New Kato NW2 With Sound

[spookshow]

I got my new NW2 in the mail today, and feeling a bit perverse I decided to try an experiment that I wouldn't try with anything other than a Kato - out of the box, onto the (not recently cleaned) rails, tick up to speed step 1, and.... let's see how long it runs!   

So far (after about 20 minutes) it's travelled 32 inches without a single hiccup. I tell ya, ya gotta love that Kato manufacturing and QC.

-Mark

[Chris333]

Did they knurl the shaft where the gears kept slipping?

[spookshow]

Hell if I know, all I did was take it out of the box and put it on the rails. Two+ hours into the torture test and we're approaching the double crossover in the yard. If it makes it through there it's home free for the full lap!

-Mark

[spookshow]

Four+ hours into the torture test and we are well into lap two. This thing is legendary!

-Mark

[peteski]

Four+ hours into the torture test and we are well into lap two. This thing is legendary!

-Mark

I'm not surprised. Kato's wheels seem to stay much cleaner longer compared to other brands. I have been swapping the Atlas wheels for Katos with excellent results.  And thanks for proving that the old reliable springy contact strips in the chassis are just as reliable as wired trucks.

What brand decoder is in it? Soundtraxx Tsunami?

[Albert in N]

  Up voted both Mark and Peteski.  My Kato locomotives (like this NW-2) keep running.  My Atlas locomotives (like this GP-7) get balky and I have to hose them down with QD Electronic Cleaner, dry them, and then give them a workout on the Trix brass wire brush wheel cleaner.  There is a difference!

[GaryHinshaw]

I tell ya, ya gotta love that Kato manufacturing and QC.

Preach it!   

[spookshow]

13+ hours later and it's still creeping along. Just amazing 

So, what is the story on the driveshaft? A demonstrable problem or one of those urban legends where a couple of guys had an issue 20 years ago and have been harping on it so long that it's turned into conventional wisdom? Y'know, like that myth about Atlas SD60 trucks?

-Mark

P.S. Peteski, it's a Zimo decoder (of all things).

[peteski]

Zimo?!
Was this a Kato factory install or someone did custom-install for you?  Zimos are excellent Austrian decoders in the same league as ESU. Did Zimo start making a plug-n-play sound decoder for this model?



The slipping gear is not an urban legend.  This model has (as you know) uses an unconventional design.  It uses that smaller  Kato motor (which is also used in GS-4). As you describe in your NW2 review, the larger nylon spur gear mounted on a steel shaft which then drives the worms through universals. That gear was prone to slippage on the shaft as it was just press fit onto the round shaft (no knurling or any other means to prevent if from slipping).  I guess the slippage did not happen to every model, but it was happening frequently enough for the model to gain bad rap.

[spookshow]

I should read my own encyclopedia more often, I'd completely forgotten that I'd already covered the driveshaft issue 

According to an insert in the box it's a Zimo "NW2_A246" decoder. I don't know if it's a "factory" (Japan) install or if it was installed here in the USA, but it did come from Kato with that decoder installed. First time I've ever run into a Zimo decoder myself,  and I can't say that I'm all that thrilled with their incomprehensible user manuals, yikes 

-Mark

[peteski]

I should read my own encyclopedia more often, I'd completely forgotten that I'd already covered the driveshaft issue 

According to an insert in the box it's a Zimo "NW2_A246" decoder. I don't know if it's a "factory" (Japan) install or if it was installed here in the USA, but it did come from Kato with that decoder installed. First time I've ever run into a Zimo decoder myself,  and I can't say that I'm all that thrilled with their incomprehensible user manuals, yikes 

-Mark

Going by the decoder's name it appears that Zimo made a plug-n-play decoder for that model.  Sweet!  I wasn't aware of that.  And yes, Zimo manuals and website (translated from Austrian) are even worse than ESUs.  But the electronics are excellent!

Actually I don't see that decoder listed on Zimo website and the naming convention does not seem to follow Zimo nomenclature. I guess we'll have to wait until you take the shell off to see what the decoder looks like.

[spookshow]

[peteski]

That sure looks like a new Zimo decoder made specifically for this model. Sweet!
I double shecked and it's not mentioned on Zimo website or in the latest MX and MS English manuals (I just looked at them both). It is also not available for sale on the Streamlined Backshop website.  Interesting  . . .

[nstars]

The Zimo decoder also explains the good running on dirty tracks. I know Zimo puts quite big capacitors on their decoders. From experience these are bigger than for instance ESU.

Marc

[peteski]

The Zimo decoder also explains the good running on dirty tracks. I know Zimo puts quite big capacitors on their decoders. From experience these are bigger than for instance ESU.

Marc

The 2 largest caps I see (marked 476) are 47µF tantalum caps.  If they are in parallel that is 94µF which is not all that much. ESU uses multiple MLCC (Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitors) and while I have never unsoldered one to check its capacitance (they have no markings on them), I suspect those are either 22 or 47µF each. SO that would be similar to  what Zimo uses (at least on the very small size decoders). That is on the 12V side. Both companies also use capacitor on the internal lower voltage supplies which power the microcontroller. Maybe Zimo uses larger capacitors on the lower voltage side (so the microcontroller doesn't "reboot" on very short track power interruptions).