As Timmy posts his questions on every possible forum, we already answered the question on Mylargescale.
https://www.mylargescale.com/threads/how-to-i-replace-the-amber-headlights-in-my-bachmann-heisler.95915/

Quote from: dart-frog on December 21, 2025, 01:11:41 AMI'm trying to figure out if the thing has DCC or is only "DCC-ready."

It isn't really DCC ready. There's no place you can get at the motor feed or track pickups without taking it apart. Just assume it is DC only.

Quote from: dart-frog on December 21, 2025, 01:11:41 AMThere are a two-pin and four-pin cable from the engine to the tender

The tender has useful wheel pickups, so 2 pins of the 4-pin are connected to the wheels. The other 2-pin is for the rear headlight - and only the SPC version has one, as far as I know.
There is nothing else in the tender.
See attached photo for an easy fix to getting the plugs out. They are designed to interlock, so I cut off or file the edges to stop them clipping together.

Quote from: dart-frog on December 21, 2025, 01:11:41 AMrevealed a circuit board

If you mean at the back over the chuff triggers, that's the firebox flicker board.

Quote from: Mark Oles on November 17, 2025, 05:03:24 PMSomeone 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.   

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.)

Quote from: wraujr on November 12, 2025, 08:15:17 AMcontains two long brass strips, left and right

The older models had the strips connected to the chassis with a push-in plug, so that you could completely remove the bottom plate.
Maybe one of yours is loose?

Quote from: Greg Elmassian on November 11, 2025, 11:59:37 AMand 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.

Quote from: Greg Elmassian on November 11, 2025, 11:59:37 AMand 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.

Quote from: Fred2179 on November 11, 2025, 11:43:26 AMHowever, 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.

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..

Quote from: Greg Elmassian on November 11, 2025, 12:16:21 AMThat 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!

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?

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?

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. . .

Quote from: wraujr on November 05, 2025, 01:27:50 PMUntil November 5th,

You posted this on Nov 5th. A bit late?

Quote from: Loco Bill Canelos on November 01, 2025, 09:07:55 AMV5 1225 Loco from the Wonderland Flyer set.  It would be easy for even an experienced G Scaler to think it is also the V7.

And he's selling the tender separately? Weird.

Quote from: RailMan63 on October 28, 2025, 09:06:19 PMMaybe it's a member of our little board?

T'was me. I couldn't resist. He took a much reduced price, so when I finish opening it up and taking pictures for you guys, I can hopefully sell it before Christmas for what I paid. 

Quote from: Mark Oles on October 29, 2025, 04:12:27 PMI might have to swap the axle as well.

You can file the "D" off the latest gear [carefully] with a round file and tap it onto the old knurled axle. I drilled out one gear, and that worked, but you have to hold the gear steady to avoid getting an offset hole. Better to file it and then clean it up with a drill.