Has anyone ever attempted putting one of the newer tender control boards (like a C19) in one of the early Spectrum 440?  I would assume all the wiring would already be there except possibly the power wiring from trucks?

uhh... why?

so the dropping resistors and logic is on that board, and also the electronics for the chuff detectors...

so, it would seem that putting in the board would be more work than just hardwiring a decoder.

Greg

I have not opened it up yet so not sure what to expect. 

Umm... I think you might want to study the board you are thinking of putting in, and see the complexity of it.

You also might have to rewire a couple LEDs to remove dropping resistors.

The chuff circuit will want opto components, I believe the loco you have has mechanical contacts.

So, is this all to just have a socket?

If you need a board i have one for sale cheap @ large Scale Central in the for sale/trade section

let me ask it a different way:

what kind/brand/model of control system are you going to put in the loco?

Quote from: mickeykelley on June 23, 2025, 08:26:50 AMI would assume all the wiring would already be there except possibly the power wiring from trucks?

Quite the opposite. There is only wiring from the trucks in the 4-4-0 tender.

Bachmann rewired the Gen-2 2-6-0 [post 2017?] with a motherboard and all the loco wiring comes to the tender in 2 huge plugs. The 4-4-0 has a plug for the tender pickups and a spare plug for a rear headlight (used on the SPC version.)

mickey, what was the outcome?

No outcome yet.  I'm thinking and planning ahead.  I have a 440 and was wondering if it would actually be easier. But I'm not sure it would.

I may very well stop posting here due to this horrible verification method.

I hear you about the verification, overkill...

If I can give some advice... adding the socket is a lot of work, makes sense with you have lots of "peripherals", meaning lights and smoke, etc.

If you just have 2 headlights, motor, track, and chuff switch, don't see that it is worth it.

BUT!

If you are standardizing on plug in decoders, that might make some more sense, so you can remove the decoder easily and then program/change easily.

I'd only do it for DCC and adding more lights and remote control of smoke, but that's just me.

Greg

Quote from: Greg Elmassian on July 15, 2025, 11:56:40 AMmakes sense with you have lots of "peripherals", meaning lights and smoke, etc.

I think that is only true if all the peripherals are brought to the pnp motherboard, as in the latest gen-2 versions.

Mickey - I just picked up a couple of Revo boards, and one was removed from a loco and is complete with some version of the motherboard. It says "C-16 Main" on the etch, and the switches are underneath. In the attached pic, there's a bunch of wires bottom right: labelled 'batt', 2 pairs of 'pickups' and a 'speaker'. (The Revo shown is an old one without sound. If you want it, I have another that has steam sound.) 

I don't think it would be too difficult to install that in a 4-4-0 tender if you plan a pnp install with battery and DCC. (I have no use for it.) The only thing that you would have to do is pull the front off the smokebox to get at the polarity switch, (that's where the wheel pickups end up and where to feed goes to the motor.) You could convert that switch to a track or off switch and feed the wheel piackups back to the tender.

if fitting into the Bachmann, I would eliminate the polarity switch unless you have to run multiple locos meeting the NMRA and LGB DC polarity standards.

Also you will want to "reverse engineer" the Aristo board shown a bit to make sure of the switch positions.

For the few peripherals in the target loco, I most likely just find an adapter board:

I'm not doing anything with Revo so would not need the board, but thanks.

Back to your original question:
"Has anyone ever attempted putting one of the newer tender control boards (like a C19) in one of the early Spectrum 440?"

what is the purpose? (and the aristo socket is very close to the Bachmann socket in the above mentioned question.

Again, if you want to have a socket to put in a decoder, then what decoder.

If you want to have more "functions", that justify a Bachmann socket, you don't don't have all the circuits that the "newer control board" supports, and the chuff "switch" is way different.

Just trying to help and understand the context of your question.