Eazy Peazy Battery R/C for Bachmann ANNIE.

[Tony Walsham]

The Bachmann ANNIE has the distinction of being the easiest loco to convert to battery R/C and one of the most difficult, depending on which version.
I will leave the elaborate way until a later date. The main difficulty with that is reassembling the loco. The upgraded ANNIE's have all sorts of piping added which make reassembly more than a touch difficult.
I have reasoned that most people with an ANNIE they want to convert to battery R/C will be quite happy with lights that follow direction and brightness just as they would on track power but oh so more reliably.
So the easy ways it will be.
It has taken me a long time but at last I can put up the pics of the easy way and really easy way of converting a Bachmann ANNIE to battery R/C.
If the ANNIE has a back up light you can do it the really easy way. The motor drive connection is made in the tender by tapping into the rear light wire in a suitable place.
If no back up light, then you will have to run a 2 wire cable through to the loco. No sweat really as you will not have to dismantle the body, just remove the base plate and disconnect the track pick up wires.
We will start with the really easy method first. Remove the chassis base plate. You will see this:
http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Installations/B-ANNIE/01.jpg < Link To

Then gently grasp the two little plugs and remove them from the wiper contacts, insulate them and tuck them up out of the way inside the chassis:
http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Installations/B-ANNIE/02.jpg < Link To

It is not necessary to do so, but we also remove all the actual wiring and wipers from the base plate before reattaching the plate to the chassis. The loco mods are done. Easy eh?
The rear light socket will carry the motor power into the loco.
http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Installations/B-ANNIE/03.jpg < Link To

You can use whatever sorts of batteries you like. As the ANNIE will only draw around 1 amp with a regular load of 5 - 6 cars I normally choose 12 x 2,000 mah ENELOOP AA hybrid Alkaline - NiMh cells for a total of 14.4 volts.
This installation had two 6 cell twin stick battery packs. In the future I will be using 3 x 4.8 volts packs of the same batteries normally used for R/C RX's, as they are much less expensive than getting packs custom made.
http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Installations/B-ANNIE/04.jpg < Link To

The output wires of the motor driver ESC are spliced into the rear light wiring as shown above and in the diagram later on.
http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Installations/B-ANNIE/05.jpg < Link To

The next pic shows where I mounted the switches,charge jack and programming pushbutton under the removable coal load. If you wanted to use the charge jack as a port for auxiliary batteries in a trail car you can mount it on the back of the tender.
http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Installations/B-ANNIE/06.jpg < Link To

The Bachmann plug marked LIGHT simply plugs into the correct socket on the back of the loco and the installation is complete. If the loco runs backwards just reverse the two wires at M-M on the ESC.
If your ANNIE does NOT have a reversing light. The loco may have the light socket but, if the tender does not have a rear light, the connector on the back of the loco cab will NOT be wired in. So you cannot use it. You will need to run a two wire connector cable from the tender through to the loco to make the loco go.
You start this the same way as above. Remove the base plate and pull out the two little plugs. Instead of insulating them attach them to the two wire cable you have installed from the back of the cab. We drilled small hole for the wires and then fed them through the chassis to where the pick up wires are located. Once attached securely (we solder the wires) make sure they are insulated and replace the base plate. Loco is finished.
http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Installations/B-ANNIE/07.jpg < Link To

The tender wiring is similar except we drilled a small hole in the front beam of the tender for the two wire cable which is then connected to M-M on the ESC.
http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Installations/B-ANNIE/08.jpg < Link To

The new cable looks like this.
http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Installations/B-ANNIE/09.jpg < Link To

Here is how I wired up the two versions.
http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Installations/B-ANNIE/10.jpg < Link To

If your ANNIE has a rear light and you want constant brightness directional lighting that is easily done using a small relay (RCS # RELAY-1) to change the polarity of the battery voltage. I will show how to do that soon.

 

[steinz]

Thanks Tony - nice and clear piccie's / instructions ...

 

[Tony Walsham]

Thanks.
I aim to please.

 

[beavercreek]

Excellent Tony, having done one and having to find out the best way myself already, I could well have done with your instructions!!

 

[spoz]

Thanks Tony, very timely - I'm just about to start on one.

Steve

 

[DaveB2]

Excellent guide, thanks for taking the time to create it. I have a couple of Annie’s and battery RC really appeals so I’m sure I’ll be reading through this a few times between now and picking up the screwdrivers.

A quick question for anyone who’s already modified an Annie.

Having put a big rechargeable battery in the tender the little PP3 for the standard sound board seems like it could be a little bit redundant plus the battery compartment would be a handy and discreet place to put a charging socket / on-off switch. So… is it possible to use the drive battery, with a 9v regulator, to replace the PP3 used by the standard sound PCB or does the board need to have its supply completely separate to avoid creating a smoke rather than sound card?

Thanks for any help

Dave

 

[fridge]

Thanks for this article. I have two Annies and am about to start using R/C so very helpful. Has anyone any advice on converting Bachmann Connies as well, please?

