I recently put in a decoder, added lead and polished all the contacts throughout the tender. It runs great. It will creep ever so slow with 10 cars. However, it only runs great in one direction (not forward or reverse), but in one direction on an oval. If I turn it around so that it turns to the left, it SHORTS out the system. It will run all day with it curving right, but turn it around and it shorts on the curves. I've tried it on flex track and Kato track. Same problem. Any suggestions on what is causing this? Thanks in advance.
I am not a DCC afficienado but I think the problem is in the decoder or the wiring to it. Seems like it is not recognizing the different polarity when you turn it around.
Hi Fredsmi! It would be very helpfull if you can give some more input as it is: What track, what decoder, what DCC system are you using? At first glance I might say you've made a mistake in the wiring /soldering the decoder. Did you check back everything? If a short occures it is mostly caused by a contact between one of the red/black track current lines and the orange/grey motor lines that leads the engine to run just in one direction. How's the lighting, does it work? As I mentioned before I don't know your DCC system but here in europe many systems can be set either 14 or 28/128 speed steps as well as the decoder can be set in CV29. Check also if there is a mismatch in speed steps. I've done more than a handfull of those Spectrum 2-8-0 with DZ123, DZ125 and Uhlenbrock 73400 and haven't had any problems whatsoever. The 2 motor tabs should NEVER have any connection other than the grey and orange wires. If one of the tabs contacts anything else you can experience such behavior. The worst is you toast your decoder. Regards Mathi
If you have wires between the loco and tender, its probably one of them shorting out. check for bare wires, and check all tender trucks for shorts..Mike
I see where I wasn't clear enough. Sorry. The lights work, forward and reverse work both at speed and creeping, it runs laps in one directions perfectly, and runs in the other direction great UNTIL it gets on the curve, then it shorts out. As it goes around a left-hand curve, it shorts. It does not short on right-hand curves. It is consistent on my flex track layout and on a Kato Unitrack oval so it is not the track. Also, it does it with and without pulling a train.
I know nothing about DCC. For regular operations there are two things you might want to look at 1. The front truck 2. The connection between the engine and the tender that wraps around the center post between the two units. These are the only parts that I can think of that will be leaning or pivoting one way or another depending on which way the train is moving. BTW- are the traction tires fully on the engine?
Ah, I understand! Well, keep an eye on the two bronce wires which clamp the post with the drawbar. The left one connects to the left loco body half and the right one to the right side to pickup power to each side of the loco. If one of these wires is bent too much inwards it surely can make contact to the wrong side of the engine, imaginable in a curve. The two wires schould be in an almost parallel shape, check this please. Another check: unhook the tender and let run the loco solely. The pickup is not great but its outha make the left-hand curve with no short. Then check the drawbar wires and I hope you are "back on track" with it. Regards Mathi
Since you haven't blown the decoder with the short is a pretty good clue that it's probably not your wiring. Since it works fine turning right and not left then the more likely problems could be something hitting the pilot truck when it rotates left or something on the tender as another person mentioned. If you can, run it in a darkened room and watch for the flash of the spark from the short. That may help pinpoint things. John H. Reinhardt
Due to a family illness I have left town every weekend for a month now so my schedule is tight. I ran it last night (in the good direction). I'll get to it before too long. Again, thanks for the comments. I'm thinking its the tender hookup ... I like the darkroom suggestion ...
If you have the decoder installed in the loco, disconnect the tender. That will be a simple test to see if it is an issue with the tender causing the short. If it still shorts without the tender, then you have narrowed it down to the loco. Just for reference, your drawbar should look like this on the tender.... I can't really see how the draw bar could cause the short but anything is worth checking.
Thanks for all the responses. The pic with diagram is great. I believe I had the pickup wipers on the outside and switched them to the inside. I don't know which is better. That still did not fix the problem so I turned the lights out and ran it with a left hand turn. It sparked in the front, and I'm embarrassed a little to tell what it was. I had added a small, but significant, strip of moldable lead weight on the front of the locomotive above the front wheels on the buffer beam (?) or wheel guard (?). The front wheels were hitting the lead and shorting out. A few pushes with a blunt tool fixed it. Sorry to waste your time, but the darkroom suggestion found it. Also, now I wonder which is better for the axle pickup wiper configuration, inside or outside. The only issue now is why it stops sometimes on Peco insulfrogs when coming from the top of the Y. The 2-8-0 is definitely an excellent locomotive despite my not-so-handiwork.
Inside the truck pickups is the proper way, as shown by the bottom picture. Putting the wires on the outside restricts the drawbar movement and will cause derailments on tighter radius corners. Make sure to squeeze the wipers that contact the loco post together to add a little more tension and it doesn't hurt to clean up the post on the loco.
I have played with both arrangements. Wiper on the inside/outside on my 5 bachmann tenders. In every case the outside proved to be much better for consistant pickup. However, as skipgear mentioned it will stiffen the front tender trucks. It hasn't been enough for me to have problems, but keep a watch if you do it especially on tight S curves. See what works best for you.
I'll have to see, because I think maybe having it on the outside fixed the issue with it stalling coming from the top side of the Y. Again, not much time because I have been traveling a lot due my dad's illness. One thing about going home though, there are a few good train stores there, and this weekend even a train show near by in Easley, SC. I have been buying stuff every weekend ...
I dont have one....yet :tb-wink: BUT...by looking at it... The part of the axle pickup that sticks thru the frame. If you think about it...the frame where it passes thru (down to the axles)...would act like a fulcrum. Seems this arrangement (drawbar contacts on the INSIDE)...would force the axle pickups harder against the axle ends at the bottom of the truck...which in theory...should make better contact and electrical stability. JMO of course. *What do I know...I am a diesel guy...LOL :tb-biggrin: .
It is still shorting out on left hand turns so I took the lead weight off (that I had added) thinking that was the problem, but it still shorts. The front left wheel is rubbing on the left front cylinder head casing, and I am confident this is causing the short because I see the spark and the cylinder casing has a groove starting to wearing in it. What would be causing this? Wheel out of gauge? Suggestion on how to fix it? I appreciate the help. It'll will crawl all night the other direction.
WHEEL OUT OF GAUGE IS A DEFINATE POSSIBILITY. (Oops hate cap loc) Another possibility is that the pilot truck is upside down. ( never heard of this problem on this loco, but they had it on the new 4-6-0 ) . This loco is supposed to be able to run on 9 3/4 inch curves, so something is definately off. Is the screw that holds the pilot truck seated properly ?...Mike
Thanks! I wanted to look at it last night in case I got a response but ran out of time. I I think the pilot truck is held on by a pin in the front of the plastic-gear-under-cover which is held on by 3 screws. I suppose the pilot truck could be upside down, but that makes me wonder why would it only touch on one side? If the wheels are out of gauge, it will be my first time trying to fix that. I have a Kato f3 with loose wheels that go out of gauge and I am thinking I need to learn how to properly set wheel gauge. I have a standards gauge.
