Poor running Heljan steam locos.

[The Ghost of IKB]

Im pulling my hair out with my two Heljan locos, a 43xx and a 51xx prarie tank.  Despite cleaning track and wheels fastidiously both run erratically.  Stopping suddenly on plain track, jerky running,  just plain crappy running.  My Dapol panniers and 08s glide along while the Heljan locos stutter and stall.  Im using dcc power cab.  one loco, the 51xx uses a zimo adamtc expansion board with a 21 pin oo chip, the 43xx uses a large scale (large price) loksound v5. Both run badly.  Whats going on? Do i need to boost up track power to 5 amps?

Be very interested to hear others experience of running Heljan steam on dcc.  Can anyone help?

Edited October 18, 2020 by The Ghost of IKB
Corrected typos

[Baggies1961]

Keeping an eye on this one as I have both locos yet to be chipped. I know there were complaints about the tender only pick

ups on the mogul. Not heard of any faults on the prairies until yours.

Hope you can get them sorted soon

Regards

Julian.

[birdseyecircus]

I have a Prairie that runs well forward but in reverse there is a noticeable lack of smoothness. It is fitted with a lokpilot decoder- no sound.

I have an end to end layout approx 20ft and have run it backwards and forwards at different speeds but the reverse direction does not improve.

 

Paul

[pwr]

Don't expect anything from Heljan in aftercare. If they don't work send them back!

 

Paul R

[The Ghost of IKB]

6 hours ago, birdseyecircus said:

I have a Prairie that runs well forward but in reverse there is a noticeable lack of smoothness. It is fitted with a lokpilot decoder- no sound.

I have an end to end layout approx 20ft and have run it backwards and forwards at different speeds but the reverse direction does not improve.

 

Paul

Yes, my 43xx runs better tender first.  Spent much of last niht and this morning fiddling with it, and the middle axle wheels do not run true at all, which is probably the reason why it runs badly.  The brake blocks rub against the wheels at one point. None of this is true of the prarie tank though. That just seems to be driven by a poltergeist!

 

As much as i want a collett goods, i wont be getting any more Heljan steam. 

Edited October 19, 2020 by The Ghost of IKB

[Adrian Stevenson]

I have both these locos but at present they are not chipped. But they both run fine on DC.

 

Cheers, Ade.

[Guest Isambarduk]

22 hours ago, The Ghost of IKB said:

Do i need to boost up track power to 5 amps?

I don't know much about DCC but I do know that you do not need to boost the capacity to 5 Amps.

[LaScala]

A big fat stay-alive will transform things IMHO.  I had infuriating poor running with Dapol pannier and now it's excellent with ludicrously good slow running if that's your fancy.

 

Can't speak for Heljan, but any kind of interrrupted pick up will be assisted by some serious caps.

 

https://www.dccconcepts.com/product/zen-super-high-power-stay-alive-x-1/

 

The other possible cure is turning off DC in CV29.  That can help too.

[The Ghost of IKB]

18 hours ago, LaScala said:

A big fat stay-alive will transform things IMHO.  I had infuriating poor running with Dapol pannier and now it's excellent with ludicrously good slow running if that's your fancy.

 

Can't speak for Heljan, but any kind of interrrupted pick up will be assisted by some serious caps.

 

https://www.dccconcepts.com/product/zen-super-high-power-stay-alive-x-1/

 

The other possible cure is turning off DC in CV29.  That can help too.

Think youre ptobably right. Capicitor next and then if that doesnt work its a one way ticket to ebay.

[pwr]

Does anyone know if their Hattons A3 and A4 are afflicted with the same issues?

 

Paul R

[Adrian Stevenson]

My A3 is chipped and runs really well. Ran OK on DC.

 

The only issue I had was with the pony truck derailing. I fixed this by taking off the spring.

 

Cheers, Ade.

[Quintus]

Just thought I would revive this thread, having recently purchased a 43xx at a price I could not refuse.

Although I initially intended to fit dcc, at the moment I am running it on my dc only layout.

I immediatley noticed the running was not great, with some surging and a general lack of any finesse in the controllability of the loco (using various makes of controller, ranging from an old H&M safety minor to a Pentroller). I deduced this was nothing to do with the pick-up arrangement, which seems to work fine. 

It occurred to me that whilst my kit built locos have a simple  connection from pick ups to the motor, the Heljan  dc blanking plate fitted in the tender has a multitude of electronic devices attached. All this electronic wizardry seems to send the track voltage on a wild goose chase on its way to the motor.

I thought I would try removing said blanking plate and simply fit links from the pick-ups to the motor, making a couple of links fro .0.7mm copper wire.

Result - far better controllability and much smoother running on a par with my other locos, especially considering the fairly crude gear train on this model.

Being a complete Philistine when it comes to electronics, I'm sure someone will come up with a very good reason for not doing this modification, and I would be most interested to find out why these electronic components are necessary, but I am only interested in the end result.