Large Scale 3 Truck Shay with Sound WSLC #4

[dbholc]

I recently received my $1200 (List price) Large Scale 3 Truck Shay Westside Lumber Company #4 with SoundTraxx sound.  Imagine my disappointment when I found no user guide included with the engine.  I was even more disappointed to find the CD, which contained numerous files but not info in them and.....no user guide there either. 

I used the DVD to learn how to lube the engine.  But ya know, if Bachmann is going to require the end user to have to do this, the least they could do is provide the lubricants or at least a starter set.  After receiving this little jewel, the first thing I wanted to do was to run it on my layout.  But no.  I had to waite until the next day when my local hobby shop (10 miles away!) would be open to get the lubricants.

Well after going thru all that and getting the thing all lubed up, guess what?  When I put power to the engine, the lights come on, the sound starts working, the engine moves about 2 inches and then IT COMES TO A COMPLETE ABRUPT STOP AND EVERYTHING SHUTS DOWN!  Good Grief.  Repeated attempts resulted in the same thing.  And the engine only goes forward regardless of which direction I set the polarity.  Is there something wrong with my track and power supply?  I don't think so.  All my other bachmann engines seem to run fine on my set up.

So, if anyone out there has any bright ideas about what to  try before I send this thing back, I would appreciate it.

Dennis

[Tim Brien]

Dennis,
            the 3-truck may draw more amperage than your other Bachmann locomotives and thus the power unit may not provide sufficient amperage and so trips off.  If the loco will restart after around 30 seconds then it is definately an issue with the power pack (an aoto-trip will normally reset within 30 - 60 seconds).  please provide current details on your power unit, make,  maximum voltage and amps output to assist troubleshooting.


            In so far as providing lubricants,  well this has been discussed many times previously.   The manufacturer will not provide lubricants as they have no control over leakage/contamination or shelf life issues with the item sitting in a wharehouse or on a dealer's shelf.    You are better off purchasing a quality grease and plastic compatible oil (LGB, Labelle).

[StanAmes]

Dennis

Sounds like something happened inside the loco.  Like a wire breaking off or the electronics failing.

But before jumping to that conclusion can you provide the following information on your power supply

Make
Model
Output Voltage
Amperage

That would help us understand what the problem might be.


Stan Ames

[dbholc]

My power supply is a Bridgeworks MAG 15.  Controller is an Aristocraft Train Engineer.  In the past I have been able to run Five trains simultaneously on my layout with this set up.  I seriously doubt the power suppy is the issue.

[dbholc]

The power unit does not trip off.  When I ran the 3 truck shay with my other locos on the track, they kept going when the shay stopped.  When I took all other trains off the track.  The shay did the same thing.  It abruptly stalled after going about 2 inches.

[Tony Walsham]

Try setting the TE to linear only.

Make sure the actual voltage going from the Mag 15 to the TE does not exceed 24 volts.

[StanAmes]

Does the headlight blink?  This is one sign of over voltage.

You might want to try a much smalller power supply designed for HO scale if you have one.  If the smaller supply works then it is likely that your BridgeWorks power supply is putting out move voltage then your Shay likes.

If the smaller lower voltage supply also does not work then you likely have a defective unit.

Stan

[Tim Brien]

Continuing on from what Tony has said,  I beleive that the 3-truck will trip when voltage exceeds 21 volts input.

[Tony Walsham]

My mistake.

Tim is correct. 
That means the MAG-15 should not exceed 21 - 22 volts going to the TE.

[Tony Walsham]

Hi Dennis.

Do you have a follow up as to what the problem was?

[Matthew (OV)]

I too am interested to hear what the solution was.  I'm assuming that Dennis was, as he should be, using the TE on "Linear" power, and not running at full throttle, which would put  the voltage threshold of 20 volts well above (if not TWICE) the voltage that the Shay, and his several other locomotives, were being run at.  While the voltage at the TE would be the full 24 volts, the voltage at the track was probably somewhere between 10-14 volts, unless he's trying to set the land speed record with a Shay .... which is something akin to running a bulldozer in the Daytona 500.

In any case .... unless he had it floored, overvoltage shouldn't be the problem.   

As to the broken wire, I would understand the locomotive stopping once, and then not moving again ... but this one seems to move a short distance and stop every time.  To me that suggests some kind of malfunction in the onboard electronics, particularly since the behavior was not noticed in other similar locomotives on the same track (albeit not equipped with the same kind of onboard electronics.)

As to using an HO power supply, I was under the impression that the reason we had the ones with the higher current output for large scale was that they had greater power requirements than HO locomotives.  That's why they generally recommend upgrading from the one that comes in the starter set if you plan to do anything but run your starter set in circles around the Christmas tree.  I can't imagine that substituting an HO power pack would solve the problem beyond demonstrating another failure of the electronics .... probably also due to operating beyond their design capacity.

So, Dennis, what'd you find out?  And please reassure me that even though your Bridgewerks CAN go to 22 volts that you're not trying to run any of your large scale stuff that fast!

Matthew (OV)

[Tim Brien]

I am making an assumption that the 22 volt overvoltage trip is a 'cv' on the board.  Is it possible that the value is set less than 22 volts on Dennis's loco causing it to trip below 22 volts?    The behaviour as noted by Dennis, is caused by a power interruption (trip).  The actual cause is still to be determined.