I’ve not given up just yet. This one definitely is a lemon. I also paid way too much for it but I digress.. Alright, Upon purchase, I quickly felt concerned about it. It was strange to me as it would be noticeably better and quieter in one direction than the other. I sent it to Atlas for inspection/repair. It came back with a new decoder since the original one apparently had a “bad driver”. Details parts got damaged, too. I noted no appreciable improvements; same baloney and noisy performance. I kept fiddling with it. I got it to run better somehow by disassembling and reassembling various parts. Careful alignment of worm gears and such as. The improvements never sticked. Yesterday, the motor stopped responding altogether. The light were still A-OK and responding to my commands, ON, OFF, this way, that way. The motor was dead, or so it seamed. Today, I try again and bam! The motor is operating OK, albeit in a strange uneven way. I’m running out of ideas and willpower for this thing. What should I try next? At this point, I’d rather buy a whole new engine instead of buying parts to fix her as I believe a lemon will stay a lemon no matter how much money I throw it’s way. Therefore, I made a short recording of the running engine. The loud and low-tone buzz at the start is how the first few speed steps sounds like. I throttle up to step 50 then step 100 out of 128. Listen to how uneven and jagged it runs. What is causing this kind of performance and what can I do to improve it to satisfactory levels? Thanks you all very much in advance! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmLn46Y8E4Q
This is typical of Atlas locomotives. The main problem is the spring contact motor leads. They are very finicky. It is best to always solder a short section of decoder wire from the contacts to the leads. Insulate, Insulate and Insulate. After, you will have no real problems
Thanks you! Pardon my ignorance but would you be so kind as to show me what a “contact” and “lead” looks like?
While you've got it apart soldering the leads to the decoder, check to make sure the motor is seated properly in the plastic saddle. I messed up while cleaning one and "pinched" the saddle causing the motor to be slightly out of alignment. The mis-alignment made all kinds of racket and erratic speed control. DCESharkman is right on with the motor leads loosing contact. I've had that issue before myself. I've got 3 of the MP-1500's and since I've learned the "tricks", they run just fine.
I have three of the Atlas MP15's. I never liked the performance of any Atlas loco that I have with the Lenz decoders that the loco's are equiped with at purchase. Jerky motion, lights that work intermittantly and some buzzing were the main complaints. I have replaced the decoders with digitrax and they run quiet and smooth as silk.
I've had a similar experience with the Lenz MP15 decoders. They did not perform well and I replaced them with Digitrax decoders. Much better! I have 3 Lenz decoders in my not-quite-scrap box. I may eventually find something to do with them. Nancy
I am puzzled as to how a decoder can make this much of a difference. I still don’t know what a “lead” looks like :mtongue:
The "leads" the flimsy copper looking pieces of metal that are attached to the motor and supposedly make contact with the circuit board and are at best a poor excuse for a conductor of electricity since they rely on surface contact to make the connection. Any type of dirt or corrosion will cause problems. A short piece of wire soldered to the circuit board contacts ("Contacts" are the little silver pads on the circuit board where the motor "leads" should make contact) and the "leads" made a very big difference in how my MP15DC runs. Gary
It sounds like the motor is binding or rubbing against something. Almost sounds like it is being squeezed. Try stripping the motor down to the bare block so you can turn the armature. I would take the decoder off then use a 9v battery to run the motor. That will dictate if it is a mechanical issue or decoder problem. Tried to find an image of one stripped but could not. If it (two block halves) are held together by screws that may be the problem. Too tight. Hard to tell without seeing it. Inobu
OK I see exactly what you mean. oh god that is a small place to work in! I’ll do my best and report (or not) upon success.
The motor definitely need love. I dismantled the loco once more to take the engine out. I’ve fed it with a 9V battery directly to the leads. It’s the same deal as in the original video; it’s unable to maintain a steady RPM. I’ll dismantle the engine itself now and re-assemble it very carefully. brb with an update soon. It’s fun because I have no clue what I’m going! :tb-tongue:
I can’t see how to properly disassemble the motor. The shafts are in the way. Just too bad. I cleaned all contacts pads and similar things as best I can. No notable improvements whatsoever. In fact, I seam to have worsen things a little :tb-wacky: I guess my next move should be to solder the leads to the decoder. It’s so small in there I’ll need a optivisor and better soldering equipment first. I’m quite sure it’s not really worth it. I’ll weasel out and buy another model instead. Who wants a very cheap MP15DC Canadian Pacific road number 1442?
It sure sound like its a binding problem of some kind. You just have to look real good. I'm wondering if something is warped. Keep it as a learning tool. Just takes a little time. Inobu
Could be a bad motor. I recently had that experience (on a RS-11) and posted a thread on the A-board requesting help. If you have a multi-meter see if you can find out the current draw when the motor runs under no load (remove it from the engine). My bad motor was drawing close to 300 mA and getting warm to the touch. I pulled a motor out of a good running engine and it was drawing under 100 mA free running with no heat generated. I am surprised that Atlas sent it back w/o really fixing it. How about sending it back for a second time? One time I sent in a Dash 8 due to a clicking noise when running. They replaced the motor and sent it back running smooth as ever. I would have never guessed it was the motor.
I own 2 locos of this model and never had problems with them . If the motor is not running nicely on pure DC , it will not run better on DCC . The motor seems to be the culprit . The decoders that Atlas are not the best in the world but they usually do the job , I kept these in mine . What I don't like about these decoders is sometimes they don't like to be the slave of another loco . I still have to fine tune this affirmation but it seems to be the case , but this is another subject and has nothing to do with your loco for now .
I would not add any wire to the contact pads or the motor leads. I have had trouble with those contact points on other loco's but I was always able to adjust the motor leads to make better contact with the pads on the underside of the decoder. Also, be sure to insulate those parts of the frame near the motor leads so in case they move they will not touch the frame and cause a short. You could use electrical tape or Kapton tape as many people do to protect those points.. I have only had to add some solder to the points on the decoders where the decoder contacts touch the chassis because the decoder was loose in those spots.
