gdelmoro 7j43k Gary, I'm curious. What exactly was wrong with it? Ed Ed, I'm assuming you're talking about the soldered joint. Look at the picture, ther is solder on top of the track and obstructing the wheels on the inside of the rail. Today I would never accept anything like that.
7j43k Gary, I'm curious. What exactly was wrong with it? Ed
Gary,
I'm curious. What exactly was wrong with it?
Ed
Ed, I'm assuming you're talking about the soldered joint.
Look at the picture, ther is solder on top of the track and obstructing the wheels on the inside of the rail. Today I would never accept anything like that.
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain gdelmoro 7j43k Gary, I'm curious. What exactly was wrong with it? Ed Ed, I'm assuming you're talking about the soldered joint. Look at the picture, ther is solder on top of the track and obstructing the wheels on the inside of the rail. Today I would never accept anything like that. One other thing, Gary. You only need to solder the outside of the rail. Rich
One other thing, Gary. You only need to solder the outside of the rail.
Rich, I Know that NOW ..... :(
Back when I originally laid this track I knew very little. I had Lifelike and old Bachman locos that either went 0 or 100mph. If they did not derail or fly off the track I was happy.
It pains me to think how I did things back then and as you can see I'm still paying the price.
Ive replaced the entire sorting yard and about 2/3's of the Dual Mainline.
You would have a good laugh if I told you about some of the poor track work I have found and replaced. The crummy soldering and wiring.
Gary
OK. So it was a mechanical thing caused by excess solder???
Odd that that would cause power to drop out to the decoder.
I still think there may be a pickup or wiring problem witht he loco - that may be enough to bump one side of the looco off the rails but that same side of the tender ALSO picks up power so it shouldn't stall.
As I mentioned in my solder post, 63/37 makes soldering even easier. The trick I use when soldering joiners is I use a paste flux, water soluable non-acidic, and a microbrush to put some on the slot of the joiner before fitting it on the rail. Connect the rails, then apply the soldering iton to the inside and the solder to the outside. The flux will helpt he solder wick into place around the base of the rail without poking up into flange or wheel tread space - if you stop applying solder as soon as it starts appearing on the iron (inside) side. There will be plenty of solder in the joiner and joint space to make a good mechanical and electrical connection, without an ooze of solder all over. 63/37 solder because it goes directly from melted to solid, 60/40 has an in between state where it's for lack of a better word somewhat gooey where the joint can be moved which will cause the two components (tin and lead in this case) to seperate and cause a poor joint. In the 63/37 ratio, the two metals freeze at the same time and avoids this state, so an accidently jiggle won't cause a poor joint.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker I still think there may be a pickup or wiring problem witht he loco - that may be enough to bump one side of the looco off the rails but that same side of the tender ALSO picks up power so it shouldn't stall.
Rich,
If the loco gets "stuck" from those causes, why would that cause the headlight to go out? If it's "stuck" it should still have power to the headlight.
PS: While that solder joint is certainly ugly, it does look like a good one. To me. In the picture. Not great flow, but it looks like good bonding.
7j43k Rich, If the loco gets "stuck" from those causes, why would that cause the headlight to go out? If it's "stuck" it should still have power to the headlight. Ed
Never got "stuck" it would hit that spot and shut down everything (no movement, no sound, no lights). Wait a second and it would start up again. It seems that when it rode over that lead it caused it to stop but then there was still electric so it started up again. Once it started moving the drive wheels were past the spot so off it went until it came arround to that spot again and,.... stop about a second later - start up.
Glad i ripped that track up anyway since it would likely have caused problems in the future.
Great conversations - Thanks for all the posts.
While the solder joint wasn't all that attractive, I can't see that it would stop only one locomotive and none of the others. I still think that the problem is in the wiring between locomotive and tender.
Wayne
Well I'll let you know by next weekend. Hopefully I'll have the track laid and connected by then. If it is the connector one would think that would not be the only spot where there is a problem.
But.... What do I know, I'm a DCC Rookie.
doctorwayne While the solder joint wasn't all that attractive, I can't see that it would stop only one locomotive and none of the others. I still think that the problem is in the wiring between locomotive and tender. Wayne
gdelmoro Never got "stuck" it would hit that spot and shut down everything (no movement, no sound, no lights). Wait a second and it would start up again. It seems that when it rode over that lead it caused it to stop but then there was still electric so it started up again. Once it started moving the drive wheels were past the spot so off it went until it came arround to that spot again and,.... stop about a second later - start up.
That's been my thought all along.
On one of my PCM locos (same as BLI but using Loksound instead of QSI back in the day), they used pin header connectors to connect various wires to the circuit board - motor power, track pickups, lights, speaker, etc. On one of them, the pin socket that the wire was attached to did not click into the connector shell, so when the connector was pushed on to the pins of the board, it backed out rather than make contact with the pin. This happened to be the right or left side power pickup from the tender, so if the same side of the loco was not on powered track, there was no power at all. All i had to do was carefully hold the pin in place and push it down over the pin. Now I could set the entire tender OR the entier loco on a sheet of paper and it still had power.
It was very easy to spot, on this particular connector you could see the wire crimped to the connector sticking up above the shell of the connector. On these type of connectors you shouldn't see the crimped part, that should be hidden down in the shell of the connector.
Independendt of fixing the track, you should try that sort of test in a spot you know the locos runs fine. Put a sheet of paper under the entire loco, but not the tender wheels. It should get power. Repeat under the tender wheels, but not under any loco wheels - it should get power. You can repeat putting the paper under just one side of the loco or tender to see which side is not getting power from the wheels to the circuit board, once you've figured out if it is the loco or the tender. If the issue is that the loco is not picking up power, it could be external - in the cable that connects the loco to the tender. Check if one of the pins may have bent or broken off, if that looks ok make sure the connector is fully seated. They are tight and can be a real pain, a small screwdrive can help, push around the edge of the connector to seat it in the socket, but be careful you don't slip off and shear off one of the wires.
so while I'm replacing the track I can test this connection issue by placing the tender only on the powered track and see if the sounds and loco work and then place the loco only on the track and see if it still all works?
gdelmoro so while I'm replacing the track I can test this connection issue by placing the tender only on the powered track and see if the sounds and loco work and then place the loco only on the track and see if it still all works?
Working on replacing the track. If it's all good after that, Im blaming the track.
WA-LA!! Couldn't wait till next weekend so i finished installing the track. No ballast just roadbed and track.
The BLI 2-6-2 runs through like a well oiled watch. Speed step 1, 9 & 14 forward and reverse. Smoothe as silk.
gdelmoro WA-LA!! Couldn't wait till next weekend so i finished installing the track. No ballast just roadbed and track. The BLI 2-6-2 runs through like a well oiled watch. Speed step 1, 9 & 14 forward and reverse. Smoothe as silk.
Thanks once AGAIN Rich