Hi, I have an N scale Big Boy and Challenger, both have a problem, and before I send the Big Boy back to Athearn for repair, I thought Id try here. I have an NCE Powercab and Big Boy 11827 UP # 4020. I got it a few days ago brand new, never opened. Out of the box, it ran fine. After about 45 minutes of use however, a problem developed. Before, it would start to crawl along slow and steady at about 4/128 speed. However, now IF it moves at 5/128 (wont budge at 4) it moves in a jerky uneven way, then stops... then might start again. Then sometimes it wont move at all on 5/128, and I need to move it all the way up to 20/128 to make it move at all. On 40/128+ it moves perfectly, but its much slower then my Challenger, side by side it needs like 55/128 to do what the challenger does on 40/128. Here are some facts and things I tried: -Yes, the track is clean, the wheels are clean. - I'm positive its brand new out of the box, had that brand new smell/look etc out of the box. - The Challenger runs perfectly, so I cant see it being the NCE Powercab as the problem. - I tried the CV 125 restore, did not help. -I tried the CV 2 putting the starting voltage up, tried different amounts, this did not help. - I tried 128 and 28 speed steps, didn't help. Any ideas? I can send it back to Athearn to be fixed but this will take weeks they said :tb-sad: Challenger problem: My Challenger (2007 version) runs perfectly except its very quiet. I didn't think much of it until I got the Big Boy, which is MUCH louder... Im talking the Challengers loudest setting is as loud as the Big Boys quietest. Its so quiet, that on its loudest setting the sound of the motor can be heard over the chuffing on higher speed settings. I know how to set the 3 levels of sound but I'm thinking there must be a way to make it louder then it is, the loudest level is too quiest atm, beyond that it runs flawlessly. Any help to either problem is appreciated, thank you.
As far as the volume, not sure but I think I know what is up with the speed. I have a Challenger that has quite a bit of runtime, probably close to 48 hours or more on it. I noticed that it would slow on the back of the test loop, farthest away from the power tap. The tender was starting to get warmer than normal. It was acting very much like some other older equipment that the brushes had gotten oil soaked and the brush material was clogging the slots in the commutator. The cure for the DC motors was to throttle them up fairly high for a while and let the brush carbon burn out between the segments. I decided it was worth a try on the Challenger. I have a Digitrax Chief and the base unit has a voltage level switch on it. I bumped it up to HO voltage level (16V I think) and cranked it up for a few laps. After that it would hold speed all the way around the loop (at either voltage setting) without bogging and the tender was no longer warm. You might try running the loco on DC for few minutes at full throttle to see if it cleans out. I know there were a few reports of BigBoys that suffered from over oiling of the motor bushings or at least the oil creeping into the motor. That may be what you are experiencing and a quick blast of higher voltage may clean it out. If not I am pretty sure Athearn cure was to replace the motor and they can take care of that for you.
Tony...in your vast knowledge...could a person immerse the motor in a bowl of alcohol and spin it by hand to 'clean' it? That would require blowing the alcohol out (dry it) with compressed air afterwords of course ;-) OR...I have used WD-40 on electronics and electrical parts on cars before to clean them. Would you recommend either method with N scale motors ? TIA ;-) .
Pulling the motor out and cleaning with alcohol or contact cleaner is the best solution. Dip in alcohol or spray with contact cleaner. Don't use WD-40 on motors. It leaves a oil residue that will clog up the com slots again. After cleaning, relube the bushings lightly and then run the motor no load for a little to let the brushes re-seat.
Thanks for the suggestion, tried it but still has the low speed problems. Sending it back to Athearn, said it would be about a month to get back... ouch.
I have never heard of this done but you might try using a spray can of starting either you could spray it on with the red tube into the motor and blow out the oil, then the rest would just evaporate. The unknown here will it damage the plastic body/fittings. Just a thought ~AlanC.
