09-18-2009, 08:30 PM
I ran into a short on a Kado Mikado after doing a DCC with sound install. I could not find a problem any where. I have done many of these locos and feel I know them well. This one was different!!! After removing all of the decoder wiring I checked each and every wire- All check OK. Then I checked the frame halfs--I had an electrical path between the halfs? How can this be? I could not find any metal between the two halfs, but still had conductivity between the two??
I started to remove the screws that hold the frame halfs together, and when I lossened the rear screw the conductivity would go away. Tighten it up and the frame would become one piece of metal. After removing the screw and it mating nut I found a very small sliver of metal that had come from ( who knows where) on the screw, the head of the screw would make contact with this metal sliver and press it to the other frame half. Cleaned the screw and the frame halfs were no longer showing any conductivity. The short was gone AT LAST!
It is the small things that get you somtimes.
I started to remove the screws that hold the frame halfs together, and when I lossened the rear screw the conductivity would go away. Tighten it up and the frame would become one piece of metal. After removing the screw and it mating nut I found a very small sliver of metal that had come from ( who knows where) on the screw, the head of the screw would make contact with this metal sliver and press it to the other frame half. Cleaned the screw and the frame halfs were no longer showing any conductivity. The short was gone AT LAST!
It is the small things that get you somtimes.