# Bachmann 0-4-0 side tank engine R/C refit project



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I'm finally getting around to posting this project, I've been working on it off and on all winter and up to now. It's finally almost done 
I started with an older RCS controller for the speed and direction control, but I had to modify it to get it to fit into the engine. This is after I removed the parts and cut the circuit board down. The other unit is for comparison.




This is after I put the necessary parts back onto the cut off piece of board and hooked it back up.




It was quite the challenge to figure out the circuit to see what was necessary to make the basic functions work. I won't be able to reprogram this board unless I find a way to put the little red 3 switch assembly back onto the unit, but that shouldn't be a problem.


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Next came the test fitting. 

 

I didn't see a good way to fasten the controller and receiver in this way, so I made a platform from thick styrene sheet to fit in the boiler. 

 

Then I set the parts in again to see how that worked. 

 

That seemed to work pretty well, so I glued the platform in and used double sided foam tape to hold the receiver and control board in. 
I had to take out the weight that was in the boiler to have any space inside the boiler for the parts. On my engine, it was a chunk of cast iron for the weight. I'll need to add some lead weights inside the side tanks when I'm done to give it back some of it's traction.


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I have it set up right now to run off of 2 nine volt batteries. They just fit in the smokebox of the engine. You can see the battery connectors just hanging out of the smokebox in the last picture.


----------



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

If you took weight out of the loco's boiler to make room for the electronics, you'll definitely want to put some weight in the side tanks to compensate. I did a saddle-tank 0-4-0 conversion a year or so ago, and after pulling the weights out, the thing wouldn't pull its own shadow. I filled the smokebox and domes with a slurry of bondo and lead shot, and that added enough weight to where the loco can pull three or four cars without effort (probably about all the prototype would be capable of pulling.) 

Later, 

K


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I had thought about removing the track power pickups from the running gear, but then I decided that I could hook the engine up to use track power as well as batteries. The controller requires a specific polarity for the power hookup, and it's hard to know what the polarity is on the rails, so I decided to install a bridge rectifier in the chassis to make sure the polarity from the track power is always right for the controller. I soldered the input leads of the bridge rectifier to the power pickups in the chassis, and soldered a 2 color wire harness to the plus and minus outputs of the bridge. I mounted the bridge in the chassis with a small piece of double sided foam tape. 

 

I have a set of wires running to the motor connector pins, and a set of wires from the track power, both of them have small plugs so that I can separate the chassis from the boiler half.


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

This strange mess actually does run on the battery power, I've tested that. I need to test the track pickup setup. I put a small slide switch in the smokebox front, behind the smokebox door, which conveniently enough, opens up for access to the switch. The switch is for track power vs battery power. More pictures to come.


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I was thinking about adding either sinkers or wheel weights to the insides of the side tanks for weight, but I could also add lead weights inside the domes, that would probably help a bit also.


----------



## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Amber, as that ESC was designed just for battery power you would do well to also add a reasonably sized capacitor (say 1.000 mfd @ 25 volts) to the output of the bridge rectifier so that when it is using track power there is a small back up reservoir to smooth it out over grotty track. 
Another way would be to replace the switch and add a 4 amp diode to the battery supply so that the track power cannot feed into the batteries. That way the on board ESC always has power available, either from the batteries or the track power. The system will always take the highest available voltage. 

BTW, my # PRO-3 is narrow enough to fit without any modification and take battery power, track power or both.


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Hi Tony! The capacitor sounds like a good idea. I'm sure I could find a place for it somewhere in the engine. My idea for track power would be mostly for indoor running where track conductivity is not as much of a problem. I figured if I put 12 volts on the track, with the bridge rectifier it wouldn't matter what the track polarity was. With the use of a capacitor, or 2 caps and a low resistance resistor between them, I could even use 12 volts AC on the track. I wonder if using AC would help with the outdoor track joiner conductivity problems. I don't really know the answer to that one. 
At some point in the near future, I want to build a mall tender for the engine, probably a 2 axle tender, to carry a 12 volt battery pack. There's really no place in the engine for a 12 volt battery pack, unless I want to have it hanging out of the cab.


