Hey everybody. This is my first post on here after getting back into the hobby that I loved as a kid. I'm just letting you all know about a problem I have and what I've learned so far.
Anyway, here's my problem. I just got my brand-new BLI Blue Line light mikado yesterday and had problems with it right out of the box. The tender/engine combo would work fine for a couple of feet, and then, it would just quit and overload my power pack.
I tried my other two locos on the layout, and they both worked flawlessly-not a hint of trouble. So, that led me to think that the track isn't the problem.
I then lifted the engine off the track but kept the tender on, and it ran great (no connection between engine and drawbar). I could also run the engine and tender together on the track if I just allowed the wiring harness to connect the two. I read over the old posts on here, and it sounded a lot like problems that others had with the original BLI light mike where the tender trucks were powering the drawbar in the tender, shorting out the engine.
Being impatient, I took the tender apart and found that there is no insulating washer between the tender trucks and the screw and spring that holds them on like the parts diagram says there should be. There's a slight piece of copper visible from the pick-ups in the tender trucks that could intermittently contact the metal truck screw/spring depending on the angle. Since that truck screw goes right into the metal tender chassis and that connects to the drawbar with another metal screw into the chassis, that might explain why the engine/tender combo tended to short out in certain areas of my layout.
I'm installing styrene washers to prevent the metal truck screw/spring from contacting the copper in the pickups and praying for the best. I'll let you all know if it works or not. Just thought I'd throw it out there in case it might help somebody else.
Hi Mr. Goose, welcome to the forum.
You may well have hit upon one of my old posts from way back. I had a short problem due to the tender truck screw not being insulated correctly. Just like your experience it worked fine without the draw bar connected. Sounds like the same issue to me.
If you insulate it, it should work fine.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
Check the trucks closely to see which side is insulated and which is not. In the old days, you could pretty reliably count on both trucks needing insualtion on the same side, with the loco being insulated on the opposite side.
Nowadays, with various elctronic stuff coming installed from the factory, there may be tenders that have one truck feeding from one rail and the other truck feeding from the opposite rail. I'm not sure.
I don't know if there's useful documentation supplied or is on BLI's website, but that could help you determine which side the trucks should feed from.
I once bought a brass loco and had these sort of issues. Turned out one of the trucks had been installed reversed. Both should have been fed from the same rail in this case. All it needed was to orient the offending truck correctly.
Whatever side they are supposed to feed from, try to make sure they are on correct, as having tender trucks reversed is an easy fix once you've determined that to be the case. All you need to do is loosen the truck screw and orient the incorrect truck so it is right.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
That was what I was told by BLI when I talked with them on the phone about it a bit ago. The trucks appear to be on the right way according to what they told me.
I also checked with them on if putting insulating washers on the trucks would void the warranty as another member had mentioned. They said it would not and that if it didn't work, to send the whole thing back in. Otherwise, I can just have them send me the missing BLI washers to put in myself. They said that they expect people to open the tender to put in a DCC decoder, and I don't even have to open the tender up to do what I need to do. Therefore, the warranty is not in jeopardy. Thanks for the input so far, everyone.
Send it back to BLI and have them send you a replacement before you do something that invalidates your warranty.
Tony's Train Exchange reported major problems with every BLI Blue Line Mikado they received and said they sent them all back because it seemed to be a manufacturing flaw.
Read their comments here:
http://tonystrains.com/tonystips/2008/091908.htm
Hey all. Just to let you all know, the missing insulating washers on the tender trucks were the culprit. It was a simple 5 minute fix-unscrew the truck screws, put in a washer, and put the trucks back on. It's up and running like a champ now. I ran it continuously for an hour tonight in forward and reverse. Problem resolved.
Although it was not a pleasant experience having a brand-new engine not work properly, BLI support was helpful and even sent me a pre-paid label via email to return the whole engine if it became necessary.