I have an Atlas n-scale RS-11 that was released in April 2011. It is brand new in the box.
It runs extremely slow. At 6 volts it does a scale 5 mph. At 9 volts it does a scale 22 mph and at 12 volt it does a scale 44 mph.
Other than being slow it seems to run fine.
Do I have a bad motor ?
WS
Assuming the motor is quiet and the engine seems to run OK, no noisy gear sound etc., and assuming you've already done a 'break in' run, letting it run 10 min. or so forward and 10 min. backwards at moderately high speed - it might be caused by the lightboard.
Most model engines built the last 15-20 years include a green "lightboard" for constant lighting. It works by only allowing the first several volts of power to go to the lights, not to the motor. That way, as long as you don't go all the way to zero on the throttle, the lights will stay on even when the engine is stopped.
However, this does some power is bypassing the motor. You can go in and remove the lightboard and re-wire the track pick-up connections directly to the motor connections. The engine should then run noticeably faster.
Keep in mind many lightboards have a "plug and play" DCC receptacle to make for an easy DCC conversion, so if you remove the lightboard and later convert to DCC, you'll need to do a hardwire install of a standard decoder or a 'lightboard replacement' decoder...neither of which is hard to do.
Atlas uses a slow speed motor and while I was in N Scale (2012) I had a GP9 that did the same thing. I took the trucks apart and clean and lightly lube and reassembled them and that ended the problem. Also check to ensure the wheels isn't rubbing the gear housing or binding on the pickup wiper..
There shouldn't be a need to remove the lightboard.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Thank for the suggestions. Removing the light board is not an option since I want to install a decoder.
I did take the trucks out and they seem to be rolling just fine with no resistance. I will take the rest of the engine apart to see if there is any problem with the bearing blocks etc.
In our club we use a lot of Atlas engines and I've never had one that slow.
bavrailIn our club we use a lot of Atlas engines and I've never had one that slow.
That's the way I felt with that GP9 and I always felt Atlas makes the best N Scale engines.
Please let us know what the problem was.
Finally had a chance to work on it. Took engine apart and lightly lubricated it. Then ran it for about 2 hours on DC. Seem to run much better on DC. Installed a decoder and it seems to run at normat speed.
Thanks