hey there all , just a quick ? on the newest release of Walther's p2k GP20 w tsunami dcc,
Anybody pick one of these up AND note a less than acceptable power pick-up issues ?
I caught one of these in CB&Q on exxx, super cheap and have noted that this newest release,a very nice unit, is not up to snuff or expectations placed by prior p2k units as far as power pickup , I have least 20 p2k units in this chasie size gp7,9,18,20 and they are ALL sure footed and cross my dead frog turnouts with out skiping a beat .BUT this newest release exhibits some sound /power dropouts on some of my dead frog turnouts ?
I have removed the shell checking for loose connections ,and took apart & cleaned the the truck pickups /wheel/bearings hoping to fix , but still very weak or inconsistent power pick up.
It has the tsunami decoder and gone is the tee-pee duel speaker set up of the QSI releases, it has a soldered /shinkwrap connections to decoder, NO clips ,that I can see ,it has smleds on plastic pillars and the wheel/truck design of the p2k f-7 releases. I only see 1 flywheel, though it looks and runs very nice,
EXCEPT for the drop outs that appear to be on dead frogs of say #6/#8 atlas turnouts BUT in a lash up with older release p2k gp20 ,gp9 7s only this newer unit has power drop out....
Anyway anyone have or had this issue on these newer release GP-20s ?
as always , long winded ..Jerry
Does this engine have wires running from both sides of the trucks for power pick up? My guess is that it should. I suspect that one or more of those wires is not connected.
Lee
*UPDATE* .....problem appears solved ,thanks to advise from walthers C.S. , the newer truck/gear towers have a small brass strip on each side that useing spring tension bears against the bearing/bushing axel block thus passing power , so just bye slightly bending this strip towards the bearing/bushing, power problem is gone ,(and I mean slight bend) simple fix .
thanks ...Jerry
Aha interesting. Glad you were able to fix it.
I have a brand new Proto GP60 in the box. Haven't had time to put it in service yet. But in case I have a similar problem, I'll try this fix first.
Why did they change the truck design? Is it a bad design?
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
I believe this design has been used for 4-5 years , it the 14-1 helical gears BUT every thing that is *new release * has this design....the older p2k had the athearn look alike with the cracken gear issue ...
visual difference is the bottom truck cover on the *new* is wider and goes almost flange to flange where as the older was half as wide and the bushings were exposed ,were talking 2 Axel truck here ...at least thats what I have been led to believe.. Jerry
Hmmm...sounds like Walthers knew the problem fairly quickly...like yours' wasn't the first time this has come up..
This sounds like the same design that's also on the P1K GP15's. I had the same intermittent pickup problems with 2 of them, same truck on both.. Bending the strip cured it.
It has to be a very slight bend. Too much and you can make things a lot worse. It was difficult for me since I found the small strips kind of hard to access.
And I would caution against putting any type of lube or oil into the trucks, since it seems easy for any excess to find its way onto the strips.
Personally, I like the old Athearn design better.
- Douglas