Morning all, if the chrome wears out on the slipper shoe does this reduce the power picked up? if so can I do anything or is it just a replacement? Les
LGB loco pick-ups
- Thread starter Dinas Bryn
- Start date
les, its more important that they be free moveing and clean,.. if they get to the point of haveing holes in, id replasce,..
Hi LES
More important with the system is the way that power is transmitted from the skates & Carbon wheel brush contacts within the motor block or power bogie.
If you remove the base plate with the loco upside down, you will see that the carbon brish holders and skates are linked bu either a metal flat strip OR thickish rod on eac side, this then takes the power to the wirng and hence to the internal pcbs etc.
correct and efficient working of this system depends on pressure from the base plate pressing on the metal connector AND that the contact points have not become insulated by excess lubrication ,
I have found this to be a big problem in quite a few locos I have purchased second hand.
It is always worth inverting a loco and testing each pickup point individually by applying power from a controller,
it can be surprising just how many pickups are not working
One of the worst offenders I find is the US Street car.
Apolgies if you know all this already but I though it may be useful for other readers as well.
More important with the system is the way that power is transmitted from the skates & Carbon wheel brush contacts within the motor block or power bogie.
If you remove the base plate with the loco upside down, you will see that the carbon brish holders and skates are linked bu either a metal flat strip OR thickish rod on eac side, this then takes the power to the wirng and hence to the internal pcbs etc.
correct and efficient working of this system depends on pressure from the base plate pressing on the metal connector AND that the contact points have not become insulated by excess lubrication ,
I have found this to be a big problem in quite a few locos I have purchased second hand.
It is always worth inverting a loco and testing each pickup point individually by applying power from a controller,
it can be surprising just how many pickups are not working
One of the worst offenders I find is the US Street car.
Apolgies if you know all this already but I though it may be useful for other readers as well.
You are quite right Steve. Unfortunately Les hasn't emphasied exactlywhat the problem is. Or is there a problem? Or just a queery
Philbahn said:
Yes Phil
But when a question is asked then it it probably reasonably safe to assume the question was asked because of a possible problem!
I feel any information that is imparted on here is useful even if it does not perhaps relate to an immediate issue
too much information is usually better than none
I quite agree with you Steve. Alot of people have gained a wealth of knowlege from people like you.
My Mallet suffered from limited wheel pick up. The chrome on the wheel treads is a bit worn now so they get dirty quicker, this added to a couple of wheel not collecting current made running rough. A good clean of the pick up bullet casings and the metal strips refered to above sorted things.
Evening all many thanks for your help, I was having problems with a certain part of the new layout, the Stainz was going over some times but the Rugens diesel stopped, the only differnce was the pick-ups. testing the track showed power all the time, to-day I found out one of the rails went dead with the wieght of the loco on it, I have wired the 2 tracks to-gether and everything is working, I'll leave Kieth to check the pick-ups when he has time, as I drop things Les