Ok, so I have been troubleshooting this loco with the help of my club for the past week now. I have ruled out the decoder, because it worked fine in another frame, and the loco runs fine on DC, but for some reason, it just doesn't like having a decoder. Anyone else have this same issue?
Oh, which decoder are you using? The most likely problem is one of two things. First, the decoder board thickness may be too thin and the front of the decoder is not setting in the slots of the frame properly. There are many ways to fix this like adding a little solder to the pads etc. The second issue may not be a good enough connection with the motor leads. That fix is also pretty straight forward. Either bend the motor tab panels in just slightly, and it that doesn't work, you can kink the motor leads a little bit and see if that helps, or you can solder the motor leads to the decoder panels. When using Digitrax decoders, I have to do some combination of these activities to get them to work. So O switched to TCS and never have to play these sorts of games. It may very well be the reason why Kato switched from Digitrax to TCS decoders in their Kobo line.
thanks, I have a series of tests I want to try, but I don't have my throttle here in California yet, its on its way from NY today, so I should have it early next week for some trouble shooting!
I have had to add some solder to almost every Digitrax decoder I installed in the last five years. The first several locos that received Digitrax decoders were OK. but I think the new boards are thinner than the older ones and are not tight in the frames. The original light boards fit fine. But i'm still going to use Digitrax decoders.
I had the same problem with my P42 "Genesis" Loco with a Digitrax decoder. I had to basically cover the top area with Kypton tape to isolate the decoder from the frame. So maybe that could help, or another problem i've had is the little pull down tabs not connecting correctly with the decoder. Overall the Kato C44-9W's work really well once the decoder is in there, I've learned that once they are in there to not mess with it anymore after that, lol, DCC is fun but does get interesting.
Does it run well with the DC light board? If so then it is a decoder problem. Since it is a Kato then there is not any tabs to fit tighter as in an Atlas engine.
I runs perfect in DC, and its decoder works fine in my other Kato C44-9W, I took it to my Club's DCC Guru, and He couldn't figure it out either. The decoder works fine, and the engine works on DC, the decoder from my other C44-9W doesn't work in this one either, so it has to have something to do with the frame.
When you say "doesn't work" can you provide more details? Do the lights come on? Can you program it successfully? Any other clues?
Sure, the decoder is programmed, because it runs fine in my other c44-9W, but when I put in the one in question, only the lights work, it wont move.
Will it run with then shell off and the decoder installed? I'm thinking maybe binding? Tryt to see if the motor is trying to turn at all. just a thought. Martin Myers
No, it wont run with decoder installed, shell on or off. And yes, I cant find a reason why this isn't working. I ordered another C44-9W so I will swap the frame out and hopefully it will work!
i bet the lower motor contact shorts out the decoder. you need to slide in a piece of kapton tape between the motor contact and the frame for the lower contact as well. been there done that.
No it wont. I just got another C44-9W, my third one, I took the decoder out of the one that was giving me issues, and it works great in the new one...until the motor started making loud screeching noises and now it wont run either, but I think it may be a motor issue. I also noticed that the engine leeds on the original one that doesn't work are shorter than the ones on the new one I got yesterday, so maybe thats part of the issue. I am going to keep tinkering with them this week, and then hand them over to my DCC Guru at my club on saturday if I don't make any headway.
