Quote from: richG on November 26, 2008, 04:31:18 PM
What are looking to buy? There are a couple online stores that use Pay Pal. One is The Favorite Spot on ebay that I and other purchase from. The Favorite Spot has good customer service.
Internet Trains uses Pay Pal. Both have good prices. I am sure others will mention sites that use Pay Pal.

Rich

I was looking for some replacement tender trucks for a bachmann loco, the ones with the electrical pickups. Also some 3 train sets for my grand kids.

I put items in my cart and tried to check out and pay for them with Paypal.

It asks me for a credit card number.

That, according to Paypal is NOT supposed to happen. The whole point of using Paypal is to avoid sending personal information over the net.

I do not want my credit card number sent over the net. All indications are, from what I read at the Paypal site is that the store may be "spoofed" or I am being re-directed to a dishonest site that is trying to scam my credit info.

Is Bachmann able to fix this? I'd like to get some things ordered in time for Christmas.


B0B

Take boiler off.
Four screws hold the fan.

Remove the screws.
Discard the two LONGER screws.
Flip the fan over and re-install the two SHORTER screws.

Put the boiler back on.

Look Guys. I don't want to start nothin.

I runing low on decoders.
I'm just trying to put together an order for enough decoders to get a discount.

If the board has been changed I'll order 3 with the plug and 7 with the screw terminals.

If the board has not been changed I'll order 10 with the screw terminals.

Quote from: the Bach-man on September 15, 2008, 11:12:17 PM
Dear Bob,
Glad you like it.
I'd address the decoder question to Digitrax directly.
Thanks!
the Bach-man

I do not have a question about the decoder, so there is nothing for me too ask Digitrax.

My question is about the Mallet.

Has the inrush and high current spiking problem in the Kay circuit been fixed or not in the Mallet.

Any modern decoder that is capable of delivering track voltage to the Kay without a lot of loss will have Schottky Diodes in the bridge rectifier. Any such decoder can not be used in the Kay because there are two 470 micro-farad capacitors three voltage regulators and 7 current regulators connected directly to the decoder's bridge rectifier output.

These components cause current spikes at every DCC signal transition through zero volts.

Any decoder that uses Schottky diodes have a very low forward resistance. These are used to reduce heat in the decoder and provide better control of the loco. They can deliver much higher current to the loco. However, the Kay design violates a simple rule, It does not limit inrush. Capacitors should never be connected directly to a decoder output. Schottky diodes will deliver enough current to instantly shut down most brands of boosters. Regular diodes, because of their higher internal forward resistance still SPIKE the booster but not enough to shut down the boosters. BUT THEY STILL SPIKE the booster if there are capacitors connected directly to the decoder. The spikes from multiple locos will combine. THIS SEVERELY LIMITS THE NUMBER OF LOCOS THAT CAN BE RUN ON A SINGLE BOOSTER TO WAY FEWER THAN WHAT THE BOOSTER SHOULD HANDLE.

On my Kay, I had to rewire the to capacitors into a twin "T" filter. This involved simply adding three resistors or chokes, one before the first capacitor, one between the two capacitors and one after the second capacitor. Going to a Twin "T" filter circuit also reduces the size of the capacitors needed, two 200 micro-farad capacitors will allow reduce the problems at power on.
This would have been a simple modification except that the first capacitor is in the tender and the second capacitor is in the boiler. I had hoped that I would not be required to open the boiler on the Kay to install a decoder.

If that problem has been fixed, then I can use any modern high current decoder, can run multiple Kays and Mallets without false booster shutdowns, and program them on any system without the need for special "programming boosters".


So, I will restate the question.

Has the circuit in the Mallet been changed from what the Kay had? Specifically, to reduce the inrush current so that high power, low impedance PNP decoders can be used and multiple locos with any decoder can be run without false shutdowns.? Yes or no.

I use 6 of the DS64's.

I do not have LocoNet or a power supply attached too them.

The simply connect to the track and the four turnouts.


Obviously, you know how to THROW turnouts 1 through 4

SO, You Obviously know how to throw turnouts 5, 9, 10 and 11. Right?


