RailPro > RailPro Specific Help & Discussion
Athearn Electrical Pick Up Issue
Espeelark:
Thanks for the update Alan - good information.
That was a great little experiment you devised to quantify the effects from residual lubricant-type cleaners.
Espeelark:
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!
What it comes down to is the fact that the design of each truck takes the electrical pick-up from three axles and funnels them through a single grommet/rivet that connects to a metal plate on the inside of the plastic gearbox. That plate has the tab the electrical pick-up wire is attached to. Additionally, the wall of the plastic gearbox is sandwiched between these two metal plates - an insulator!. What genius thought that was a good idea? So, if the grommet is not making good electrical contact (via loose or dirty surfaces) with these two metal plates, you are hosed. Like I was!
I've attached an excerpt from Athearn's Parts Explosion to illustrate my point.
* The pink circled item is the single grommet and only electrically conductive item connecting the two metal plates.
* The blue circled item is the metal sideframe that the three axle's square, bronze bearings rest in.
* The green circled item is the metal plate on the inside of the plastic gearbox that has the tab (on top) for the electrical pick-up wire.I wound up drilling a small hole in the metal sideframe, soldering a small jumper wire into that hole, and then soldering the other end of that jumper wire to the pick-up wire tab thereby completely circumventing the grommet. Attached is a photo of the truck showing the jumper wire in place but not yet soldered.
Happy to report that after doing both sides of each truck the electrical continuity problem disappeared - which to me pretty much proves the grommet to be the root cause...
Woo-Hoo!
Alan:
Congratulations!
sieggs1:
Wow. I wish I had found this post two months ago.
It is the exact issue I am having on a brand-new Athearn EMD SW1500 locomotive.
I have been tearing my hair out for some time trying to figure out this electrical conductivity problem.
I also use RailPro and have used this forum to look up other things but found this specific post through Google while researching the stuttering issue as it relates to Athearn's pickup design.
After rewiring and soldering the pickups to the tops of the gear towers multiple times and cleaning and lubricating the wheels, axles, square phosphor-bronse bearings and the metal sideframes (as well as going through FOUR different RailPro modules, two LM-3S-21s and two LM-3Ss to be sure they weren't defective), I came to the conclusion that it must be poor electrical contact with the phosphor-bronse bearings on the axles as they sit in the square notches of the metal sideframes. Nothing else made sense.
I even went so far as to make additional pickup connections. First with wire soldered to the bearings and then stiffer phosphor-bronze wire normally used to make handrails. See attachment.
Still, the issue has persisted.
It's difficult to solder to the metal sideframes directly so I was going to try a better connection to the grommet. It seems from your experience, the grommet itself may very well be the issue here.
One question: Were you able to successfully solder the wire to the sideframe after drilling the hole? Your photo shows it prior to soldering.
I have found the sideframes to be very difficult to solder to. Just wondering how you did it.
Thank you for posting your solution.
Rob S. "Sieggs1"
Espeelark:
Howdy Rob!
--- Quote ---One question: Were you able to successfully solder the wire to the sideframe after drilling the hole? Your photo shows it prior to soldering.
--- End quote ---
It's been awhile since I posted that. While I don't specifically remember having an issue, it is a sizeable piece of metal that acts as a heat sink, so you have to make sure you get it hot enough for the solder to be effective. That tunnel motor is still running great.
Good luck!
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