4-6-0 Tweeks and Tips (revised)

[duddy09]

Dear friends,

I finnaly got my 4-6-0 , it arrived yesterday here in São Paulo - Brazil .

A little jewel  !!!!

But, to my "surprise" ( or not... )  the locomotive does NOT move, although the lights are on...

Tested other locomotives  in my DC track, all of them are moving...

I don't know if it will move in a DCC track , but I imagine it should work in a ... simple DC track !

Contacted " The Favorite Spot " , where I bought the engine, and they promptly answered that  I have two options :

- contact Bachmann ( to probably  send - at my expense -  the engine to be fixed by them )

- send the engine ( my expense...  ) to The Favorite Spot to be refunded


A third option is to try to fix the problem here in Brazil ( it will cost about 25 U$ ), just a little more expensive than the mail costs to send the  loco to USA  (  Bachmann or TFS ) .


Any comment

Thanks !!!

[skipgear]

It should run fine on DC without changes. If the lights are on, it's getting power. What type of transformer are you using? There have been some qwirks with pulse power DC transformers confusing the dual mode decoders.

Other than that, look for broken wires or a smoked decoder. If you are going to run it on DC only, follow the instructions included to eliminate the DCC decoder and see if it runs. I've seen a couple with DOA decoders.

[duddy09]

Dear Skip,

thanks for the quick response.

My transformer is a DC Bachmann set and , as I said, other DC and DCC locos are running perfectly, so the problem IS is the  4-6-0.

I  intend to use this and other Bachmann , Kato  and Atlas DCC locos in the future, once my grandfather is bringing from Germany a Fleishmann DCC transformer.

Externally I don't see any broken wire, and I am afraid to open the engine to see inside.

I think I could test the engine in a hobby shop here in São Paulo and see what is going on.

Do you think if  I  re-program the DCC values it could work, as you say in your "second step" rules

Thanks a lot,

Luiz

[skipgear]

I doubt it is a programing issue. It is probably a dead decoder if you don't see any broken wires. One place left ot check is for broken wires in the tender. The tender shell is easy to remove and inspect the decoder. If the decoder smells, that is an easy indicator that the magic smoke no longer resides inside the decoder and it is time for repair. Look for loose wires or a cold solder joint. I had one that a wire had come loose inside and touched elsewhere on the board and shorted the decoder. It was getting a tender swap anyhow so I didn't bother with getting it fixxed.