Keep Alive in Bachmann Sound Value Alco S4

[Trainman21]

Hello, I have a Bachmann DCC Sound Value Alco S4 and when in operation, would often stall over switches, which are mainly Atlas Mark IVs. I don't really want to spend the money to replace all the switches right now so I would like to install one of those Keep Alive capacitors onto the decoder board, but I don't know how. I was wondering if anyone on here had any success installing a Keep Alive on a similar locomotive using the same Sound Value decoder board and if so, how? Thanks.

[jward]

why not just power the frogs on the switches? if they are in fact atlas mark iv, the frog is metal, and with the use of a snap relay you can wire the frog to eliminate the dead spots. that would probably be easier and less risky than adding caps to the decoder.

also, a diesel tat is supposed to be picking up current off all wheels shouldn't stall on an atlas frog. you may want to make sure that all wheels on this loco are in fact picking up current.

[brokenrail]

Removed the drive wheels and bend your contacts out for better tension on the backs of the wheel set .Wile your there ,clean the back of the wheels off from excessive lube,Re- assemble and get a paper towl  and get it wet with some alcohol and run your engine over it one truck at a time .These wheels do not show dirt buildup like some ,but it is there.Clean your track! There is no room for a current keeper anyways. I have 2 of them and besides the pickups being weak and the wires break at come loose under the plastic caps.They run over my not so clean rail and a dozen atlas switches with un powered frogs without stalling .Sometimes those atlas switches bow up in the middle and cause the wheel to actually lift off the rail since the trucks are rigid and do not have springs .Check flatness of the turnout.
Johnny Adam

[West Bound]

I had this same problem. I bent the wipers as well and thought I had the issue fixed. It helped but still had the problem. Ran the engine back and forth over the frogs (atlas #6) and discovered the wheel axles were tight in the frames and did not allow any vertical movement. Snapped the wheels out of the frames and drilled a slightly larger hole, very slight,  for the axles. I don't have the drill size, away from home for a few days. I also took a round file and slightly elongated the hole. Now she runs over every frog at speed 1. -John West

[bapguy]

 Contact Soundtraxx for help. I believe this decoder has a cap on it already and might bot be suited for an add on.  Joe

[rogertra]

Why don't Bachmann simply add a keep alive capacitor as a stock item?  They are not that expensive.

Cheers

Roger T.

[brokenrail]

They need to stop using the wire that they wire the loco with .Too brittle .If you touch it a few times it will break. Good wiring will transfer power from the trucks to the board much better .It seemed to have cure those same electrical pick up issues along with more contact pressure to the backs of the wheels.If anyone has a bad spot in there switches longer then this switchers wheel base .They need to fix there switch or make sure both trucks are picking up current from both sides of the loco.It will only cause a stall with the older locos that pick up current from one side of each truck.Those guard rails on the switches may be too high lifting the truck because of the clearance with the bottom of the trucks gear bulges on the bottom of the truck on each side.See if there is any scraping on the bottom of the truck.If there is check what is scraping it.
IT gets pretty close and may hit if the switch is not level/warped.
Johnny