I have a used Atlas Dash 8 40-B loco; the instructions talk about a "magnetic wand" to reset the loco's dcc values. Can anyone describe what this wand looks like? I am thinking I may need to go back to my LHS and see if he has it ( it was not with the Loco when I picked it up). Thanks
Different manufacturers use different magnets, so it's hard to say. But the ones I've seen were little silvery cylinders, about 1/8" in diameter by 3/4" long. You might find it packaged in a little plastic bag with replacement couplers and other such detail bits. Check the pockets and crevices in the loco's foam packing.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
You may be able to use a small button magnet that you may be able to find at a Radio Shack or a hardware store. The instructions with the loco should show the point over the shell to apply the magnet. It is used to reset the decoder to factory defaults or to adjust the sound levels.
BTW, I keep my magnets in plastic freezer bags so if it should happen to migrate and stick to a piece of metal you will see it and not lose it or throw it out
here you go a pic is worth a 1000 words, these two came either with an atlas one, or a proto 2000, dont remember which one came with.
later
g
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I have had a few cases where the supplied magnet was not strong enough to "make" the reed switch. Some BLI steam engines have them deep within the tender shell. So I found a super-strong magnet that I removed from a computer hard drive and that did the job.
Neodymium magnets are stronger for their size and this might work for you. Some of the tool discounters sell magnetic pick-up wands that are not only handy for resetting reed switches, some have a swivel head that allow you to use them to un-couple Kadee couplers from a distance
Good Luck, Ed
The magnetic wands that came with my QSI-equipped Atlas locos look like the one in Ggooler's photo. In my experience they are very hit or miss and you are much better to follow the resetting proceedure using CVs as detailed in the user's manual.
Joe
Thanks for the info, I will be visiting my LHS if it ever stops snowing around here (So. Maine) and see what he has.
Thanks also from a passing Brit who has until now run exclusively DC and has just been looking at a couple of used ATLAS locos, advertised “magnetic wand missing”. So, now I know. Thank you.
Steven OtteDifferent manufacturers use different magnets,
I was out of the hobby during the whole magnet thing, was QSI the only decoder that used a magnet?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley