TCS Keep Alive install On30 two truck climax w sound

[kibort]

Would like to install a TCS Keep Alive KA2 into a Spectrum On30 climax that is sound decoder equipped.  Looking to see if anyone has performed this successfully or if the contact points can be identified by someone familiar with the decoder boards in this unit.

Thanks

Steve Kibort
S. Petersburg, Fl

[Stevelewis]

Theoretically it  is  possible  to  fit a   Keep Alive unit  to 0n30 locos,  but  I am  wondering  why  you  find  it  nescessary?

I suspect  you  may be  having  problems  with  this one  loco?  Does  it  tend  to  stall   or  the  sound stop &  re start?

If  so   you more  than  likely  have  a pickup problem on one  of  the  bogies  ( sorry  trucks!)

I have had  a problem with one  of  my Climax locos when it  was   first purchased new,  it  stopped & started  sound  stopped etc,  I  quickly  tested  the  power  pickup  from   the  wheels  by inverting the  loco  and  applying power to each set of  wheels,  I found one trucks  contacts  were not properly contacting the  rubbing plate above it and therefore not always  sending power to the  decoder, this meant  that when  the  other  truck  which  was  fine  was on a section of  track  which was not as clean as it should have  been lost  power,  the  faulty truck  was not always doing its  job thus causing the problems,

It  was  simple a matter  of adjusting  the  contacts on the  truck with  fine nosed pliers  and  all  was fixed  the  loco has  worked perfectly  since,
The trucks  can be unclipped from the  chassis  by carefully pulling  them.

Hope this  helps.

[richg]

Look at the below link. This will challenge you knowledge of how DCC decoders work.

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/mainnorth/alive.htm

The stay alive is connected right across the main filter capacitor in a decoder. This many times is the largest cap next to the full wave bridge. The blue wire is positive common. Finding the negative side on the decoder is usually the challenge.
What confuses some is the blue wire is positive and called common.
Most circuits in electronics, negative is common.

Anyone reading this message, store the link in Favourites to give to others.

Rich

[KenHecker]

You can install a keep alive capacitor to compensate for dirty track (and other problems) by installing a 220uF, 25 volt capacitor from the probably unused Green/Yellow wire from your decoder to the blue wire (which is like a common to your front and rear headlamps).  The + wire from the capacitor connects to the Blue wire.  I believe SoundTraxx sells that capacitor if it didn't come with the decoder.