I have recently discovered that BLI Paragon 3 locomotives have inexpensive 3pole can motors in them. These motors unlike the 5pole skew wound motors that BLI use to put in their engines draw a significant amount of current. The stall current at 12V is almost 4.5A. Running free the motors draw .5A @ 12V. Running under load they draw .75A or more. To keep the decoder from burning up the newer versions come to a stop and flash the lights with the sound still on. I suspect that the older versions simply shut down completely making it appear as though you have a dirty track issue. Does anyone else concur? Has anyone else had issues with older paragon 3 locomotives acting like the track needed a good cleaning?
Did you verify this by testing or is this one of those "I heard it on the Internet" kind of things? I find it hard to believe that a modern manufacturer would use a 4 amp stall motor. There WAS a run of P2K locos way back when which managed to get the high current version of the motor instead of the proper one, but that was a manufacturing error and at the time, replacements were offered.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Yes I removed the motor and hooked it up to my elenco xp-605 power supply. The motor ran fine but draws a lot of current. I ordered a replacement motor figuring a winding was going bad ant tested the new motor with the same resuts. I disassembled one of the motors and discovered a vintage style 3 pole motor with copper finger brushes and heavy windingS much like tyco engines and IHC engines used in the last 70’s and 80’s. I then called broadway-limited to ask if they knw what was going on and they confirmed that the paragon 3 locomotives have straight wound high torque 3 pole motors.
Which Paragon 3 engines have motors with these characteristics? My MILW S3 and C2(Paragon 3)do not draw this kind of current.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
I have 3 paragon 3 locos (2 Mikes and an SD7) I run them all at the same time. If I understand what you are saying and that voltage draw was true I think i would be shorting out the main all the time.
Just for the heck of it one time, I tried running as many locos as i could. I got these and 8 others going and couldn’t control any more with separate addresses so I stopped before I crashed them all.
That was a total of 11 on the same Mainline protected by one PSX at factory default trip current.
My y6b for sure but according to Bli they all have these motors, the board in it was one of the originals and failed just recently. Since it was out of warranty and I had to pay for a new board (which was redesigned) I checked the motor current since it ran as stated in my original post I also ordered a new motor. The new motor bench tested just like the old one so I disassembled one and much to my surprise I found an antique style 3 pole can motor. I contacted BLI and they confirmed that these are what is being used. They rely on the board to limit the motor current. The new versions actually stop a train and flash the head or rear light if the over current condition lasts to long. You can then run the throttle to zero and resume running. My L1 runs for about 45minutes at step 45 on my dt-400 pulling about 30 cars around my layout before it comes to a stop and I have to tend to it. My S3 and S2 both are fine, my AC6000‘s, big boy, and ES44AC all act up like they are on dirty track occasionally.
They are using the board to limit the current draw.
I bought the PRR S2 Turbine recently, and it would keep halting, new, out of the box. I investigated it, and it was due to oxidation on the tender axles and contact fingers. I have several other recent brass hybrids, and one is also acting up the same way, so I need to get it on the bench.
General Paragon 2 and 3 complaints:
I was annoyed by the 4-12-2's inability to sync the 6 chuffs to the drivers, so I pulled the decoder and replaced it with a WoW. Installed six pickup magnets and reed switch on the front driver.
The steam Paragon 2's and 3's all seem to have a 4-chuff file that has a deliberate mis-timing of one chuff, so the loco sounds like it needs service. This might be true of one loco, but all, exactly the same?
Not fond of the whistle pitch-bends either. Not a fan overall. I think BLI got "off the track".