I installed a Tsunami in a Kato Mikado (original version) and am having pickup problems. With the Mikado sitting on the track I get no power. If I press down it does power up but I am pressing way to hard in my opinion. I went so far as to put some foam over the top of the little copper strips on the inside of the tender to make sure they were pressing down on top of the nub coming up from the trucks. If I turn the Mikado over, apply power with wires directly to the wheels (or copper strips between the wheels) I don't get good contact unless I wiggle the truck. I did pollish the copper strips in the tender and the nub coming up from the truck but that did nothing. At this point I'm at a loss other than soldering a wire directly on the nub coming up from the wheels and romoving the little copper strips altogether. But for some reason I really do not like this idea.
You can use some super flex wire to hard wire the trucks. I think its 32 ga. wire. I know Powersteamguy has used it with great success. Maybe he can chime in here and tell us who makes it and give his experiences. You might also consider hardwiring the locomotive too. I used to be dead set against running wire between the loco and tender, but I have seen it done with this wire and it works great and improves performance Eric
I'm using the Super Flexible Wire - 29 Gauge 51 strand to run between the tender and loco. To clarify, I have the power for the Tsunami coming from the copper strips in the tender in order to reduce the number of wires going between the tender and loco. I do have a spare tender base and might try hard wiring between the trucks and Tsunami and take the copper strips out entirely.
Right. So you should only need 5 wires to run between the loco and the tender - 2 for pickup, 2 for the motor, and one for the light. Or you could put a decoder in the loco and you wouldn't need any wires between the loco and tender but you should still hardwire the trucks for optimal pickup. Eric
The draw bar connection from the locomotive to the first tender truck isn't set up properly. That's why you're having trouble with the pickup.
Actually with the way I have it I have three wires between the loco and the tender. White for light, Gray for motor and orange for motor. I pick the power up off the copper strips in the tender. So the power bar really should not even be applicable except maybe for the ground for the light. I could try the 5 wire method but it seemed simpler to have 3 wires. Now I could run the extra two wires but I believe the issue is the pickup from the copper strip/ I understand the copper strip is in the tender to bridge the two trucks so there are more wheels trying to pickup power and providing that power to the draw bar. So hopefully the front truck is making good contact and providing power to the power bar.
I now know the reason why you're having trouble with the power pickup. You should never wire the power pickups to the copper strips in the tender. During soldering you've distorted them and your pickup is poor at best. Next time follow my tutorial for a decoder installation in the Kato Mikado. It 's on my website below. You wire red and black to the light board in the boiler.
I have spare copper strips that I used to try this so I can do it exactly as you have it. But before I do that, I had a spare truck so I hard wired the power leads to the back truck directly. It still does not get consitent power unless I press down on the tender. The only part left is the wheel to socket connect. Any tips on cleaning the socket and the point on the wheel?
Have you tried unhooking the tender from the loco to see if that helps? Maybe the drawbar isn't sitting right or something. One of those stupip tech support questions but, is your track clean and are the wheels clean? Eric
By this time with all your handling of the locomotive and tender, not only have you distorted the copper contact strips in the tender, you've distorted the draw bar and its relationship to the the locomotive and tender. Just for your future knowledge, the draw bar is the weak link in the Kato Mikado. If it's compromised in any manner, your locomotive will not perform properly. I suggest you buy some new draw bars and keep them on hand and replace the draw bar on the locomotive as well as the contact strips in the tender. Note- *** I've done over 60 decoder installations in the Kato Mikado and I know this locomotive well.
I have spare drawbars based on your recommendation. I did go ahead and order some 30 gauge wire and I'll take my second Mikado I was going to do and do it per your instructions. In the mean time I'll replace the draw bar and see how that helps. I do appreciate the help!
I'm going to replace the draw bar and I'll put the tender on the track alone and see how well that works. Yes, I cleaned the tracks, wheels and even submerged the copper peices the wheels go into in vinegar and salt to clean them. Same issue.
Oh, nononono! You are right to not feel right about removing the copper strips. The springiness they provide helps keep the pickup wheels on the track through turnouts and bumps and everything else. I tried circumventing spring strips on another Kato mech and ended up replacing it. Fortunately, it was a cheapo power chassis mechanism so I just bought another one. I think Bob's got it figured out. He owns 40 or 50 or more of these if I recall correctly, and has put decoders in most if not all of them.
Ok, I removed the tender from the loco and it still doesn't pickup power worth a hoot. I put the tender back together with the original trucks, original copper strips and sacrificed a draw bar to provide power. So what I did was soldered the power leads for the DCC decoder onto the end of the drawbar rods. It seems a little more reliable but only when sitting still. If I roll it it clicks because the decoder is losing power as it rolls. I believe the better connection is mainly because with the copper strips I have 4 wheels that I hope can provide power. Was there any difference between tenders in the old versus new revisions? The old one I am working with seems to be the same as the new one I bought during Kato's sale about a month ago. My Diesel DCC engine runs perfect if that matters..
Why don't you follow my decoder installation tutorial in a Kato Mikado. It's on my website below and was published in N Scale Magazine in 2007. If you follow the instructions and photo's you might get a Mikado with a decoder that actually works. This doesn't work....."So what I did was soldered the power leads for the DCC decoder onto the end of the draw bar rods. "
Capacitor I don't think that I have installed quite as many sound decoders in the Kato Makado's as Bob, but I have done my share. I think by soldering to the pickup contacts in the tender you distort the contact and also may take some of the temper out of it. Do like Bob said. I use 5 wires between the tender and the locomotive. North West Short Line wire. 29 gauge and 51 strands and very flexable. I don't think that you are using the capacitor, because you run out of room in the tender for the 220 uf cap. I now install surface mount 100 uf caps in the tender in parallel, that will give you 200 uf.,and will help a bunch. All of my installs run like a fine watch, and sound just as good. Before using the caps I had trouble with the sound droping out with dirty trackconditions. I had tried many things to improve the pick up and they all did not work as well as the capacitor in the tender. I even soldered wires from each tender truck contacts and ran them to the draw bar connector, this helped but I still had some problems. Try the Capacitor.
Where do you get the surface mount capacitors? Never mind. I found them at Litchfield and have an order placed already.
I replaced the tender with the newest one and followed Powersteamguy1790 tutorial with 5 wires. It at least sits on the track and makes sound. It moves a bit and the loses power. I believe the capacitors will help and me figuring out a better way to clean the wheels. Thanks for the help all. As soon as I figure out where to ge the capacitors I'll give thema shot and report back.
Now your draw bar isn't properly connected to the front tender truck. That why you now have sound and after it moves a track length or two, you lose power.
Thanks Powersteamguy1790. I'm going to rework the wiring I did last night to test. I'll make sure the drawbar is set up properly as I get toward the final wiring. I actually think I might get this thing working here I'm pretty sure this is why I gave up years ago with a standard DCC install.
