12-11-2010, 10:51 PM
I would, as Randy suggest, indeed have a look at contact problems. Those plastic clips on the circuit board are a good idea, but don't always work well.
They could have shifted in transportation (god only knows the way parcels get treated in logistics centers etc) for example. I'd get rid of those, and solder the wires straight to the PCB. A bad contact can have the same effect as a resistor, and then taking up part of the applied voltage so you need more before the loco responds, be it lights or whatever (and on DCC it programs very difficult if at all).
If you don't trust yourself to solder , do you know someone in your area who could do it for you (say for a cool glass of the beer variety? )? It takes a little bit of patience. I would also clean the wheels and bushings out. Put a little isopropyl alcohol or other contact cleaner on a q tip and rub the surfaces, you'll be amazed what comes of those wheels, even when new!.
Koos
PS it may help to take a couple pics of it if this doesn't work, one from the bottom so we can see all wheels and trucks, from the top so we can see the PCB with wires attached and how they go to the trucks etc, and from the sides too. One of us may spot something that you may have overlooked or didn't recognise as being a problem?
They could have shifted in transportation (god only knows the way parcels get treated in logistics centers etc) for example. I'd get rid of those, and solder the wires straight to the PCB. A bad contact can have the same effect as a resistor, and then taking up part of the applied voltage so you need more before the loco responds, be it lights or whatever (and on DCC it programs very difficult if at all).
If you don't trust yourself to solder , do you know someone in your area who could do it for you (say for a cool glass of the beer variety? )? It takes a little bit of patience. I would also clean the wheels and bushings out. Put a little isopropyl alcohol or other contact cleaner on a q tip and rub the surfaces, you'll be amazed what comes of those wheels, even when new!.
Koos
PS it may help to take a couple pics of it if this doesn't work, one from the bottom so we can see all wheels and trucks, from the top so we can see the PCB with wires attached and how they go to the trucks etc, and from the sides too. One of us may spot something that you may have overlooked or didn't recognise as being a problem?
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