Headlight on Spectrum 2-6-0

[Richard1]

I recently purchased a Bachmann 2-6-0, Item No. 51813. I use an NCE PowerCab system. There seems to be a problem with the headlights - they keep flickering, and when the engine is at a higher speed it shuts off completely. Yet, when I take it to our club layout which is Digitrax, it functions properly. What am I doing wrong? Is there a CV that needs adjusting?
Richard Palmer

[Joe Satnik]

Dear Rich,

It may be a connectivity problem on your layout, i.e., dirty tracks or rail joiners, intermittent power feed, or a lack of power feeds around it.

A "Stay-Alive" capacitor on board your loco may help.

Start by cleaning your tracks. 

If you have a loop with a single power feed, disconnect the track joint just to the right of the track power feed, then send your loco to the left. 

When the lights start to flicker, stop the loco and repair the joiners just behind your loco. 

Once fixed, move on to the next flicker and repair the joint behind it.

When all but the disconnected right joint are fixed, re-connect the joint, then disconnect the joint to the left of the power feed,

then send your loco to the right, repairing joints as needed.

When hooking up extra power feeds, be sure the polarity of each feed is correct to avoid shorting out your power. 

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

   

[richg]

DCC is quite sensitive to any kind of power interruption. The microprocessor on the decoder resets.

Rich