Model Power Mogul Stalling

[RAILCAT]

Is it possible to add a stay alive capacitor to the DCC decoder.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I think you meant Blue LocTite.  The red stuff is practically permanent.

Doh... you are right. This is what I use:
https://www.esslinger.com/threadlock-threadlocker-super-glue-blue-removable-6ml-squeeze-bottle/

[MK]

Doh... you are right. This is what I use:
https://www.esslinger.com/threadlock-threadlocker-super-glue-blue-removable-6ml-squeeze-bottle/

Why do they put red Loctite in red bottles and also blue Loctite in red bottles???!!!!     I'm guessing they are forcing you to read the bottle! 

[Mindheim]

An odd turn of events.  Still haven't found the cause but did find something that works.  I noticed with running yesterday the problem lessened considerably. Today, prior to running, I gently held the loco. on a straight piece of track with my fingers, cranked the throttle to medium 8 setting, and just let the drivers spin for thirty seconds.  Afterwards the problem almost completely disappeared.  The loco. would literally crawl from one end of the layout to the next.  What the ???.   I am going to clean the tender axle cups as suggested.  The decoder is the stock one that came with the loco.  I have a non-decoder unit that I need to send out.  I'll ask the installer if they can squeeze a keep alive equivalent in there.

[peteski]

To me everything seems to be pointing to electrical pickup issues.   Having the drivers spin on the rail cleans the metal on the driver treads. If the tender pickup happens to be inconsistent then adding good pickup from the drivers will improve the overall electrical pickup.

[mmagliaro]

Remember, a keep-alive isn't going to do bupkis if the engine is losing contact permanently, which is what a stall usually means.  If it loses for a fraction of a second and stalls, and then goes through its restart and continues on, I could see a keep-alive helping.  But that's not what this sounds like.

I'm not a fan of those plated metal pickup strips in tender trucks.   That sounds like what's in the Bachmann tenders and they don't work as well as the plain phosphor bronze ones in a Kato tender.  In any event, yeah, clean the cups and see what happens. 

There are more hard-core things you can do to positively prove that it's a pickup issue.  It all depends on how deep you can dig.    I have taken a spare Kato tender coupled behind the main tender, with jumper wires across to the feeds in the main tender.  If it stalls after that,  it definitely isn't in the wheel or pickup system; it's probably in the wiring or drawbar connections.

[peteski]

We still really don't know whether the stalls only happen at slow speeds, or at any speed.  Or did I miss that info somewhere (again)?  I assume it is when the loco is crawling or going slow.

[Mindheim]

Yes to the issue being more at slower speeds.  Oddly, the problem continues to fade away with break in and LOTS of running.  If I start a run session by loosely holding the loco in place on the rails and just let the drivers spin for awhile it runs well after.  Total head scratcher.

[CRL]

Maybe it wanted to be a hot rod and runs better after a burn out.