RailPro > RailPro Specific Help & Discussion

LM-4S-G Erratic behavior/Intermittent "Cannot Connect"

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jordanhd87:
Hi All:

Issue: I am having very erratic behavior with my RailPro locomotives. I'll place them on the track, sometimes they will connect to my HC-2b handheld, sometimes they will not. For example, yesterday I was setting up three locomotives on the track (my "clean" install locmotives, see below). Two of them connected to the handheld, one of them did not. If I tilted that locomotive and placed it back down, it would connect. Tilt it again and place it back down, it would not connect. 50/50 chance. The other two would connect everytime if I followed this same test. So I proceeded to do my run session with just the two locomotives that stayed connected. I MU'ed them together to pull a 29 car train. While running (45 minutes into the running session), the train randomly comes to a screetching halt. My handheld is still connected to them. No warning triangles were displayed. The sounds were still going and never cut out at any point (indicating i did not lose track power pickup). I throttled all the way down, then back up, and it starts moving down the track again. About 5 minutes later, my lead loco becomes unresponsive (lost connection) and would not reconnect to the handheld. This is not the first time this has happened. It happens everytime I try to run my railpro locomotives, "clean" install or "quick" install (again, see below). It continued to run though, it just would not reconnect no matter how many times I tried, I as well tried cycling the power off and on my handheld and still would not reconnect. I had to cut the track power off and back on to get it to reconnect again.

Locomotives: I have 5 LM-4S-G equipped locomotives, Two USA Trains SD70's, One SD40-2, One Aristo Dash9 and One SD45. My USAT locomotives are a "clean install" (stock electronics ripped out, RailPro install from scratch). Aristo units I have used the airwire Adapta-1 board RLD sells to utilize the Aristo/Revo/DCC slot (quick install, I'll call it). I have brushless ball bearing fans installed in the shell as well as Oley Valley mounting brackets with the heatsinks (earlier this year I experienced overheating issues). I have since installed the 1.05 update which supposedly fixes the overheating issues (but now it is too cold outside to confirm). Each locomotive (except for the SD45) have two 8ohm speakers wired in parallel (which sounds amazing).

Layout: I am running outdoors on track power, with a Crest CRE-55465 15 amp power supply (which was designed for use with DCC systems, meaning the output is supposed to be just be clean DC voltage). I have it set to 23v output. My loop is 300 feet long, and anywhere I check along the track I get 23.2 volts. However, I can duplicate the "Cannot Connect" error on my indoor bench which is a different power supply.

Running conditions: My layout is next to a walking trail in our neighborhood and I have it all decorated for the season. On a busy night I constantly have 20-40 people around watching the trains (and yes, the issues seem to happen when there are 40 people around). I run my display for 3-4 hours at a time. The track is pristinely cleaned with an LGB track cleaning locomotive prior to running my railpro locomotives. I also have a few track lit cars, and they do not flicker during the run session (their power pickup is not near as robust as the locomotives) so I do not suspect dirty track being the issue. Temperature outside ranges between 50*f and 30*f (I have not found a correlation with temp and the issue I'm experiencing). I like to run 2-3 locomotives at a time, MU'ed together pulling the same train. Sound volume at 100%. I also have a few locomotives equipped with Revolution. When I run my Revolution locomotives they run flawlessly, for the whole run duration, no issues whatsoever. I also have a 70ft "back and forth" shuttle track running off of a separate power supply, the train carrying a speaker playing Christmas music).

I have called Tim a few times regarding the above, and he has no definitive answers. He claims there's no way it can be the LM-4S-G units or my handheld, that there has to be some other common denominator. I've also spoken with Robby at RLD and he has not experienced this behavior, but has admitted that all of his installs are battery conversions as well. Again, they are behaving this way on two completely different power supplies, both indoors and outdoors. And again, I can run my RC Revolution locomotives and they run absolutely flawless. One thing I have not tried is to go battery powered, but I feel I should not have to do this just to get RailPro to work properly. Also, as a side note, I have done quite a few Revo installs prior to doing RailPro installs, so I am not new at this "RC install" thing. Is anyone else here running an outdoor G gauge layout with railpro locomotives on track power? Do you experience erratic behavior such as this? The next steps (as I see it) to take involve spending more money (either on batteries to go battery power or yet a third power supply to try). Any feedback or ideas you have would be welcome as I am beating my head against the wall and am about ready to give up on RailPro.

jordanhd87:
I did some testing with a 24v power drill battery as well as a 4.5amp 20v laptop power supply. Using my bench power supply and SD45 as a tester locomotive, it would sometimes connect to the handheld and sometimes not. Using the battery, it connected every single time. Using the laptop power supply, it intriguingly also connected every single time. I also kept going back to the bench supply in-between, and it would sometimes connect and sometimes not. So it is starting to point to not liking the two main power supplies I have. A buddy is going to send me a USAT 10 amp supply to test with (this is one of the RailPro recommended power supplies). TBD and will update the thread. If it does end up being the supply, wow, RailPro is very finicky and sensitive to incoming power. Why did they not design it to be a bit less sensitive? Again, I have no issues running Revolution equipped locomotives.

Dodgezilla04:
One of my 4 modules will do the occasional issue as well

Power on, select the loco, start the sounds (they work) throttle up And she doesn't move.. the sound changes as it's moving but nothing... Requires a power off and start over... Sometimes while running this same loco will stop moving, but the sounds continue... Requires a power off.... Latest software, batteries are charged. It's just the module.. I feel your frustration

William Brillinger:
Sounds like you both need to contact Ring and report the same issue. (again)

Dodgezilla04:
I emailed ring when I first started buying stuff, asking about a sound file... Never bothered to respond, it's been 6 months...........

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