So my RR C&O Allegheny H8 was having running problems at the club. The headlight was burnt out and it was constantly stalling, even after wheel cleaning.
First thing I did was check the pickups in the tender. The wipers were bent back and not touching the wheel axels. Okay simple fix.Next I went to replace the LED headlight. Major pain as I had to remove the front truck. And then removing the LED itself was diffcult. Ordered some prewired LED SMDs off amazon.4 burnt out as soon as I hit the headlight. I started measuring voltages. I couldn't figure out what the heck was wrong. Finally put in a 40 Ohm resistor and that solved the problem. It was a little hot at 3.5Volts which is...an odd voltage.
But I still had pickup problems. I traced the wires from engine to tender. It wasn't picking up the right rail. I then traced them back to the tower. Worked fine. I scratched my head and started going down the female connector pins and testing continuity.
The factory reversed the contacts between Pin 1 and 4! That's why the bulbs were burning out. They were connecting to the track directly! And I wasn't getting good pickup because it was going to + supply on the function lead common.
So those micro blade pins are a major pain in the duck-gas. But I managed to pull one out, and then broke the second *sighs* Somehow through the grace and luck, I managed to wire the pin back into the blade.
All in all 5 hours work!
Lesson of the day:Test EVERYTHING on your locomotive when you get it from the factory. I let mine sit for 6 years with a "I'll get back to it later" attitude, so well out of warranty.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Nice going, Don. . . fixing it, that is.
Rich
Alton Junction
I always open and inspect each new loco on arrival, and then once it passes visual inspection, I test run it, the same day.
John
I probably ought to have opened up more locos by now, but I just enjoy them if they work, and send 'em back if they don't....meaning I do test them within a couple of weeks of receipt. I'm not handy, and unfortunately not much of the other either...don't know what she saw in me.
I always test everything after I buy it, had a few items that were just bad from the get go.