I have a problem with a loco with RailPro installed. I do not know if this is a RailPro problem, but it started when I had the loco converted from DC to RailPro.
The problem is that the loco shorts out at random times and at random places on my HO layout. I have done extensive testing to try and figure out that is causing the shorts. WARNING. This will be long, because I am including all of the things that have already tried.
THE LOCOMOTIVE
BLI BlueBox 2-8-2, bought used in 2013. It came with BLI’s sound card installed plus an after-market DC card. I was running DC at the time, so I removed the DCC card, and replaced it with a jumper that allowed me to run this loco in DC mode. But I only ran it a few times, because I found that the BLI-DC mode to be too cumbersome. Recently, I ran the loco 1 loop around my track, then got RailPro installed. In all these limited DC runs, the loco never shorted out. But it is a very small sample.
The loco picks up power from all 4 drive wheels on both sides. The tender also picks up power on both trucks, one for left rail and one for the right rail.
THE PROBLEM
A RailPro LM-3S was installed by Yankee Dabbler. When the loco was returned to me, it immediately began to short out at random times and locations on my 4’ by 8’ oval layout. When the loco shorts out, the red warning light on the HC-2 goes on, AND the indicator lights on the PWR-56 and the AR-1 also turn red. This indicates that the problem is a short. If the problem was a loss of power (like dirty wheels or track) the PWR-56 and AR-1 indicator lights would remain green.
This problem occurs about 1 to 4 times in one trip around my 4’ x 8’ test loop. I have noticed that the shorting is much more common when the loco runs counterclockwise on my oval, but it does occur in the clockwise direction, as well. However, if I run the locomotive BACKWARDS, this problem NEVER occurs – regardless of whether it is backing clockwise or counter-clockwise.
When a short occurs, momentum carries the loco about another 1-2 inches before coming to a stop. About 4 seconds after the PWR-56 shuts down, it powers up to see if the short has been fixed. Most of the time the loco starts up and moves on. However, there have been several instances when the loco started to move, but immediately shut down again – indicating that the short was still present.
I have 6 other RailPro-equiped, steam locomotives. All of these run smoothly. One of the others is another BLI 2-8-2 that is almost identical to the problem loco. The only difference that I can see is that the problem loco is a BLI Blue-Line loco, with a 7-wire plug attaching the tender to the loco, and the smooth-running is an earlier BLI Powerhouse/Quantum Sound loco, with a 6-wire plug. Note that both locos were converted to RailPro, and during the installation, the BLI electronics boards were removed from both locos. However the original plugs that connected the tender to the loco were utilized to pass the RailPro signals to and from the loco to the tender.
Also, note that the problem BLI loco has an LM-3S installed, while the well-behaved BLI loco has an LM-2S installed. However, I do not think this is the problem, as I have one other LM-2S loco that runs flawlessly, and 4 other LM-3S locos that run flawlessly. Software for the HC-2 and LMs is up to date.
TRACK ISSUES
There are two things that point to possible track issues. (a) The Yankee Dabbler people ran the loco on their test track before sending it back to me – with no problems. (b) The short shows distinct preferences for certain sections of track.
However, this problem does not appear to be a track problem for the following reasons. (a) There is no section of track where the short always occurs. (b) There is no common pattern in the sections of track were the short tends to show up. They include straight track, curved track and turnouts. (c) The majority of the places where shorts occur are inside blocks, not at the junction of 2 blocks. (d) The track is firmly nailed down on cork roadbed. It has not been ballasted, yet. All track sections are soldered together, except for turnouts. Feeder wires are soldered to the outer sides of the rails. (e) The track was vacuumed shortly before starting to test this loco, and the track has been cleaned (using Woodland Scenic cleaning pads) several times during the tests of this loco.
Ideally, an easy way to test the track would be to take my loco to another modeler’s layout. Unfortunately I know of no model railroaders with layouts anywhere near me that I could test the loco on. I should also point out that the Yankee Dabbler has offered to try and fix the loco, if I send it back to them. However, since it ran successfully on their layout, I don’t see how they would know when they had solved the problem.
FIRST POSSIBLE CAUSE—SHORTS OF WHEEL AXLES??
I noticed that the tender wheels had VERY THIN rubber insulation between the wheels and the axles, and the wheels indicated that this loco (which I got used) had been run a lot. I wondered if power was occasionally leaking past the insulation, causing the short.
