BACHMANN QUALITY QUESTION

[darticus]

I had a Norfolk and Western N loco that wouldn't work for crap. It seemed to be a problem with no connection in the tender car to the track. Which I was able to fix. Than it stopped working totally. I sent it back and it was replaced with what  looked like a used loco or serviced loco. Upon opening it to install a DCC unit I found wires with no covering and possibly shorting. I didn't run this loco before this as I have only DCC. Is there a best way to coat these wires so they don't cause problems? Hope it work after the install of DCC. SEE PIC.  THANKS RON

[Doneldon]

dart-

I suppose Bachmann is counting on the wires' own rigidity to keep them from contacting one another. I can't tell for certain what kind of wire was used but the rigidity trick might just work if they used stranded wire and the solder ran up the wire a ways. Still, I wouldn't be comfortable with this.

The "best" way to resolve this would be to unsolder the wires, cut them off so only 1/8" of bare wire shows, and then resolder them to the soldering pads on the socket board. You can also unsolder the wires, slip on some heat shrink tubing and then resolder. I don't see any advantage to this unless you need every fraction of an inch to reconnect things. The quick and dirty way to do this would be to lay a piece of electrical tape across the wires in a way that keeps them separated as they are and then fold the tape back over the wires so you have a flat bundle of wires and tape with the wires held apart. You could wrap each wire individually first (I wouldn't bother with this) and then wrap all four wires as a unit. The allover wrap should compensate for electrical tape's lack of long-term adhesion. I'd probably put an extra wrap or two around the bundle whichever way I did the wrapping. You could staple between the wires but that would be a problem if the staples contact other electrical components inside the loco or tender. I would omit this step myself.

Good luck with your new old loco. Or your old new loco. Or ... well, the loco you wrote about.
                                                           -- D

[the Bach-man]

Fear Dart,
Please contact service. They will take care of this.
Thanks!
the Bach-man

[r0bert]

the wires are coated with clear lacquer insulation, with the part that shows outside of the loco painted black.

[darticus]

If what your saying is true there shouldn't be a problem with wires touching. Great! I should be good. I did paint the outside black again. Now how do I find out if these two wires that came off are in the right positions. I soldered them back where I think they go but afraid to hook up a Tsunami 750 sound unit and burn it out because the two wires were in the wrong positions. Is there a way to know if the wires are in the correct place? Here is a pic showing the two wires, marked in blue are the two that came off, and now re-attached hopingly correctly. Thanks Ron

the wires are coated with clear lacquer insulation, with the part that shows outside of the loco painted black.

[darticus]

I was hoping to work on this this weekend. I called yesterday but know one got back. Is there a way to tell which wire goes where in the plug as two came off. See pic above. Thanks Ron

Fear Dart,
Please contact service. They will take care of this.
Thanks!
the Bach-man