Hello All!
If you have seen any of my recent posts you will notice that I have spent much of my resources converting an old rivarossi of mine. After running it around my clubs layout the locomotive ended up completely stopping about halfway through the layout with a 21 truck load. This has happened over and over again, seeming to just wear the motor out. The motor is brand new and has more than enough power to run the locomotive but appears to run much slower than just regular load bearing on the motor. My only assumption of this situation is that the gearing in the old Rivarossi is geared for a very low speed setting. My question is whether or not Rivarossi, or some other company has or still is producing faster geared gearboxes. My hope is that I am able to switch the upper gearboxes in the old Rivarossi and replace them with a faster, and more powerful gearing. Any suggestions or other ideas would be very helpful.
Thanks All!
Doubt it is a gear problem. Problem is probably the motor.
Check to see if the motor is getting too hot . An overheated motor will stop, then work again after cooling,
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Sound equipped units will freeze and short out sometimes, they can get very hot as well.
If you take the motor out and turn the gearbox shaft by hand, does it turn freely, or is it stiff? Do you feel any binding in the mechanism that could put excess stress on the motor? Also, do you have a way to test the current draw when it's running on track? With a newer motor, it shouldn't be more than 0.2 to 0.3 amps running free.
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I tested the locomotives Amperage draw when I first ran it with DCC and it topped at .5-.6 amps at full throttle; according to canons schematics, this is normal for the motor running free, which I would assume is good. I have not tested the ohms yet. I will try to test the ohm reading next time i'm at the club. if it helps any, while running on DCC, I have to set the throttle to about 60 before the locomotive even moves; I have no idea why this is. As for the binding issues, no. There is no to little risistance on the drive train of the locomotive. I had it serviced a while back to insure that there was no damage to the gearing caused by the previous owner. The gearing runs just fine when I run i use my fingers, as I said before, it was serviced, by a friend of mine who matinances old locos for a living. Based on all of this I have absolutely no idea why my locomotive is running so poorly. If I am missing something please let me know, because I have run out of ideas as to why my loco is running so bad
Mantua Man I tested the locomotives Amperage draw when I first ran it with DCC and it topped at .5-.6 amps at full throttle; according to canons schematics, this is normal for the motor running free, which I would assume is good.
I tested the locomotives Amperage draw when I first ran it with DCC and it topped at .5-.6 amps at full throttle; according to canons schematics, this is normal for the motor running free, which I would assume is good.
Hello. I haven't been able to respond recently due to some family matters, though while I was away, i had the locomotive tested on a shops dcc test track. With the assistance of a dcc programming system, a worker there found out the decoder was programmed for slow speed operations and low rpm. The worker graciously reprogrammed the decoder to a different setting and the locomotive runs with a greater rpm now. I will be testing the locomotive at the club's layout on the 6th. It was able to hual a 21 freight load before, so I will test it's power and load limit. Hopefully all goes well. I will let you all know on its performance.