----------



## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Amber.
About 11 years ago I used an early form of Lithium rechargeable batteries in AA size to power a 2nd edition side tank 0-4-0T loco.
I mounted the two two cell packs, one in each side tank.








The RCS equipment was mounted up in the roof.








I can't remember where I put the ON - OFF switch but the charge jack was in the rear cab wall.








Really nice running loco until the brace across the cylinders snapped off. Only weak point in a good loco design.


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

These pictures got me thinking about possibly using the side tanks for batteries. I think the 9 volt batteries should fit in there reasonably well, I need to check that out.


----------



## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Don't use 9 volt batteries. They are not rated for the sort of load this loco will demand.


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I was using 2 of them in parallel for the test runs after I got the electronics set up. Two 9 volt batteriesjust fit inside the smokebox in front of the receiver. I found nicad rechargable 9 volt batteries, they are rated at 170mah, not very much. If I used several of them, I would have about as much capacity as a small RC battery. The problem is finding small enough RC batteries to fit in the engine that will get me to 9-12 volts in combination. If I could find 6 volt batteries that will fit in the side tanks, I could use 2 in series for 12 volts. I suppose I should look at using lithium batteries, but I'm not comfortable with their down side. I suppose the newer chargers have dealt with the potential problems, but I would still need to charge them in series if I leave them inside the engine. 
How many volts are the lithium batteries that you used?


----------



## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

All Lithium batteries are 3.7 volts per cell.


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Well, that's interesting. I didn't know that. If a 3 cell battery would fit in the side tank, that would solve the problem. With a 3 cell battery on each side, the run time would be pretty good.


----------



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

I don't know what the electronics need, but my 0-4-0 runs plenty fast with 7.4 volts (2 cells). 

Later, 

K


----------



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I think 7 volts is marginally low for the electronics that I'm using. If I remember correctly, the operating range is 7 to 14 volts. I chose 9 volts when I was installing the electronics simply because of the size of the little 9 volt batteries. I didn't think there was enough room in this engine to hide nicad batteries, and I'm not familiar with the lithium battery packs, so I wasn't aware of their size difference. Lithium battery packs in the side tanks should solve the space issue, if I can afford to buy them, and a charger. That's my other problem, cost. I'm working on a really restricted budget.


----------



## rmcintir (Apr 24, 2009)

I use Powerizer 2600 mAh AAs in most of my locos. Since you can get away with lower voltages 4 of these in each tank should work. Here is link to a picture of a similar loco with them on the tank. I don't have the Bachmann 0-4-0, I have the 2-4-2. 
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i...AG0052.jpg 

Use a DPDT switch to isolate the batteries when you want to charge. I use the aristo plug wires you can get from allelectronics.com 
https://www.allelectronics.com/index.php?page=item&id=CON-240&extra=a%3A2%3A{i%3A0%3Bs%3A40%3A%2203823345592a403b2f4a37a59384e7ab28f02be1%22%3Bi%3A1%3Bs%3A0%3A%22%22%3B} 

You can also find a DPDT switch there too. I put the large connector (2 internal male leads) on the loco and keep the female connector on the charger. 

Link to battery (I buy tabs for each):  [url]http://www.batteryspace.com/nimhrechargeablecellaasize12v2600mah-buttontop1pc.aspx [/url]
Look at the chargers they offer to pick the one covering the voltages you need to install. 

I install 15 NiMH AA batteries in my locos which range from Bachmann Consolidation to USA GP9 and GP30 to Aristo SD45. They all run for about 2 hours on the 15 AA batteries above. I don't run mine around the track at high speed and don't haul large numbers of cars up grades. 

Good luck! 

p.s. I changed them all to links but only the last one seems to show up as a clickable link... ugh...


----------

