Compatibility New Annie vs old Chassis

[Fred2179]

It took a while, but the box finally turned up and I opened it. It's definitely a V7 tender. I'll dig in to the loco later this week (or later today!). The additional 'bits' are interesting - the old driver+fireman and a pigtail pnp board.

More to come. . .

[Fred2179]

I took the body off - sorta remembered how - though there were a few bits that I didn't expect, like a pipe/rod from under the cab to the chassis that wouldn't come off. It's attached to a rubber connector which is now a bit stretched!

All that can be seen is a PCB which seems to be the connection point for loco electrics to the new tender.  G918X+PCB01 is the inscription. You'll also see all the wires coiled in the boiler and heading for this board.

I can only speculate that the board came from the original V7 loco. In which case (a) he wired items like the motor feed from the board to the V5 motor, or (b) it really is a V7. The latter doesn't fit the other facts, like the front truck or the valve gears.

Guess I will have to take the chassis cover off the bottom and see if there is any sign of someone connecting new wires?

[Fred2179]

So I took the bottom plate off, and there were no surprises, except to confirm plastic gears like a regular Annie. Wiring looked normal, except the wires to the chuff trigger were cut. Hmmm . . .
After putting the bottom back, I put it on it's wheels and removed the weight. And there it was - a couple of connected wires with tape wrapped around them. [Not even shrink wrapped. Tut. Tut.] Then grey-orange come from the MOTOR connector on the PCB. The track pickups are also reconnected to the TRACK connector on the PSB.

So someone did install a V5 Annie chassis in this V7 loco and tender. Will we ever know why?

[Greg Elmassian]

That was our guess, V5 or 6 chassis in V7 loco and tender... seems so...

That board now comes with the chassis, as stated in another thread... Looks to try to be "universal"...

[Fred2179]

That board now comes with the chassis,

I noted in the thread about the V4-V5 swap that there was a PCB included, but it didn't have the 2 big connectors for the tender pnp motherboard?  Seems, as you say, that they are trying to maintain compatibility. The plugs on this board seem to be the same as the smaller board in the non-pnp V5.

Which brings me to the next question. I plan to check the wiring connections and make sure they are sound. The chuff trigger wires have been cut. I imagine that I can wire them back to this V7 board, where there is the same trigger/sensor plug and solder pads. (pic attached.) If I wire to this, I hope the tender motherboard will reflect the chuff - I do have a meter to test. It looks as if I could just solder the wires to the CONO solder pads? Any thoughts?
Edit: I could even plug in the tender and use my meter to check the Chuff Trigger on the motherboard and see which pins on this PCB are connected, before I even reach for a soldering iron. Duh!

[Fred2179]

The meter says that the square CONO hole, and the center pin in the 3-pin connector, are all wired to the "Chuff SW" location on the tender motherboard.  Which makes sense.

However, I assume the other CONO pad [rnd solder hole] ends up to ground somewhere. I know that a Revo just needs the chuff trigger (J2-1?) wired to the CHUFF SW for it to chuff..

[Greg Elmassian]

OK, so the tender is a V7, most electronics there, and I would assume the chuff circuitry.

Now, are the 2 large connectors on the tender and are the corresponding sockets on the loco, and do those wires go to the motherboard on the loco?

trying to see how "far" the V7 wiring goes from the tender to the loco "guts"

[Fred2179]

and do those wires go to the motherboard on the loco?

See my Post 46.  This hybrid has the PCB out of the V7, with the big connector cables. It appears all the LEDS, switches, and smoke unit have common connectors so they plug in to this V7 board as they do on the V5 PCB.

and I would assume the chuff circuitry.

There's no chuff circuit in the tender - just the pnp motherboard. (It is 'sound ready', which confuses a lot of buyers.) When I did a 2-6-0 recently, I had to wire the Revo daughter board to the chuff sw. You also have to connect the Revo to the spkr pins on the motherboard, as it doesn't use the J2 pins.

However, I assume the other CONO pad [rnd solder hole] ends up to ground somewhere.

I did notice that the round CONO pad has a trace to D2, which suggests it might be grounded through that.

[Fred2179]

Today was button everything up and test it out. I haven't dismantled a 4-6-0 since maybe V4 or earlier. This V7 has a multitude of detail bits, including pipes across under the boiler between air tanks, oiler feed to the cylinders, etc.

I ended up googling to find where the various pipes go - see attached front view of the black loco showing the pipes on the air tanks. The side view of the air tank shows the extra pipe that fell off - I glued it back. And at the back are these really heavy tanks, with rubber pipes connecting them to the chassis metal pipe.

The boiler didn't want to settle down, so I moved the wire bundle from the rear connectors to the front of the weight. (Compare tha to my photo in post #46.)

[Mark Oles]

Wow. Someone went to a lot of trouble to swap the drive. I guess the only thing they really wanted was the drive and didn't care about the electronics. Maybe they had already gutted their other engine and had it all set up with lights and sound.

[Fred2179]

Someone went to a lot of trouble to swap the drive.

I don't think it was much trouble. That recent thread about the Gen-5B Annie chassis talks about 'connectorized' wiring, and the Parts store chassis clearly has connectors on the various wires. They give you a PCB if you want to use it.

In this case, whoever it was screwed the Gen-7 PCB onto the chassis using the existing mounts, probably without disconnecting all the wires to smoke, LEDs, etc. I think it was a Gen5A chassis without motor or track connectors, so the conversion required attaching the motor and pickup plugs to the Gen5A chassis wiring. They didn't bother with the chuff, so I connected the old fingers to the PCB.

The biggest hassle is putting it all back together.   

[wraujr]

From what I see, you can't get a Gen 7 chassis from the parts store. The only choice now is a Gen 5B.  Something must have happened to the original Gen 7 chassis (i.e. drop/break) and owner had to adopt the Gen 5B or earlier Gen 5. If the pilot truck is a drawbar its Gen 5B, if its a pivoting truck its Gen 5.   Just noticed it has chuff drum so its a Gen 5 chassis.

[Greg Elmassian]

Umm... my opinion is that the original purchaser wanted the fancy valve action and took it and put it in his loco, and replaced it with what he could buy, since the chassis looks new.