Wummyock Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 Hi Ive recently aquired several locos off of a well known auction site.Having got rid of the DC controller I had several months ago I got a Bachmann DC controller today just to run the locos in.All worked fine and have to say the Heljan 33's are absolute beauties!!!!!!!I have one loco, Bachmanns 37671 "Tre Pol and Pen" that when power is applied lights come on at one end and flash and the other end they light and go out.Would anyone have any idea as to what may be wrong with it?Must admit Im a bit peeved but I suppose you take a chance with buying it online(admittedly the seller said it worked fine in the advert for it).Its a month ago I bought it and this was the first chance Ive had to test it out so probably cant go back to the seller(may well blacklist them though lol).Any help would be most appreciated and how do you remove the body?I had a look but have the touch of a blacksmith at times so didnt want to end up with a 3 part body lol. Cheerz Wummyock Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dagworth Posted December 30, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 30, 2010 Are you sure it hasn't got a decoder fitted? Andi Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wummyock Posted December 30, 2010 Author Share Posted December 30, 2010 Are you sure it hasn't got a decoder fitted? Andi Thanks for the quick response Andi,funnily enough I did wonder that whilst cursing and the missus asking me what was wrong.Is that what they do if a decoder is fitted?I havent had anything to do with DCC as it wasnt about when I was last into model railways!The advertiser said it was dcc ready maybe they meant to say dcc fitted.If so then I got a decoder cheap!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 Crosshead screws in deep holes in the underside. Bachmann have diagrams for many chassis on their site. http://www.Bachmann.co.uk/pdfs/32-355.pdf Looks like there might be eight, the ones labelled 375-015, disposed two either side at the ends, and both sides of the central tanks.. The symptoms you are decribing say poor electrical connection(s) to me. The connections to the main PCB are clipped on, in the more recent Bachmann diesels I have looked at. Between one or two poorly made connections and one or two more rattled loose in transit this sort of problem is not uncommon. With the body off you will be able to check them all and fix any that are loose or undone. Personally, once sure the chassis is a good runner (and having modified it if required) I solder them all up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corax67 Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 The symptoms sound more like a dodgy contact/loose wire than a decoder installed. If it is an original 'Tre Pol and Pen' then it should be one of the first release Bachmann chassis which is not DCC fitted but is DCC ready. The thing is that this particular body as well as a few others like 'Loch Rannoch' tend to get swapped onto donor chassis as they command a much higher price on eBay than a plain blue body so wires are easily disturbed, trapped or snapped during this process. The link in the previous post shows the earlier chassis I am describing but the body is only held on with 6 screws, not 8 - 2 at either end and one on each end of the fuel tank. Lighting issues are pretty much always down to the 2-pin plug/socket sets at each end as the wires can break inside the heatshrink tubing, appearing fine but not delivering current plus the pins can slide back in their plastic block and not make full contact either. Once the body is off then it's all down to tracing wires with a multimeter - pickup wires come from either side of both bogies, up through the plastic chassis and metal chassis block (where they may have been crushed if it has been stripped at some time) and are soldered to the contact pads marked L and R on the top of the PCB. Motor feed wires are soldered to the bottom of the PCB and head back down through the die-cast block then are tagged onto the motor as normal. Look for dry solder joints, possible wire shorts on the chassis (there is a lot of metal in a 37), the PCB shorting on the chassis if it has been removed and screwed back down. If all else fails then drop another line on here and we can try a slightly different tack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wummyock Posted January 1, 2011 Author Share Posted January 1, 2011 Got the body off and discovered a decoder fitted,removed the decoder and put the loco onto the track and got no movement at all.This wad done with the body off so dont know about the lights working or not.Any ideas please? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 You need to fit a blanking plug in place of the decoder for use on dc. Without a decoder or blanking plug the loco won't work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wummyock Posted January 1, 2011 Author Share Posted January 1, 2011 Cheerz for that!Where do you get blanking plugs from?Ignore that Ive found them online,So when fitted the loco should run fine then? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Hopefully, it should work. Try a local model shop for a blanking plug. They might supply one for free. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corax67 Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 If no joy at your model shop then drop me a PM with your details & I will pop one in the post, I always have some kicking around. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.