I was given a B'mann 2-8-4 loco (item # 50902-No sound) for Christmas.  Beautiful loco. but...
When I placed it on the rails for the first time I noticed it made a noise which you might take for a chuff, but being a no-sound loco, that was ruled out.  What's more, it only does it consistently when going down a slight incline. It will make the sound every now and then  on level track.
I figured it might need breaking-in to get rid of the noise, but after several hours of running the noise remains.  Might it require lubrication..??  I would think that a new loco would be factory-oiled and run without a hitch...If a lube is required, is Labelle 108 oil plastic-friendly..??  And which parts of the power train would require oiling..??
Thanks for any help you may provide.

Gus.

Update....
Decoder arrived and installed...Hardest part was stuffing it into that tiny tender.
She runs like a dream...I'm a happy camper...
Thanks again to y'all...

Gus

Quote from: Hunt on December 30, 2013, 11:00:14 PM
If it a current production one
Click Here Yardmaster let the cat out of the bag. 

Hunt...You hit the nail on the head...Thanks a lot.   Now I have to wait 'till the decoder gets here...

Thanks to all who responded...I appreciate your input...

Gus

I was given this 2-6-0 engine for Christmas, and wish to install a decoder in it, but for reasons known only to the designer, taking off the tender shell is an impossible task.  Are there some magic words that need to be said, or some ritual that needs to be carried out in order to remove it..??

Has anyone actually managed to do this..??  If so, I would certainly appreciate any pointers on how to accomplish this.

Thanks for any input from y'all...

Gus.

P.D.-  I have installed over a dozen decoders in all sorts of engines, so I'm not a newbie at this...

What you saw is the PC board where you'll plug in a decoder.  To save yourself some grief, use the same brand of decoder as the system you have.  Most decoders will have some brief instructions on how to install them.  Make sure you buy a decoder with an NMRA 8 pin plug.  That will plug into the board in the tender.  Follow your system's instructions on how to program values into the various CV's.

All D'trax decoders are also dual mode, but you can turn the DC mode off....

Hi Rich...Long time no see...

Decoder: B'mann 44915 (?) It's the only number I can see..It's the "stock" decoder that came with the loco (Bachmann 2-8-4).
Controller: D'trax Zephyr on a programming track using Page mode.  Unable to neither read CV#1, nor write to it-either in Page mode or OPS mode.
All my D'trax decoder behave themselves (D123H's & D163H's.

Well...It's done....I took one of my D'trax decoders and set it in the board....Small to no improvement.  Soooo...Out came the snippers (flush cutters) and off came the capacitors...Well, not off, really. I chopped them in half.... and just made sure there were no remains between the two halves.  Back on the track....Smooth sailing.  I didn't want to mess with the decoder settings since it's going back to where it came from.  But once I get my new decoders (bought them yesterday...) I'll pop one of them in there and set it up so it runs like I want it to...

On a side note...I placed the B'mann decoder into the loco I took the D'trax decoder from (no capacitors on it), and it ran OK (just..), but I still can't read the decoder address....   Are these addresses set in stone..or can't they be programmed in anything other than OPS mode..??

Thanks for the info, guys.  I've been thinking of putting in one of my D'trax decoders in there to see if it's in fact a decoder problem....Just waiting to see what input you all had, and which loco I want to "sacrifice", even if it's just temporarily...

I'll go ahead and do that and see what comes up.

If I decide to remove the capacitors, I'll need to take a soldering iron to it...right..??

Update....I tried everything I could think of, and, as a final resort, I thought of cutting off the capacitors, so I popped open the tender and find a board which does not have the "normal" capacitors I'm used to seeing (little yellow pancake thingies...).  The are three thingies which are labeled C1, C2 and C3 in the upper left.  Are these the modern day capacitors?  If not, where are the caps..??

Note: I disconnected the decoder so you can see the whole board.

I had to...
About a month ago I got a hankerin' to run some of my older DC locos, some that won't ever see a decoder.  Since I hate to run them on DCC track because of that awful buzzing and whining I decided to make the layout DC/DCC, but in order to not have to remove the DCC engines that would have responded to DC as well, I had to figure out how to disable the DC feature on my decoders.  Took longer to do that than to actually disable all the locos....

Most (I'm 99% sure all...) D'trax decoders have the option to enable DC response.  I believe it's one of the many default settings on the decoders.  To accomplish what you want, use the DC section in front of your platform and any engine that gets into the station will come SMOOTHLY to a stop.  The DC section would need to be wired from a DPDT toggle switch, so to get the train going again, you would switch to DCC and the train would  SMOOTHLY start up again.  Or you can use one of the many relay setups described by others....Once out of the station you set the toggle switch to DC which will activate the same response whenever another train enters the DC section, or leave it on DCC so any trains you don't want to stop, don't.  The acceleration and deceleration settings you have set up on your CV's will work just the same way as when you turn down the throttle....

Been away a bit (life gets in the way), but I just got me a Bachmann 2-8-4 with DCC installed. What a beauty of an engine..!!.
This is the first loco I buy with the goodies already installed, so I'm kind of hesitant to mess too much with the CV's.  I've set CV's 2, 3 and 4 to values that make it start & stop quite nicely. But I've got a couple of questions.
For starters, the loco seems to respond much faster going forward than in reverse. This is kinda' strange, since all my other locos behave exactly the opposite (faster in reverse than forward), but by a very little difference. On this loco, it's like 2 or 3 times as long to respond...
Also, since the decoder can only be programmed in OPS mode, I have not been able to change the default address (3), to the number it should be (22, in this case). Also, can this decoder be reset to its default settings by entering 8 to CV #8..??
Since all my other decoders are D'trax I don't feel too comfortable messin' around with this one. Any help y'all can give will be much appreciated....

Hi...I use a penlight with a steel rod attached to it and angled a bit on the free end.  I shine the light and open one of the "air hoses" ....Uncoupled..!!

Hi guys...This forum is one of extremes....It can run from the nearly violent (please see the "id o" thread for a sample), to the almost hilarious (the present thread..).  "I am chuffed" !!! Great saying - I've never heard that one..!!