# DCC wiring for Bachman k27 for beginner



## tcwave (Mar 22, 2008)

Hi Guys, 

I am new to this hobby and would appreciate some direction on how to wire a zimo sound decoder to the K-27. Below is a list of the zimo pin names and currently where I have them solderd to in my k27. I am sure these are wrong and would really appreciate it if you could let me know the correct configuration. i have already removed the dummy pc board and the capacitor on the bottom of the main circuit board. I really appreciate your help. I am kind of under pressure to get this working given my son's 2 year old birthday party is this Saturday, therefore you will have "saved the day" if you can help me out. 

Best regards, 
Ted 

zimo card ted's k27 
Right Motor connection	motor + 
Left Motor connection rail - 
Left Power Pick-up	nothing 
Right Power Pick -up	Rail + 

Left Power pick up	no connection 
Right Power pick up	no connection 
Left motor connection	no connection 
Right Motor connection	no connection 
Positive supply for functions	no connection 
Front headlight Motor - 
FO2 firebox light 
FO6 marker light 
FO4 no connection 
Postive Supply for functions	rear light 
Rear headlight cab light 
FO5 smoke 
FO3 no connection 
FO1 decoder 
Ground chuff 
Postive Supply (full track voltage for functions)	no connection


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Ted, here is a link to DCC and Sound installation guides from Bachmann: 


dcc and sound 


Select "Product Manuals" then "K-27 Manuals" then "Sound and Control Products"


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## tcwave (Mar 22, 2008)

Thanks Jim. I do have these, however I really don't understand all the pin names so it doesn't really help me. (for example, I don't know the difference between "left motor pick-up" and "left motor connectin") I was hoping someone would recognize the pin names on the zimo card and then recommend which pins on the k27 circuitry to solder them too. 

I do appreciate your help. 

Ted


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## tcwave (Mar 22, 2008)

Hi Guys, 

The formating didn't come out that great on my initial post, so I have seperated the zimo card pin names from where they are currently soldered on my k-27 with a comma. 


zimo card, ted's k27 
Right Motor connection, motor + 
Left Motor connection, rail - 
Left Power Pick-up, nothing 
Right Power Pick -up, Rail + 

Left Power pick up, no connection 
Right Power pick up, no connection 
Left motor connection, no connection 
Right Motor connection, no connection 
Positive supply for functions, no connection 
Front headlight, Motor - 
FO2 ,firebox light 
FO6 ,marker light 
FO4 ,no connection 
Postive Supply for functions, rear light 
Rear headlight, cab light 
FO5 ,smoke 
FO3 ,no connection 
FO1 ,decoder 
Ground ,chuff 
Postive Supply (full track voltage for functions), no connection


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Ah, I see. I've never installed a Zimo, just an NCE motor decoder and Phoneix Sound Card. 

Basically, Left/Right POWER PICKUP means power from the left/right rails. These will power your decoder. Left/Right Motor Connection goes from your decoder to the K-27 + and - motor connections. 

So the gist is that power from the track goes to your decoder ONLY. And your motor is controlled by the decoder ONLY. 

Make sure you follow all the instructions, especially cutting the traces and removing the inductors - this in the ESU LokSound Decoder Install - probably the closest to the Zimo and what I used for the NCE. 

For now I would keep your smoke, cab light and classification lights on DC. 

So, your Zimo Left Power pickup gets connected to the K-27 J1 pins 12 and 11. Zimo Right Power pickup goes to J1 - 1 & 2. Decoder Left Motor connection goes to J1 pin 10. Decoder Right Motor connection goes to J1 pin 3. 

Here is a link on the Bachmann site specific to Zimo. I don't know if it is detailed enough: 
 Zimo installed  

Also, have you checked if the counterweights have been replaced?


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Ted, it looks like you've connected teh Left Motor connection to the Rail -, that is NOT good. 
Right Motor connection to motor + that is good. Left motor connection should go to motor - (although these may be backwards the worst case is when going forward your k-27 will go backwards, if so switch these two).


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

For starters just try to get the motor working. 



So just hook up the decoder left rail power pickup to the K-27 rail + and the decoder right rail power pickup to the k-27 rail -. 



And hookup the decoder motor + to the k-27 motor +, and likewise for the decoder and k/27 motor -. 



For now i would forget everything else until the motor works and actually undo anything you have done as it could cause problems.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Ted, just saw where you said that you removed the dummy PC board, you should put it back, unless your Zimo is a direct replacement for it. The only decoder I know of that is a direct replacement is the QSI. So after your soldering put the dummy PC board back in.


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## tcwave (Mar 22, 2008)

Thanks Jim, 

I like your idea about just getting the engine running and forgetting about the sound for now. I will be trying that today. 

Best regards, 
Ted


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## Axel Tillmann (Jan 10, 2008)

Jim: 

Just a lkittle correction for you. On the K27 there are two things mandatory: 

1. remove the capacitor underneath the main board in the tender 
2. remove the dummy board becasue it makes connections you don't want onc e a decoder is connected. 

Yes you need to wire the Zimo decoder then to the appropriate outputs, but this has to be done without the dummy board. 
regards 
Axel


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Axel, not sure what you mean by the capacitor underneath the main board? I only removed the two capacitors/inductors under the dummy board. I don't think the K-27 has a capacitor on the main board? If so I did not remove it, and the instructions on the Bachmann site do not say to remove anything on the main board? 



My install required I keep the dummy PC board, again I followed the instructions on the Bachmann site, if you have different ones for the Zimo it would help if you could publish those here. 



Thanks, 
Jim


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## Axel Tillmann (Jan 10, 2008)

I will make the final writeup next week and create a datasheet for the Zimo installation.


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