I replaced the tender wheels with some new Intermountain wheels. The problem continued to occur. So this is not the problem. I put the original wheels back on the loco.
I also removed the pilot truck and the rear cab truck and ran the loco without them to make sure that one of them was causing the problem. They weren’t the cause. The shorts continued
SECOND POSSIBLE CAUSE—SHORTS ON FROGS.??
It is true that my layout has Atlas turnouts, which are notorious for causing shorts in steamers at the frogs. However:
(1) I have a modified my turnouts to that they no longer short any of my other locos, including another BLI 2-8-2 that has exactly the same wheel and shell structure and exactly the same pick-up structure.
(2) I temporarily covered the parts of the frogs that might be causing shorts with painters tape. The loco still shorted out.
(3) About half of the shorts occur when the loco (and tender) are not near the frog. And some shorts occur when the loco is nowhere any part of a turnout.
(4) I also verified that there is no part of the loco hanging low enough to touch the track when running over the turnouts
THIRD POSSIBLE CAUSE – LOOSE WIRE UNDER SHELL??
I removed the shells from the loco and tender.
(1) I could not see any bare loose wires. One wire that had been cut off as unnecessary had been neatly cut off, tinned, and covered with shrink-wrap that extended beyond the end of the wire. No problem there.
(2) I did find one wire that looked like it had a knick in the insulation, and that nicked area was very close to one of the solder joints for the motor. However, (a) I could not see wire showing through the nick, (b) there was no weakness in the wire at that point, indicating that the wire was still intact, and (c) when I moved the nicked section of wire away from the motor (and all other wires), the shorting-out problem remained. Just to be sure, I put a dab of liquid electrical tape on the nick to seal it.
(3) When I ran the loco and tender with out their shells, the shorting problem continued. (Note: I did put an extra weight on the front pilot for these tests, because the missing shell weight was causing the front drivers to derail. I wrapped the weight in painters tape to make sure that it did not contribute to the shorting problem.)
(4) While the shells were off, and the loco was running slowly, I took a small paint brush and gently brushed all of the wire junction areas to see if I could locate any loose junctions, and cause the short. For the most part, I got no response. However, during one session, I seemed to get the short to occur repeatedly when I brushed the contact area where the power to the headlight (the small box of contacts in front of the first driver) meets the wires to the light (in the shell – which was not attached at the time). However, this was never repeatable in subsequent trials.
FOURTH POSSIBLE CAUSE – ELECTRICAL PLUG BETWEEN TENDER AND LOCO??
While reattaching the boiler shell, I had to temporarily unplug the plug of wires from the tender. I studied this plug (and its socket). All of the pins in the socket are straight. But I noticed something where the wires enter the male plug that is attached to the tender. There are 7 wires entering this plug. I could see a tiny bit of bare wire showing at the base of one of the wires – it looks like #2 – counting from the right. This wire is also bent over slightly, so that it crosses the next wire (#3) very close to the where wire #3 goes into its metal-lined hole in the plug. I wonder if the mystery short might be occurring here.
Of the 7 wires entering the plug, wires #2 and #6 both bend across the plug towards the opposite sides immediately after exiting the plug. In an effort to force these 2 wires to lineup neatly with the other wires, I gently massaged the wires until all 7 of then were laying parallel. Then I wrapped a small piece of painters tape around the bundle to keep the wires in place. Unfortunately, this did not solve the shorting problem.
It is still possible that this is the cause. However, I do not have the skills to modify this plug of wires, or the eyesight to see how close the wires might be.
NOW FOR THE REAL SURPRISE. I decided to map exactly where these shorts occur, marking each location with a small pin. I had accumulated about 15 markers when I had to quit for the day. I shut down the electronics (as usual) and left the loco on the track. The next day, I turned on the electronics and resumed the test. Suddenly, I got NO shorts. I tried both directions, still no shorts. I quit and came back later. Still no shorts. I removed the loco from the track and re-installed the tender shell. (Both shells had been removed some time ago.) I put the loco back on the track -- still no shorts. I picked up the loco and reversed its direction -- from counter clockwise to clockwise -- both in forward mode. Still no shorts. The next day, I ran more tests -- still no shorts. But on the third day, the shorts returned, and have remained a problem every time that I have tested the loco in the last couple of weeks. I can not think of anything that was different on those two days.
Any ideas as to what is going on?
Doug
