Walthers F7 (Factory DC) LM-2S Install and Question

[Tom]

OK, I do not understand most of this (use an installer myself), but if there is a very real potential for a quirky aspect of the LM-2 vis-à-vis the motor, factory circuit board, or whatever else, Ring might be willing to look at the locomotive with those various parts to see if he can figure it out.  I have sent a locomotive with the LM-2 installed to Ring and it turned out the LM-2S was defective, which was rectified.

Tom

[TwinStar]

Michael, welcome back! I hope the ankle is well.

[Michael Larson]

Jacob,

Thank you, it's good to be back.  Thanks for your kind words about my injury.  Surgery went well, so now it is just a matter of being patient.  So disappointed I had to drop out of the NTS, it looked like a great deal of fun.  Looking forward to running trains on your DUT next year!

Tom,

I had thought about sending one of the engines to Tim.  Don't remember my reasoning as to why I didn't.  In my case I don't think it's a defective LM-2S as all four engines (ABBA) suffer the same malady.  And trust me, I have other units that can be fitted with these modules; they most definitely won't sit around collecting dust.  Because I didn't have one on hand, the only thing I didn't try was an LM-3S.  Perhaps I will do that before making a final decision.

JimW,

DCC and I get along ok.  I am not dead set against it.  So I find nothing objectionable with a mix.  At this point it's inevitable for many.  A friend is all RP except for that new Walthers Plymouth.  There is likely always going to be some engine for which RP just won't be practical or possible.  Such is the fate of an after-market product.  This will not stop me from moving forward with RP.  Next up is a group of eight brass E-units from the 80's that are crying out for attention.

I agree about the test track.  But you have a plan and are in a situation to implement it.  You are far ahead of many of us in that regard.  My only outlet for running trains is modular railroading.  As such I only get to run three, maybe for times a year (when I don't do things to sabotage it, like breaking my ankle  ).  May your layout room, and layout, go swiftly and smoothly!

Michael

[KPack]

DCC and I get along ok.  I am not dead set against it.  So I find nothing objectionable with a mix.  At this point it's inevitable for many.

This is true.  I think too often people look at Railpro like it's "all or none".  I think that people with heavy investment in DCC can use both DCC and Railpro and have a great time.  There is nothing saying the two systems can't coexist.  In fact, Tim has made it easier now with Railpro being fully DCC-compatible.

Put Railpro in some locomotives and keep some DCC.  Nothing wrong with that.

-Kevin

[Pequeajim]

The choke (and associated capacitor/s, they'll be there somewhere) are for reducing RF interference to your everyday household electronic devices.

Back in the good old days of open frame and especially pancake ringfield motors you could actually hear the RFI being generated by the motor on close by radios, and TV's would have wonky noise bars. Quite a few countries required some sort of RF filtering on models and it's carried over to this day. Now, this RF filtering can (and does) cause all sorts of problems for decoders. How badly I guess depends on the quality of the decoder, some seem to cope with the RF filtering and some don't. RailPro it seems could be in the doesn't category. I have a Walthers loco so I might chuck a LM-2S into it can see what happens.

My advice, and you'll find this repeated everywhere on the net is on any model that you can see RF filtering (choke/s inline with the motor and capacitor/s across the motor) get rid the RF filtering. Modern quality decoders should do any RF filtering needed. RP should do this filtering as well.

- Tim

I remember the Radio Shack TRS-80 would produce the same type of interference in our house.  Used to get my dad SO mad when I was programming!

[Michael Larson]

Delayed update:

At the end of 2019 I asked for and received two Tsunamis for my birthday and two more for Christmas.  In early 2020 I removed the LM-2S's from all four units, installed the Tsunamis with SoundTraxx CurrentKeepers and iPhone4 speakers in the units and now they run like a dream and are ready to go.  Of course, the pandemic kept me from going anywhere I could run them, so...   

I ended up selling the four LM-2S's.  What I have left is an ABB set of brass E8's with LM-2S's (track power), a brass Big Boy with an LM-3S (dead rail, 2.5Ah battery), and a non-working LM-3S that I sent back to Tim for repair, but upon it's return still does not work correctly.  My next project is to remove the LM-2S's from the E8's and replace with Tsunamis with dual 567 prime movers.  Once I figure out how I am going to deal with the Big Boy, I will be free of RailPro.  It was a long, sometimes interesting, initially promising, clearly occasionally frustrating, and ultimately failing eight year endeavor.

So, perhaps sometime this year, maybe next year, I'll have some items to sell.

Michael