I recently bought two anniversary chassis.  There were polarity switches included in the harness on both, and no noise suppression board.

Thanks Kevin.  Good luck on your 2-6-2!  I confess you have sobered me up, somewhat, from my drunken enthusiasm for this locomotive and its bashing possibilities. 

Maybe just biting the bullet and fabricating a frame from the outset is the best approach. 

I still have no idea what to model.  I am leafing through White's Early American Locomotives for inspiration. 

I'm thinking a switch would be really handy, and fun.

Thanks R.J., yes, I found that website, too!  I was hoping for a complete set, and at better resolution than the image he published there, but a good start! 

Quote from: Joe Satnik on April 06, 2015, 10:24:43 AM
Another check....

Nothing on the track, DCC running,

can you cause a short by just pushing down on the frog or rails around it with your finger?

Joe Satnik

Thanks for the debug advice, I'm at the office, I'll try this when I get home tonight.

Quote from: Joe Satnik on April 06, 2015, 10:15:09 AM
jviss,

Is the curved point rail being shorted to the straight point rail by the wheels, or

is the divergent frog rail being shorted to the mainline frog rail?

Does the short occur on both routes and in both directions?

Joe

Hi Joe,

It's the latter, I think: the divergent frog rail being shorted to the mainline frog rail.  Please excuse me if my use of the terminology is faulty.  I'm attaching a pic with the shorting area circled.

This is weird and unexpected.

I finally finished my first DCC conversion, a BBH 4-6-0 Anniversary model.  This is also the very first time I have run a DCC anything!

I have a layout on the floor, all Bachmann steel alloy track.  I have several turnouts.  When I run the locomotive very slowly over a left turnout, from the entry point to the left turnout side, the loco stops, with a short circuit indication and alarm from the booster.

Upon closer examination and some experimentation I found that the loco wheels, both the pilot truck wheels and the drivers, have a tendency to short the two rails that meet at the frog.

I changed out that turnout and experienced the same thing with a new one.

I had never noticed anything awry when running DC.  I also don't notice an issue with any of the other switches, of which there are currently three more; one more I'm traversing in the same way with no issue so far.

What to do?  Any ideas?

Thanks,

jv

Turnout is: MANUAL TURNOUT - LEFT Item No. 94351

Yes, it's a couple of brand-new Bachmann steel straight sections and a brand-new Anniversary chassis - 'though I will check the chassis lube condition. 

I have noticed that the chassis purchased from Bachmann parts need some examination and care.  I've found loose drivers on both that I've purchased.

Gotcha, Hunt, thanks.  I've started reading through the Tsunami user guide in detail, it's pretty good at leading one through this process.  I see how to use Ops mode programming to make the loco just start to move at speed step 1.  However, mine moves very nicely on "1" but then suddenly stops.  I'll keep looking.  Maybe it's a break-in issue as Joe suggested.

Maybe that's it, Joe, thanks.  I ran this chassis for a little while, maybe a total of one hour, in fits and spurts.  I had forgotten all about "running in" a locomotive.  I might examine the gear box closely.

What puzzles me, though, is why the decoder isn't applying more voltage to the motor once the motor stops; shouldn't the PID control system take care of that?

Coming down the home stretch!  I made a few mistakes, and learned some interesting things. 

That generation 5 leading truck is troublesome!  I looked at the Bachmann Parts site (which I love!), but the new generation leading trucks are sold out.  I wired it a second time, having done so backwards, and wanting to preserve the color coding, rewired the truck.  The wire interferes with free movement of the truck suspension, but I got it all back to "stock" condition.  I mat address this truck in future, and also consider shortening it, and the pilot, to more closely model the prototype.  For now it works.

I found that the loco would run for a second or two then cause a rail short.  Upon examination I found that the "chuff trigger strips," as I refer to them, the strips of metal screwed to the drum between the front drivers, are shorting to the brass bearings, which besides supporting the axle are part of the power pickup system.  Now that I'm using rail power for the chuff input, when the axle slops to one side and the trigger strips' mounting screws touch the brass bearing, it shorts the rails.  I fixed this by making a couple of insulating discs of thin but firm, clear plastic from a retail blister-pack package.  They are the diameter of a dime with a quarter-inch center hole.  The hole was handily punched with a conventional stationary hole puncher, the outside trimmed with scissors using a dime as a guide.  Works.  Incidentally, I added the two additional trigger strips, salvaged from a second anniversary chassis I purchased, to get the correct four chuffs per driver revolution.  I measured them and made a drawing so I can make some more in my copious spare time.

Now, everything works!  The only glitch is that when crawling the loco at throttle setting "1," it will stop; the sound and lights continue to work, so it's not a power pickup problem.  It will continue if I raise the throttle to 2 or 3.  I don't know what it is, I suspect it may be a high-resistance spot on the motor armature, or some such thing.  Any insight or wisdom on this is sincerely appreciated. 

I'm using a speaker that is identical to the stock Bachmann speaker, and mounted in the tender with nothing else.  The sound seems O.K. to me, but I was wondering if folks have found ways to dramatically improve the sound quality.  I was thinking the treble could use a boost - the bell lacks the "attack" that I imagined it should have, but then, my experience of the prototype is limited.  Should I baffle it, or dampen it with sound-absorbing material, or apply some other treatment?

I really like the super-slow crawl you can get out of this; this is my first DCC experience.  I also love the sound, the bell, whistle, generator whine, couple clank, Johnson bar clank, water stop, etc.  Lots of fun.

I also love Bachmann.  I'm told on other LS sites that Bachmann is viewed at times with derision, but the product, value, service, and support has been nothing short of outstanding in my experience.  I've spent way too much of my lunch money at the Bachmann online parts store lately! 

So, summary, of sorts: input on the suspected motor stall at throttle = "1," and tender speaker treatment very welcome!

Thanks for the detailed reply!  I am generally very careful (now) about aerosol products and plastic!  I've also found that alcohol is a good, general purpose cleaner, but not so good at removing oxide. 

I purchased Bachmann's four lubes, and I like the conductive oil.  I wiped my indoor tracks with it, and lightly applied it to the rail junctions and everything works much better now.  I wasn't aware it could freeze, but then my layout is indoors. 

Are light oils generally conductive, or is there something special about these?

Greetings,

So, I have but one type of locomotive on my railroad, the BBH Baldwin 4-6-0.  As some may recall I purchased two complete anniversary dummy units, in White Pass and Yukon livery.  I'm converting one now to DCC, adding a purchased anniversary chassis, and so on.

I'm thinking I'd like to do a radical bash on the second unit, converting it into a different type - number of drivers, pilots, etc.  Any and all suggestions are welcome! 

Thanks,

jv

Curious as to what products you are spraying and lubing.

Hey Joe, can't see what you posted - "failed to open page."

Thanks Stan.  So, you think 22 V max. operating voltage is too low for large scale?  I wouldn't know from experience, but I can imagine with grades exceeding scale grades, long trains, and tight radii curves one might want more voltage for a BBH.

I'm curious, at what point are you controlling the voltage, i.e., where are you measuring 21.5 V?  If it's at the track how are you measuring it?

Thanks,

jv

UPDATE: I got curious about this, and made some measurements on my new famous maker booster.  I can take the input up high, to like 25V DC, but once a certain point is reached the track voltage doesn't increase, so the track voltage is regulated.  This can be adjusted, and also the DC offset can be adjusted.  From the factory mine is a track voltage of 19.86V, with an offset of 0.04V.  I measured using the prescribed digital multimeter differential method.  I'm going to fire up the 'scope and take a look later today.