Scale Trains "Tunnel Motor"

[Mike Madonna]

Evening all,

Wondering if anyone has picked up one of these yet. I grabbed SXT 39577 which is an SP SD-40T-2 #8307 (with LokSound). I've seen reviews on YouTube of these locos. I'm asking because, out of the box on speed step 1, the loco moves but it acts like it's "cogging", both forward and reverse. The value of CV2 is 3 (factory default). I changed it to both a value of 1 & 2, makes no difference. The motor is "acting" like a 3 pole motor with the "cogging". Not to mention, it has a V5 ESU decoder, so it should literally crawl. The vids I've seen on YouTube show these locos moving very smooth and steady from a stand still. Actually, my ESU equipped (NOT V5 versions) IM F units run smoother that this unit does. I'm open to input/thoughts from all, especially anyone who may have these locos. Thanks in advance!

[Mike C]

  Mike , just for a wild guess , Have you tried a decoder reset ?    Mike

[jagged ben]

Maybe you got a badly assembled one.  Mine are smooth.

[Mike Madonna]

  Mike , just for a wild guess , Have you tried a decoder reset ?    Mike

Mike, it acted like this "out of the box"(literally), so really should not have to, That said, I can try it though.
May need to reach out to Scale Trains. Unfortunately, they are sold out...

[tehachapifan]

I have 2 and they run great, but I think I also played around with CV2. I would go the other way and try CV2=4.

[jpwisc]

I got to see some running last weekend. Smooth as silk. Three different Tunnel Motors, all perfect
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[jagged ben]

A friend has had pretty good luck with reaching out to ScaleTrains.  Give it a try.  Doesn't matter that they say it's sold out.

[Mike Madonna]

Thanks to all who replied.
FWIW, I have three IM T-2s. As of right now, they all run better (from a stand still) than the ST unit. May revisit CV2, WILL be calling
Scale Trains in the morning. Considering the current "price of admission" (aka cost), they should run flawlessly out of the box....
Ok, I'll step down off my soap box 

[eja]

WILL be calling
Scale Trains in the morning. Considering the current "price of admission" (aka cost), they should run flawlessly out of the box....
Ok, I'll step down off my soap box 

Please don't get off of that box.  There way too many railwire threads about expensive locomotives  that don 't work properly out of the box.   Manufactures need to step up their quality control ! 

[spookshow]

Try doing a CV54 "auto tune" - set CV54 to 0, put the loco on the rails, hit F1. That usually smooths things out for me if I get one that's herky jerky at slow speeds.

-Mark

[Hatchet]

Totally off topic- my tunnel motor works fine- what is the yellow thing on the front truck?

Mark

[Wolf N Works]

Rerailer

[Mike Madonna]

Try doing a CV54 "auto tune" - set CV54 to 0, put the loco on the rails, hit F1. That usually smooths things out for me if I get one that's herky jerky at slow speeds.

-Mark

Mark,
Thanks for the tip.
FWIW, I just put a ESU V5 58751 in a "2004" Atlas/China SD-7 over the Summer. Loaded the proper file with my LokProgrammer. Without ANY adjustments, put it on the track and hit SS1. It crawled smoothly. Tweaked CVs 3 & 4, and the thing just "glides". Read my latest update....

[Mike Madonna]

UPDATE:

Spoke with Josh at ST. I explained the situation in detail. His reply was, "Well, that's not right. Please send it back".
So back it goes. I don't mind "resurrecting" a 38 year old piece of brass (Key AC-5), adding DCC/Sound to my favorite SP diesels or "dirtying up" a few GS-4s. However, when it comes to this, it should be right AND I should NOT have to be "hands on"....

[nkalanaga]

Sounds like good customer service, at least.