2-10-0 Russian Decapod

Cooped · February 06, 2009, 10:14:57 PM

Just thought I'd share my experience with my new Decapod. When I tried to run it for the first time nothing happened, lights would not come on and it wouldn't move so I immediatly suspected a short somewhere.

To cut a 45 minute investigation short what I found was the copper strips inside the body that make contact with the wheels to pick up the current were maybe 1/2 mm too long (in horizontal length) and were therefore raised up bridge like and making contact with the metal weighted base in the loco. To solve I just cut a couple of strips of paper and stuck them over the offending contacts to insulate from the rest of the loco, with a space to allow the gear to fit in it's dip. Screwed it back together and it worked a charm.

Hopefully this will help someone else who may experience the same. I may have a loco with paper inside now (actually strips of an Acme supermarket kid sticker that my son graciously volunteered for the task), but saved on sending the thing back!

Dan

Daylight4449 · February 06, 2009, 11:12:07 PM

It is from the first run, they almost all had shorts there.

Tylerf · February 06, 2009, 11:25:06 PM

Huh there's something very wrong with that

Cooped · February 07, 2009, 09:03:08 AM

Hmm, yes, one has to think if the problem was that widespread some sort of quality control would have picked it up. Well, it's not stopping my enjoyment of the thing, in fact I'm kind of proud I figured it out having never taken a loco apart before.

Cooped · February 07, 2009, 09:25:42 AM

Found an interesting thread from 2007 on this issue. search 'the spectrum decapods'

mnallis · February 20, 2009, 11:00:01 PM

WOW thanks for the quick response, the drivers are shorted so I will do the fix when I get home tomorrow. I feel a little sheepish not having checked closer before posting but I've never had a total failure on a new engine before

Center axle was shorted, quick and easy fix

Yampa Bob · February 21, 2009, 01:20:46 AM

Cooped,
Yep, it does feel good to solve a problem like this one. I wonder how many locomotives are returned that could have been easily fixed with a few minutes of thoughtful troubleshooting.

Regards.

ta152h0 · February 21, 2009, 07:34:42 PM

Sorta tend to agree with you here, up to a point. Having worked in an industry where errors get to be expensive and way down the line long after the customer has operated the system it is always good to let the manufacturer know there is a problem. Sometimes that is direct by the expense of having to return the locomotive and exchange for a new one ( quite possibly just replacing the problem with another one ) . Sometimes that is not so direct by calling the service dept and that is where it dies ( never makes it to the actual person assembling the locomotive). Here there is a third option, Mr Bachmann who I am sure has great influence " back home ". In summary, I'd want to feel the pain real time when the customer has pains. And give the quality control guy some more training.

Pacific Northern · February 21, 2009, 08:19:42 PM

Quote from: Daylight4449 on February 06, 2009, 11:12:07 PM
It is from the first run, they almost all had shorts there.

The first few runs of the Russian engines were fine, great running engines.

It was the 2006 run that was the big problem, check the forum by searching the Russian. One reader in this forum indicated that these particular engines were taken off the shelves and returned.

Yampa Bob · February 22, 2009, 03:53:16 AM

Whenever I fix what I consider to be a defect, I usually post a comment here so that the Bach-man knows about the problem.

If you read my thread "Pictures and Diagrams", I reported a lot of problems with the tenders, and I'm slowly getting the issues resolved.

Cooped · February 22, 2009, 10:38:15 AM

I agree, a manufacturer (or an individual person for that matter) will never be successful if they don't know about their errors to have the opportunity to fix them. Everybody is entitled to a little screw up once in a while, it's how you respond to your error that defines you as a person or a company. I would hope that as Bob says the comments on this forum are seen by the Bach Man and acted upon so they can improve their product. Or else people may vote with their feet ('their cash') and just buy from someone else. How about a comment from the Bach Man himself as to what happened and what has/is being done in the case of the Decapods?

Dan

ta152h0 · February 24, 2009, 10:12:51 PM

the Bachmann 2-10-0 decapod was my first foray into DCC ready and subsequent world of DCC operations. Had this locomotive been a pile of bad engineering, i am sure i would be reticent about buying another one for the rest of my career as a Bachmann shopper.

db22 · February 25, 2009, 10:24:45 AM

Quote from: Yampa Bob on February 22, 2009, 03:53:16 AM
Whenever I fix what I consider to be a defect, I usually post a comment here so that the Bach-man knows about the problem.

If you read my thread "Pictures and Diagrams", I reported a lot of problems with the tenders, and I'm slowly getting the issues resolved.

Bob, your intensions are good but there is very little evidence to suggest that Bachmann industries even monitors this forum. I too had the same issue with my new Decapod but it is obvious that these products are not even tested before leaving the factory and even if you register your new purchase, nobody gets back to you with a recall or a solution. Most of the problems are solved by owners and not the manufacturer because the manufacturer does not appear to care less about sending out product that plainly does not function as intended. I work in an electro-mechanical environment as a maintenance engineer so I do not wish to go home and do the same because of a manufacturers incompetance. If you think that this is complaining then you should read the hundreds of posts regarding Bachmanns literature! I too make suggestions and post observations regarding Bachmann products but I have seen nothing change.

the Bach-man · February 25, 2009, 10:29:29 PM

Dear db,
I read every post, every night. I report any issues to the appropriate person. Sometimes things take a while to change, and some things, perhaps, never will. The bad run of Decapods was addressed, and any that remain a problem will be replaced.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

db22 · February 26, 2009, 09:46:09 AM

Quote from: the Bach-man on February 25, 2009, 10:29:29 PM
Dear db,
I read every post, every night. I report any issues to the appropriate person. Sometimes things take a while to change, and some things, perhaps, never will. The bad run of Decapods was addressed, and any that remain a problem will be replaced.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

Thank you Bach-man.

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2-10-0 Russian Decapod