NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Dave, that is exactly what I will do when I find the time!
Mark
Mark!
Do what I suggested. Check the connections first. Start with the trucks and move up.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I used this loco to move a train to a siding, flipped the turnouts to normal, which also turned off the power in the siding and let sit for maybe a week. The next time I used the loco, the headlight started slowly flashing the flashing got faster and faster and then the light went out. The loco also might run very slowly in forward; but, the light is on and the loco works fine in reverse. Try going forward again and the light starts flashing again; but, this time it runs just fine in forward!
The loco is off the track and I'm awaiting an opportunity to do some investigation into seeing what is going on.
I need to open it up just to determine what mfger. decoder it has, once I know I will describe the problem to the mfger. to see what they say.
I have two of the Atlas RS-1s, and I have installed NCE DASR decoders in both of them. No problems with the lamps.
Your problem seems decoder-related, somwhere on the function output tabs.
Loose wire connection?
Rich
Alton Junction
Thanks guys!
I would check for a loose wire or a bad solder joint. It may be that the connection is good enough to start the headlight working but deteriorates as things warm up. If it is an LED there won't be any heat from the LED itself, but the resistor can get pretty warm.
You could also temporarily connect another light to the same leads on the decoder to see if you get the same results. If so, the decoder might be suspect.
Well, the RS3 is my favorite all-time diesel, adn I know that's the only one of the RS series that Stewart made. Atlas has made RS1's and RS3's, and RSD4/5s (6 axle). No idea, I just remember nearly anything I come in contact with, except people's names, or what I had for lunch yesterday. Especially things I've read - I rarely read any book more than once, because even if it's been years, I'll get a few pages in and remember what happens.
As for motor resistence, the key is that it only blips to zero as you turn it slowly. It will pop back and forth as the brushes connect to the next commutator section. Maybe 50-60 ohms or so. They key is, the stable reading for each windong should be approximately the same. If one winding is significantly lower, say 20 ohms when all the rest are 50, you have a burned winding.
Digitrax is one of the ones that will blink the lights if there is a short, but it should do that even if you don't select the loco and turn on the headlight, if a short is the cause. If it's a short, it should keep flashing and only stop if you take it off the rails or the decoder finally fries. The blinking rate changing and then it going off and staying off is pretty wierd, that's not even one of the normal effects. It could be the function output is getting flakey. Try a reset.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Since the subject loco was not a Stewart model, I changed the title of this thread to correctly describe the loco.
The decoder is either a Digitrax DH123D; or, a DH165AO.
Care to try for 3? LOL, yes, it is an RS3, if it's a Stewart. Though that's not really important.
What decoder is in it? Some flash the headlight to indicate a short or overload on the motor. Perhaps a wire has come loose, or one was rubbing on one of the moving parts and has finally worn through. If there's nothing obvious, you can test the motor with a meter on ohms or continuity, but do NOT do this while the motor wires are still attached to the decoder - in ohms or continuity mode, the meter applies voltage to the probes in order to measure the resistence. This can damage the motor outputs on the decoder (assuming it's still good). If this all checks out, try doing a decoder reset, just in case it somehow accidently got programmed with some lighting effect other than plain on and off for the headlight. All this fails to fix it, the decoder is probably toast.
Might be an RS-1, not sure. Anyway, when I select this loco, the headlight starts to flash, slowly and then more quickly and then finally shuts off. Rear light functions properly. Anyone have any suggestion on what is going on? This is one of my best operating and favorite locomotives. Th flashing started yesterday.