Trouble withthomas

T

Terry OLiver

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I was given a back man Thomas the tank to run for the grandchildren.I put a massoth small decoder in it .
I can not get it to run properly at all it goes. Forward for a short distance stops then goes a little.It does not go in the opasite direction unless I rock it left to right it just will not run I have had the wheels out cleaned all pick ups. Rewired the decoder in but to no avail anyone else had trouble with these engines.
Regards Terry Oliver
 
It will help if you state the Masoth decoder model and or amp rating. Thomas will probably draw nearly an amp to run properly in a minimal situation.
 
Check to see if it has a switch to select NMRA/Large Scale. Without that, early Thomases come wired back to front !
 
Paradise said:
It will help if you state the Masoth decoder model and or amp rating. Thomas will probably draw nearly an amp to run properly in a minimal situation.
Click to expand...
I ran Toby off a Massoth M decoder and it was fine. If you wanted to put a smoke generator in you might need an L decoder. As Gavin said there may be circuitry in there with a switch to reverse track voltage, and on my Toby there was also a small capacitor in that circuit (for TV interference suppression I assume) which would mess up DCC signal so you need to remove that circuitry.
 
It seems some do run LGB locos off the S decoder. I'm not sure how well they work though. After searching the specs it looks as if the S decoder's current is 30-300 mAmps or 0.3 amp. M decoder 2 amps and L decoder 2.5 amps.
I dunno. I'm still learning about this stuff but a 0.3 amp decoder in a locomotive that may want twice that sometimes seems odd to me as does the size of pizza trays in some establishments.
Maybe we need a 'family size' decoder for super special large locomotives. :think:
 
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Paradise said:
It seems some do run LGB locos off the S decoder. I'm not sure how well they work though. After searching the specs it looks as if the S decoder's current is 30-300 mAmps or 0.3 amp. M decoder 2 amps and L decoder 2.5 amps.
I dunno. I'm still learning about this stuff but a 0.3 amp decoder in a locomotive that may want twice that sometimes seems odd to me as does the size of pizza trays in some establishments.
Maybe we need a 'family size' decoder for super special large locomotives. :think:
Click to expand...
The Massoth S decoder is sound only. Their main motor and lights decoders are called eMotion M (smallest), L (suitable for one motor locos), XL (two motor) and XXL (for heavy US style very large locos). There are integrated sound versions of some of these, LS and XLS. The S sound decoder can use track power directly or it can plug into a SUSI connection if the motor and lights decoder has that facility (which L and XL do). IMO the eMotion M will suffice for Thomas the Tank engine, for motor only.
 
It sounds like a pickup problem. - They are notorious for it.

But I would also check the quartering, if the block has been opened? - It only needs to be one-tooth out, and you can have binding / jamming problems..

PhilP.
 
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