I have a Athern "N" scale locomotive with sound. At times, the locomotive works very well and other times when I bring to the locomotive to a stop and try to start it up again, the locomotive will not respond even though the sound is still working. I have checked the gears to make sure nothing is in them to prevent the locomotive from moving.
I have a Digitrax system with a power supply by Loys Toys.
I keep the rails very clean.
I have feeder wires connected to the bus wires at three to four feet intervals.
All my other engines with decoders(diesels and steam - no sound )work very well.
Has anybody else had this problem?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Madmodeler
I have had the same problem on my Bachmann Shay, and have seen the same problem on another Bachmann steam locomotive at our club.On the Bachmann's, the locomotive is electrically connected to the tender with miniature plugs. If the plugs are not seated (installed) all the way, they are not making a good solid contact on the motor drive wires, and the small amount of electrical contact area will not allow enough current to get from the decoder to the motor, or the contact may not be touching at all. The sounds still work, and the loco will even sound like it is running down the track sound wise, but won't be moving.So, try and look for a plug that is not in all the way, or a frayed wire that only has a few strands holding it, and fix those areas. You may have to open the loco up to see if the wires to the motor are OK.What I found on my Shay was; when they painted the wires on the bottom of the connectors, some paint got into the plugs. When I took the loco apart to install my decoder and then plugged it back in, the contacts in the plug were not making contact properly because of the dried paint. I had to take the pins out of the plug and then the dried paint flaked off and fell out of the plug. Now everything seems OK. I am an electronics tech, so taking the pins out was not a big deal for me, but if you have to do it, be careful that you don't break anything.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
on my british outline class 20 ( also bachmann ), you have to let the loco go completely through its start up sequence to the point where it blows the brakes off or maybe just a compressed air pressure relief?? but it won't 'move' even with the noise on until it thinks its ready. maybe you have to release the brakes to allow the thing to move on a certain function???
Thanks for the help!!
In the next day or two I will look the wires over. I appreciate the detailed information you gave me!
Thanks for the suggestions! I am not sure what kind of sound decoder is in the Athearn Challenger.
I looked at the manual that came with the loco and it does not give a very good detail on the different CV's and what there default number is. If my wires and connections are ok, I will try to reprogram the decoder.
I will ckeck the manual if there is a CV to release the brakes and allow the loco to move on a certain function.
Thanks again!
Your Challenger likely has a junk MRC decoder in its guts.I have two of these out for similar problems awaiting Tsunami retrofits when budget allows.
Thanks for the info. If everything else checks out, I will replace the decoder. I thought about replacing the decoder with a Tsunami before I submitted my request for help.
This is my first experience with MRC decoders and my last. After reading several other forum questions about MRC decoders I agree with you that they are junk.
Thanks again for the help!