drewn

Hi guys, I'm trying to scource 2mm lighthouse type, flashing led's , suitable for 3volts Any one help?/ Drew

Alcanman, Thanks for the info DREW

Hi there, Can anyone tell me what the actual timber load is made from? The reason I ask is that I once bought a Hornby timber carrier and had to use a Ten Commandments load, made of resin. This was much too heavy and rendered the wagon too top-heavy Is the load on the Bachmann model the same material ???

cravensdmufan, Thanks , I read your piece and looks to be exactly what I need.. The main problem I've got is when the dmu crosses the diamond crossing. I had shorting issues in the past, and ended up coating much of the crossings with nail varnish. This cures the shorting but I need to have two bogies effectively picking up power. So, while I don't necessarily need the trailer car to pick up power ( it would be nice if it did) I definitely need the power car bogies to perform better. Thanks Drew

giz, I agree with your last point. Unfortunately, it means that pickups are only effective on the power car, ideally on 4 axles, but with mine, two of them are intermittent which leads us back to the earlier point that some bedding-in, or polishing-up might be the solution! Drew

giz, Sorry but there ARE pickups on all 4 axles on the trailer. The trailer lights, I assume, are fed via the tow bar wiring Drew

The loco is recently purchased and has NOT run too much , so you may be right about the "polishing up" aspect. I might just leave it for a while and see if it improves Thanks Drew

Hi guys, As an owner of many Bachmann locos I am becoming more and more disappointed with certain aspects of their performance. I have a new class 101 DMU which tends to stutter badly over points, etc. Having checked continuity with a meter I find that there is next to none between the two bogies on the power car. One problem seems to be the rubbing contacts between the brass pickups and the PCB ( I see that in previous posts this was overcome by inserting a small spacer which increases pressure between the two, or by soldering wires between the pickup and the pcb) Also, the continuity between the brass pickups and the axle bushes is extremely poor. - Not sure how to overcome this!! All things considered, I find the whole pickup design poor and find it strange that something more robust has not been designed by Bachmann. By the way, there is no continuity between the powercar and the trailing car. Haven't opened the trailing car up yet but I'm assuming its wheels should be electrically connected to the power car. Any suggestions guys Drew

Here' s an update on what I've found! 1. It was a SHORTING problem, not an OPEN CIRCUIT problem. 2. I proved this by applying insulating tape over the complete middle section of the diamond, the loco traversed it without stopping. 3.I ended up applying nail varnish to that area and left to dry. The loco now travels over the crossing with only a slight hesitation, no shorting apparently. This fix works perfectly for my two sound chipped CO- cO locos, but only 90% successful on my Bo-Bo loco. The hesitation I can live with as the crossing is situated behind a backscene and so out of sight. So basically, I'm going to leave it as it now stands, rather than replace track, etc. Thanks to everyone for their help Drew

Just had an afterthought, I have NOT yet checked that ALL pickups are working ! Obviously, if they are, that should overcome the fact that other wheels are not in contact with the rails. Must check that out next Drew

Guys, Still having problems with peco crossings. Not short circuits, as I thought, but at the centre of the crossing there is a space of approximately 20mm where the loco wheels cease to make contact with the rails and instead, run on the plastic inserts. Obviously, causing an open circuit. Only the momentum of the loco helps it to traverse this area but a slow moving loco just stops. With sound fitted locos, the sound obviously shuts down for a second or so. I do not want to fit electrofrogs if I can help it, but surely this is a serious design flaw???? Any cures in mind? Drew

Guys, I tried a factory reset on the decoder to no avail. But I then found a spare decoder in my "yad" box and fitted it. Lo and behold, the loco now performs well, pulling a 20 wagon freight train at setting 12, at a scale speed of 60mph. So it looks like it was a dodgy decoder which has now been relegated ( and labelled) in the "yad" box! Thanks for your help as always Drew

Hi guys, I have a Bachmann class 25 which seems to run extremely slowly! I have to run it at setting 28 on my NCE Powercab controller, where othere locos run at anything from 4 to 12! I have checked CV5 and found that it is 255 which I understand to be the max. setting. Given that it is the max setting, is there any way I can increase the running speed of the loco?

I just selected a fixed length of track, 6ft to be exact, measured the time taken to travel over it in seconds then extrapolated into 12in.: 1ft speed. (Thanks for giving me the chance to use the word "extrapolated")

Thanks guys, I might just go ahead and invest Drew

Actually guys, I've measured the scale speed of this loco and it manages about 20mph. Which of course is pretty good. So I'll leave it at that. Thanks for replies Drew

Hi guys, Has anyone out there installed and used the Heathcote Electronics IRDOT-P unit? Seems a good way to alternate train running but I'm wondering if there are any down sides . Drew

I've got a Bachie 08 which I feel needs to run a little faster. I have a Powercab controller and when I tried to adjust CV5, the max voltage Cv, I was told it could not read the value. I can read and adjust others, like CV3 &CV4. So why does it only read certain CV's ? Secondly, I've read about "yard" running but I can't find the bit in the manual to check if indeed it is on yard running! Am I missing something obvious ?

Good news guys, PROBLEM SOLVED ! I ordered a new curly lead from DCC Concepts, received it within 24 hrs, and everything is working just fine Thanks for all your help DREW

Bit of an update guys. I had an intermittent problem with my Powercab and replaced the lead earlier today. Lo and behold, I can now increase the CV63 value no problem. So the problem was the controller lead and not the soundchip Thanks for comments Drew

Olddudders, I've sent an email off to them this morning. THanks Drew

Hi guys, I have a loco with a SWD ESU Loksound chip. The volume is very low, and having read various reports, I thought that adjustment of CV63 would solve the problem. BUT IT DOESN'T! When I look at the current setting of CV63 - it's at 007. I tried to input a new , higher setting but it always defaults to 007 ! As if that is the maximum setting. Any ideas chaps?

Hi there, I'm having a few problems with my NCE Powercab. As I move around with the controller, there seems to be intermittent breaks in the supply. ie. the Powercab display goes completely blank until I "jiggle" it about a bit. Obviously during such breaks, everything stops! I suspect it is a fault where the cable goes into the connector at the base of the Powercab. (It's not particularly well strengthened) Is this a common problem? Is it worth my replacing the cable ? Any ideas guys?

Thank Goodness it's not just my layout this happens on. My Bachmann coaches are trained , not to follow the loco, but to run backwards, usually to a point in a tunnel or to somewhere with limited accessibility. Certainly can't criticise the low friction aspects of Bachie coaches!!!

Guys, I've applied a small dollop of nail varnish to the crossing ( bright purple , would you believe. It's ok , the crossing is behind the backscene) The offending loco now runs over the crossing without a blip, although at very slow speed it still tends to short. But for normal running speed, it seems ok. An added bonus is - I might start wearing purple nail varnish - - - then again maybe not!!!!! Thanks for advice Drew