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EURIKA!! Motor does not function when setting loco motor full load current
carpediem4570:
HOLY CRAP: SUCCESS
OK, TO RECAP: this is an IHC MEHANO 2-8-2 mikado steam loco from a presidents choice train set from the 1990’s. The set came to me with a fudged motor, burned out and brush’s really worn.
This is my first hardwire conversion to dcc with railpro, or any conversion for that matter. I figured this would be a good loco to try.
I ordered a new five pole motor from china for a couple bucks, did some filing to the plastic housing of the motor and fit it to the loco. Perfect fit.
Wired up using an lm2s I am wiring the loco so the chip is in the tender with a rear light and the loco with front light. I phone 4 speaker in the tender.
Wired just the loco to make sure everything works. AND THAT is where everything came grinding to a halt. I couldn’t get the motor to turn, even just for the motor full load current test.
The new motor ran ok on dc but, it wouldn’t start turning until I hit 45 percent.
Stripped all the old lube and oil and re greased with fresh stuff. Then, using the dc power pack, I broke in the motor; half hour forward, half hour reverse on fifty percent throttle.
After the break in on dc, I get movement at twenty percent throttle.
Today, I tried again and wired the loco for dcc. I put it on my rolling railroad and with a whole bunch of fiddle fxxking, I managed to get the full load current test done.
This time I put oil on the tower worm gear and got a little better movement but, I kept getting a low voltage error. I took the positive and negative power leads off the rolling road and connected them directly to the locomotive. Holy crap, full movement with no stalling.
This little project has been on my dining room table since 2022, (yes, I’m divorced), and so has the rolling road. I took a couple minutes to clean the wheels and laid down a fresh, clean piece of track and connected the leads.
Well, what in the blue falcon? In the name of all that is holy, I got the loco to crawl, I got the loco to fire up to all speeds, forward and reverse.
I think breaking in the new motor, clean track and oiling and re-greasing the tower worm gear made all the difference. Now I can finish the lighting, speaker and re- assembly.
It’s been a long journey but, it has also been fun, and exasperating.
Thank you to everyone for your advice. It helped and was very encouraging. Kept me from giving up.
Now, 15 more locos to go…BAHAHAHAH!!!
I’d love to show you pics but I can’t seem to attach the pics.
Kind regards,
Max [ Invalid Attachment ]
carpediem4570:
Well, it’s done.
I finished wiring up the locomotive and tender. Both front and back lights work. The speaker is wired and placed and, it works.
Moves forward and reverse, bell, horn and motor sounds work.
It’s taken three years from the time this engine landed on the dinning room table to now.
I will try to put pics and video in the completed projects section.
Thanks for the help and thanks for letting me brag.
Man, I feel like a kid at Christmas, lol.
Kind regards,
Max
gregeusa:
So to recap, you had:
* bad motor
* bad wires
* bad power pickups
* bad lubrication
??
well, maybe nothing else can go wrong, you seem to have covered it all!
the next few should not be so difficult to diagnose
Greg
carpediem4570:
lol, well summed up.
I think the next one will be easier.
As I said, I got this one with a burned out motor. I should realized it wasn’t the motor. The motor was a symptom of something else.
Kind regards,
Max
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