 

[Tony Walsham]

Your wish is my command.
?
??http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/17049

Yes Dave, you could use a 9 volt regulator to power the stock sound system.
Just be careful that the chuff timer drum on the front axle is fully insulated from the axle. If it can short to the track there will be problems.

 

[DaveB2]

Thanks for the warning Tony, I haven't yet taken anything apart, I'm still at the plotting stage.

Hopefully as it's currently unmolested and I'm going to go with the "eazy peazy" method everything should stay put as intended and all will be good but I'll give it a second (and third) eyeball before putting it back together. I don't suppose you have a picture of the timing drum and how it should be ? I know I can find the drawings but the pictures you've posted are clear and spot on for details and I've taken enough things apart to realise that however careful you are when you take out that last screw things move.

I'm liking the idea of losing the PP3 and despite not owning a Connie I folowed the link you posted and the water tank hatch mod is exactly the idea I had in mind for my loco.

Thanks for the pointers

Dave

 

[spoz]

If you're doing one have a read (and a bit of a chuckle) about this bit of personal idiocy....http://www.gscalecentral.net/Well-that-was-funAnnie-conversion-stupidity-m261881 - and then don't do the same!

Steve

 

[brownmat]

So I have spent the last 3 hours following this and got very excited when I finally managed to remove the baseplate, disconnect the plugs from the wipers and successfully reattach everything. I noticed at this time that neither the front nor rear lamp where working which may or may not be relevant to the following...

I then cut the rear lamp wires in the tender, connected the wire to the socket on the rear of the loco (I even checked it was the right one!) and crocodile clipped my transformer to these wires to see how things where progressing. I was really disappointed to see that nothing worked!

May I ask if anyone can give any suggestions as to how I can move forward? Of note is that I couldn't see any resistors for the rear LED - unless they are in the boiler somewhere?

Thanks in advance for any clues!

 

[Greg Elmassian]

So, my first suggestion is you use a meter (and there are videos on how to use) to test LEDs.... without a current limiting resistor, incredibly easy to short out (burn out)...

I don't remember if both lights are LEDs or incandescent.

Greg

 

[JimmyB]

So I have spent the last 3 hours following this and got very excited when I finally managed to remove the baseplate, disconnect the plugs from the wipers and successfully reattach everything. I noticed at this time that neither the front nor rear lamp where working which may or may not be relevant to the following...

I then cut the rear lamp wires in the tender, connected the wire to the socket on the rear of the loco (I even checked it was the right one!) and crocodile clipped my transformer to these wires to see how things where progressing. I was really disappointed to see that nothing worked!

May I ask if anyone can give any suggestions as to how I can move forward? Of note is that I couldn't see any resistors for the rear LED - unless they are in the boiler somewhere?

Thanks in advance for any clues!

The "light" socket out of the tender now powers the loco, all you power and controls are in the tender, the tender light goes to the circuit board, and the "light" plug/socket provides the control to the loco.

so exactly WHAT have you done, other than cut the rear lamp wires in the tender.

 

[brownmat]

Thank you for the suggestions. Both the LEDs are none functional. I did notice that when I was running on track power and prior to any work. Apart from that all I have done is shown on the 2 photos on the top of the thread. I even went back into the loco, undid the insulation I had installed on the pick up wires (as suggested above) and connected the transformer to check the motor was still turning - and it did!

 

[brownmat]

I am not sure if it offers any pointers, but I have continuity tested both LED's and can confirm that neither of them work.

 

[JimmyB]

I am not sure if it offers any pointers, but I have continuity tested both LED's and can confirm that neither of them work.

Not sure what you are trying to achieve, maybe it's me, have you converted your loco to battery power as per the initial posts, and are having problems, or are you trying to get LED lamps to work, if the latter (only) I don't see how this post helps.

 

[brownmat]

Thanks for coming back. I'm trying to convert to r/c. I mentioned the LEDs as I wasn't sure with them not working if it could be connected. I've followed the initial post down to the 2nd photo - thought that would be it, and it hasn't worked. Any suggestions on how to move forward would be great!

 

[Tony Walsham]

The instructions supplied assumed the user was making an installation in a loco with a working taillight.
Not all Big Haulers had a working tail light. In which case the socket at the back of the cab does not output any power to the rear light,
Assuning the loco did actualy have a tail light, somebody has obviously removed/destroyed the LED's so the only solution is to dismantle the loco to find out why the LED's do not work.
Given that the track pick ups are still working you could run a two wire cable from the tender through to the two connections that have been removed from the track pick ups. That still won't help with non working LED's.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

I agree with Tony, also see post #12. If you want to do this level of debugging/repair, you need a meter, or your debugging will descend to experimenting. If you have lots of free time and infinite patience, maybe that is ok.

Greg

 

[brownmat]

Thanks to you all for your ongoing support. I have managed to sort it. Both LEDs have certainly gone so I have bought some new 5mm ones. The error I was making is that I had spliced into the wire AFTER the resistor. Schoolboy error on my part - but I thought I should be honest!

Works a treat now.

Thanks.