What brand and type of unit is it?
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
MisterBeasley Get some solder, too. Re-using the original solder may be the reason that the joint didn't hold in the first place.
Get some solder, too. Re-using the original solder may be the reason that the joint didn't hold in the first place.
This time I added new solder to the connection. It's a nice running $10 loco! If it fails again, I'm going to install some new wire. Thanks, guys, for all the help. And not just with this question. Since starting this layout more than a month ago, I've experienced problem after problem after problem. I've got no model RR friends and without help, I might have chucked this "hobby" after a couple of weeks.
The wire may have been installed by someone whose wiring skills make you look like an expert. If the wire is too thin, it will break quickly, and will also not carry enough current to the motor. Invest in a slightly thicker gauge wire. You don't want it to be stiff, because a certain amount of flex is needed to allow the truck to turn around the curves. Make the wire a bit longer than it needs to be. The extra length helps it flex more easily, and, if it breaks and needs to be re-attached, you'll still have a bit more to work with. Stranded wire flexes better than solid wire.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
If you don't already have it, purchase some electronics resin core solder and add fresh solder to the electrical pickup the next time you solder the wire back onto it.
just keep doing what you did; your soldering will just get better with practice.
Dave
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27
Went to the train show and buy a $10 loco. I figure it must have problems but the shell is nice if nothing else. I get home and it barely runs so I clean the front wheels and when I go to clean the rear, I notice that there's no electrical connection from the rear wheels to the motot.
A wire to the rear wheel assembly not connected. (It's got to be the skinniest wire I've ever seen.) So I figure out how to remove the truck assembly, whittle off a little wire insulation, and then solder it back on using the dab of solder that was already on the gizmo.
Now I'm real proud of myself cause I've never done something like this and the loco runs great. After an hour or so of playing around, the performance is shot and investigation shows that the wire came undone.
Any idea what I did wrong and how to get this wire permanently attached?