To program a DS64 so that the four turnouts connected to it are addressed 5, 9, 10 and 11, here is what you do:

Press and hold the ID button till the LED next to it starts slowly flashing, Takes about three seconds. Make sure you don't wiggle the switch during the three seconds of you have to wait another three seconds. Once the LED starts flashing, release the switch. The LED should continue SLOWLY flashing.

You are now ready to set the stationary addresses of the four turnouts on that DS64.

From your throttle:THROW switch 5 (the LED will start flashing faster.)
From your throttle:THROW switch 9 (the LED will flash faster.)
From your throttle:THROW switch 10 (the LED will flash even faster.)
From your throttle:THROW switch 11 (the LED will stop, you are done..)

Oh!, You CAN set up routes and operate them, You do not need loconet to do that either. Any system that can throw and close stationary addresses can program and use all of the features.

WOW! Thanks for taking the time to make this freeware.

Where is the link to download it.
I looked at the TrainLi link, but do not see a download for it.

BoB

I love the looks of the new Mallet, however, I am a Digitrax user, so need to know, will the DG583AR I bought for my Kays work in the NMRA socket in the Mallet.

I notice in the pictures that the same circuit board used in the Kay are also used in the Mallet. Has there been any improvement to the filter circuit to reduce inrush and prevent it from creating booster shutdowns.

I have wanted an afordable Mallet for years. Three of them would be a great addition to my railroad.

Thanks Jim
The sound decoder is from Digitrax. I did my own programing for the sound card.

I'll try to send screen dumps to Bridget too.

B0B

OK, I got through.

However, They need me to fax a reciept.

(1) I don't have a fax
(2) I don't have a paper reciept because it was ordered on line.

My Kay was ordered September 20, 2007  from www.wholesaletrains.com,
Order #:  200717395   The only reciept I have is electronic via the web from Wholesaletrains and paypal.

I included electronic copies of the reciepts on at least one of the forms I submitted.

I was told on the phone that I need to have wholesaletrains fax the reciept, so I called them. They will fax the reciept to Bachmann tomorrow. The nice lady at Wholesaletrains was very helpfull and understanding, good people to deal with.

Thank

B0B
PS. How'd you like the video?

Been trying, only get busy siganls.

But then, why do I need to call?

If the form does not work, then it should be fixed or removed.
If the form does work, then send the counterweights to the address I indicated on the form.... -OR- send me an email letting me know if or when they will ship.

I'll keep trying the phone....


B0B

Here is a video of my first test run of the Kay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxhs6ds_IkI

She sure looks good.

I am still having issues with the drive train, one counterweight is bent. I've ordered replacements via email using the form provided, but no response yet. Does this form work? I resent it three times and it is now close to 6 weeks with not so much as an acknowledgment email.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/serviceform.php

B0B

My Kay video is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxhs6ds_IkI

B0B

As mentioned above, the fan seems to play no part in cooling the motor.

It does suck any smoke produced by the smoke unit back inside the loco.

While removing or disconnecting the fan may reduce the noise, and it will allow some smoke to escape up the stack. DO NOT REMOVE OR DISCONNECT THE FAN.

It's real purpose seems to be to cool the circuit board, including the two 12 volt regulators seen in the above photo on the board just to the right of the fan.

One of those regulators is for the smoke unit, the other is for fan itself.
If you remove the fan, the regulator for the smoke unit will fail. The regulator might take out the bridge rectifier on the dummy board, decoder or RC unit when it fails. The fan will also prevent any problems with the lighting regulator circuits this summer when temperatures start to soar. Even If you leave the smoke generator turned off, I'd advise not removing the fan, just reversing it. Reversing the fan also improves the air flow and therefore the cooling of the board.

When reversing the fan, be sure to discard the two longer screws. Also inspect the wiring running directly over the fan, they may have been damaged by the long screws during assembly, Tape up any wires where the insulation is damaged.

One final note. The fan is a DC brushless motor, You can NOT make it blow the other direction by reversing the wiring,

Work, no!!
But I was able to run the motor by connecting the track and motor. NOTHING ELSE!