Yesterday I had just finished putting my Life-Like Berk together after the DCC conversion. I put the engine on the programming track and was easily able to program it. DCC install - good. I went to test run it and absolutely nothing happened! Now after a "Fun" 5 hour disassembly, install and reassembly, this is not what I wanted to happen. I wound up disassembling the engine. . . again. I tested the motor. It doesn't work. My question is what happened. The motor worked fine before I took the brush caps, springs and brushes out to solder the wires onto the caps. I put everything back together correctly. What gives? Any ideas? I think I'll pull the caps off again and make sure nothing weird happened. These motors are so simple and straight forward I can't imagine what I could have done. Erik W
Welcome, Erik. Sounds like the brushes not seating correctly. It's a question that needs asking.... did you put the brushes back into the same side they came out? Also, have the brushes gone back in so the groove is seated fully on the commutator?
Gary, Bingo! After I posted the question I took the brush cap, springs and brushes out and didn't see anything wrong. I put them back in and the motor worked. It's funny I've done several hard wire decoder installs and always put them back together right, without knowing there is a wrong way to do it! I think one of the brushes wasn't oriented correctly when I put it back in. Oh well, live and learn. Erik W
well, i would rather have a brush turned to the side then having a decoder fry. i have my story with that. my dad and i were installing a decoder in my atlas gp7 n scale loco, it ran with out the frame, the motor was noisy, it was quiet b4 the install. but when i put the shell on, it didnt work. then i took off the shell and tried it agian. i saw it smokeing. darn, my digitrax dz123 went up in smoke. oh well... now i have it in the shop getting professionaly installed with a n scale nce decoder. i have my rough times in the hobby but im not going to give up ne time soon. its like crashing a rc plane, not fun at all, but next thing u notice, your up and flying agian. anywho, does anyone know what could of caused the motor that was quiet in analog "except for the buzzing from dcc" and with the decoder become noisey?
UP&Santa Fe nut : I have an engine (LL GP20) that does precisely that; fairly quiet before install on DC, and now roars like a lion on DCC. Lubing the drive train (expecially around where I milled the frame) didn't help. I figure it has to be that the brushes didn't go back square, so the commutor is striking the brushes every revolution and making a godawful racket. Hopefully the brushes will wear down over time to again match the profile of the commutor, but I doubt it. And it's all too fiddly to try to take to pieces and try to fix the alignment. Blew one decoder trying One bonus to plug-and-play decoders; you don't have to disassemble the brushes
Regarding fiddling with the brushes: Don't give up too soon - with many motor designs, you can just barely access the brushes without popping off the brush caps & springs. Use a dental pick or other very slim instrument, and reach through the side of the motor to gently "fiddle" with the brushes, with a bit of rotational bias. Since they are grooved to seat up snugly against the comm, they will naturally seat with a little wiggling to encourage them. I do many DCC installs per week professionally, and have found this works quite well for motors from almost every manufacturer. Don't wait for the problem to go away with wear. You'll have a double-grooved brush that will never fully seat, and a worn commutor. Good luck fiddling! Doc
