?


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

Bachmann is rather notorious for not having a ready supply of repair parts. The 3-Truck Shay lists
*G811X-PCB03* as the part number. Don't know what they have for a 4-6-0. You might consider contacting their *Support* staff and asking what they can supply. 

I have a *Massoth eMOTION Firebox Light Module* that works well that I placed into another engine though I like the flicker in my Shay a bit better.

You could also consider some of the flickering LEDs using the appropriate colors such as one red with two yellows. This is not something that I have tried.

I have however, made a flicker circuit using the electronics from cheap flickering battery powered tea lights. Works ok but was a real pain to solder the colored LEDs and power wires onto the really small (and cheap) boards.

Good luck!


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