Its Offical!!!

[petdrus]

Righto guys, back with ya all.  1st, thx to the replies to my "Gear Ratio" ?  Now, about my Spectrum HO N&W 4-8-4 Class "J" (item 83904)  Why is it that she seems so ...um... sluggish.  She stalls with just 4 Pullman heavyweights, on good track, well powered (NCE Procab) large radius (26" min) & only 1.5% grade.  She stalls, or grinds to a halt, no wheelspin, whilst the Tsunami sound races on full speed???  MY Spectrum's K4 4-6-2 (item 84114) will go full noise with 6 heavy's, my USRA 2-6-6-2 will pull 36 coal hoppers no problem.  My best performer, Blueline's ATSF 4-8-4 (item 5160) rocks, but she is fitted with traction tyres.  Come on Mr Bach Man, help me out here, any ideas will be tried.  I have tested & tested again & again.  Why???  I was gifted with this beautiful loco, so I will not give up on her.  As a matter of intrest, I also have a Bachmann Branch-line Class 55 Deltic Diesel (item 32-530DS) 'St Paddy' which suffers from a very similar problem.  THX. Peter.

[JerryB]

petdrus:

ABC's suggestion to use a traction enhancing material (Bullfrog Snot, found at http://www.bullfrogsnot.com/) on the wheels will not help your problem.

If as you reported, the wheels stop rather than spin, it is obvious that something is wrong in the electrical / motor / gear train area rather than suffering a traction problem. The fact that another of your Bachmann locomotives appears to exhibit the same behavior is also interesting.

Some possibilities are drive train cleanliness, lubrication, DCC programming or output issues, a defective motor, gear train, or DCC board.

I am not an expert on DCC equipped H0 locomotives, but perhaps someone who is (Jim Banner?) will come along and provide some trouble shooting advice.

I hope someone here is able to help beyond our guesses.

Happy RRing,

Jerry

[JerryB]

ABC's repeat suggestion to use a traction enhancing material  on the wheels will not help your problem.

I'm just a bit confused, I've never recommended bullfrog snot on this forum, did you perhaps confuse me with someone else?

ABC:

WHOOPS! My Bad. I apologize for the erroneous inclusion!

I confused two similar posts without reviewing either of them. Fixed now.

And your suggestion to use Bullfrog Snot is right on if the problem is spinning drivers. That doesn't appear to be the case here, thus my comment.

Happy RRing,

Jerry

[r0bert]

The Tsunami's BEMF and Torque compensation have to be adjusted and set up.

[bobwrgt]

On the j check to see if all the drive wheels make contact with the rail and how much pressure is on them. Some times the bottom cover can be so tight. It lifts some of the wheels off the track. Back off some of the screws.
The pilot truck and trailing truck spring can also be supporting to much weight. Try removing the spring or use a smaller one. Check the tender wheels for drag. Yes the contacts on the axel can be tight enough to keep the wheels from turning.
On the Deltic. Check to see if all the wheels sit firm on the track. On 6 wheel trucks Bachmann has had a problem with all the weight resting on the center wheel of the truck. The other wheels made very little contact and much of the traction was lost. You can fix this by making the center wheel hole deeper spreading the weight to the other two wheels.

Bob

[Jim Banner]

Try bullfrog snot on one drive wheel.

ABC, if you didn't post the above, who did?  Is there more than one ABC posting on this site?

Or am I missing something here?

Jim

^{re message msg110202}

[Jim Banner]

Petdrus,

If I understand correctly. the chuff rate is set by the BEMF, which is a measure of motor speed.  And that is why you do not need a chuff cam to have the chuffing start just as the locomotive starts, not before, and not after.

If my understanding is correct, then a very fast cuff rate would indicate that the motor is racing and producing lots of BEMF.  A racing motor combined with the wheels not turning almost invariably means a gear slipping on a shaft.  And the usual cause of that is a split gear.

Try muting the sound and putting your ear right on the locomotive.  If the motor is spinning but the wheels not, you can often hear the spinning sound.  Please let us know the results.

Jim

[Jim Banner]

Thanks for filling me in.

Jim

[Thomas1911]

This problem sounds nearly identical to the one I'm having with a Decapod in my thread in the HO forum.

[r0bert]

this is the complete cv list with the values I used. 
i really had to monkey around with the values to get it to run right.

CV = VALUE        
1=3   43=1   83=155   141=64
2=0   44=4   84=164   142=64
3=10   45=128   85=173   143=0
4=10   46=16   86=182   145=0
7=80   47=0   87=191   146=96
8=141   49=1   88=200   147=0
10=255   50=1   89=209   177=25
11=0   51=1   90=219   178=50
12=1   52=2   91=228   179=10
13=0   59=3   92=237   180=10
14=3   60=4   93=246   181=255
16=0   61=0   94=255   182=255
17=194   62=0   95=128   183=255
18=94   63=20   105=0   184=255
19=0   64=160   106=4   185=42
21=0   66=128   112=0   186=64
22=0   67=9   113=0   187=255
23=0   68=18   114=4   188=102
24=0   69=27   115=0   193=15
25=3   70=36   116=90   194=28
29=6   71=45   128=255   195=4
30=4   72=55   129=255   196=3
33=17   73=64   130=92   197=31
34=18   74=73   131=90   198=31
35=8   75=82=   132=48   209=255
36=4   76=91   133=32   210=255
37=16   77=100   134=16   212=255
38=32   78=109   135=32   213=20
39=0   79=118   136=128   214=10
40=0   80=127   137=128   
41=16   81=137   139=128   
42=128   82=146   140=64   

[the Bach-man]

Dear Peter,
If it stalls under full power I'd return it or send it in for repair.
Thanks!
the Bach-man

[Doneldon]

ABC -

I'm sure I read one of your posts which said to use Bullfrog Snot and which said where to obtain it.

                                                                                   -- D

[ABC]

I'm sure I read one of your posts which said to use Bullfrog Snot and which said where to obtain it.

We're getting off-topic here, so here's the final comment on the matter: I have never gone to the bullfrog snot website let alone told somebody else what the url was.