Lionel ElectroCoupler Kit in the C&O Yellowbelly

Instructions

Parts

All you should need is the actual electrocouplers of the right size, the provision to use them is already on the boards.

John,

I checked the inside of my 18043 C&O Yellowbelly. There doesn't seem to be provision for an ElectroCoupler in the motherboard. Does it allow the same way for the 18045 Commodore Vanderbilt where you have to remove a wire nut to attach the ElectroCoupler wire?

Are you sure it's not there?  Do you have a picture of the motherboard in the tender and the exact part number?

Part number for the C&O's motherboard is 6108221110, and there are no pin connectors inside. I don't have a picture, but looking at this instruction manual for the Commodore Vanderbilt, it looks like you won't need it. http://www.lionel.com/media/se...ents/71-8045-251.pdf

I'm 99% sure that a GP-9 coil coupler will be correct. All you need to do is cut off the plactic connector, install the coupler in place of the manual one, and connect one bare wires to the ground spot, and the other to the brown wire with a wire nut.

All you have to worry about is the coupler length.

I got the coupler on my C&O 490 installed and have the ground wire attached to the frame under one of the screws for the speaker, but does the hot wire go to the brown and black wire that attaches to nothing that's covered with electrical tape? I would think it would make it work, but it doesn't....unless I need a wire nut to insulate it properly.

Brown & Black. If you want to test it, connect a test light to the brown wire and one to ground, address the engine and press rear coupler. The light should flash.

Bill

Make sure you make the correct electrical connection otherwise you will short out the board.

I connected the wires together, insulated the connection and connected the other wire to ground, but the coupler won't open on command. I checked the conductivity from the plug to the wires and it there is connection.

I checked inside the engine and there's a spare joiner in the motherboard. Does the brown and black wire get moved to that one instead? (It's right next to the joiner it's originally plugged into.)

I looked up the board you referenced, 6108221110, but that's the RailSounds 2.5 board. 

This is the TMCC receiver/motor control that's listed for your locomotive.  Looking at a diagram of that vintage Hudson with the same two boards, I don't see any provision for electrocouplers.

Aw shoot...

The thing is why the B&A Jr. Hudson does have provision for it and it came out before this engine?

You CAN add an ElectroCoupler to the 6-18043 C&O Yellowbelly, as the board is equipped with that output.

The problem is that I did my conversion about 15 years ago, so unfortunately, I don't remember any details at the moment.

Regards,

TRW

They may be on the board, I just don't see any wiring for them in that model.  I haven't really done much with that vintage TMCC, so I'm not the "last word".

TRW, was the connector on the RS 2.5 board in the tender?  I see nothing on the RS 2.5 board I have here that suggests it supports an electrocoupler.  There is also not enough pins in the tether to support it on the schematic I checked, so I'm wondering if maybe the wiring on that specific model is different?

Whatever I did was contained to the tender, that much I remember, and didn't require any loco mods. Next time I'm in the same state as my train collection, I'll dig it out to refresh my memory.

Well, here's the complete info with wiring diagrams for that unit.  The only thing I see is the bron & Black "not connected" wire that might be the connection.

Judging from where the black/brown wire leads to on the board in the locomotive, I'm fairly certain that's the ElectroCoupler connection as well.

If you look in the engine and on the diagram John posted.  Pin D is the rear coupler.  You can see 4 cans sticking up and 4 pins on the LCRU Diagram.  Pin D is the forward most pin farthest from the heat sink area.

Make sure a wire is connected there and leads to the harness.  Make sure the harness has continuity from the tender through the wire to the board Pin D.  If still not working, the TRIAC may be bad.  Easy repair with a MAC97 I believe.  G

I checked the engine's motherboard, all the wires are in the right location, all are connected, and check conductivity with my multimeter.

AND IT WORKS NOW!

Thanks guys for all the help! I can now enjoy one of my favorite engines even more!

I added a electro coupler to my C&O Hudson soon after I got it new.

Lionel had not yet furnished a electric coupler for this engine when I got it.

I used either a MTH or QSI electric coupler (can't remember which - they were alike anyway) and connected the dead end wire in the tender to one of the coupler wires and the remaining coupler wire to ground.

The coupler worked when commanded from the CAB-1, however I had a tech problem in operation.  As said above its been a long time ago.  The symptom was either it didn't work at times or fired open by its self.  After much head scratching I discovered that if the tender was coupled to a car with plastic couplers or a car with metal couplers made the difference as to wheather problem occurred....

Apperently the coupler circuit was searching for ground in some manner......

The problem was solved by installing a ground wire between the tender frame and the engine.  I used a mini-socket coupler in this ground wire so that I could separate the engine from the tender when taken off the track.....

To this day I don't know what was going on in the circuitry but grounding the tender frame to the engine frame solved the problem..........

Couplers firing by themselves are frequently fixed by adding a 1uf 50V non-polarized capacitor across the coupler.  This is for TMCC, not Legacy.