Acela Motor Stalling

@art_legend posted:

the front motor for the lead unit seems to be stalling out/not getting power, which causes the whole unit to stall. Anyone else have similar issues?

Yes, the front truck on my 2024 is getting no power. The wheels are spinning freely indicating that there is a broken linkage to the motor. My 2021 no longer works either but the issue is different. In that engine I get the continuous blinking light in the cab. I used to be able to reset the engine to get it restarted but that no longer does the trick. I've run these trains a lot over the past two days mostly focussing on solutions to the derailing problems on O-72 track. (Banking the curves helps but there needs to be a better solution when the trailing engine is slightly faster than the lead.) Obviously my engines will be going back to Lionel for repair and hopefully a firmware reboot. The good news is that the nose cones of both engines never fell off!

geese I hope my set works ok when it arrives. all these acela threads got me a little nervous. I got mine from charles ro it is the prototype version. I guess where it was purchased does not matter. I have always really wanted this model and was hoping this newest version would be trouble free. guess I was wrong.

So I was able to get the set working after a little finessing, think it just needed a little “breaking in”, though after some laps around the layout the sounds on the front unit won’t fire up.

Roger,

Well, look at it this way....We all are Acela Beta testers for Lionel just like we did for Menards with their Santa Fe release. Only difference is that we are shelling 15X more money for the privilege.   If they never release an improved Acela III model, hopefully they will issue tech bulletins or mods containing improvements to this one. Maybe a third party can step in with some ideas (e.g kit of Acela micro-screws, improved couplers, software, engine coupler pressure sensor, etc.) There are enough reports in this forum for one to conclude that this set may be challenging to run for those just operating an O-72 layout. It will be interesting to see how Eric S (OGR) and Bob K (CTT) approach their product reviews.

@Bruce Brown posted:

Roger,

Well, look at it this way....We all are Acela Beta testers for Lionel just like we did for Menards with their Santa Fe release. Only difference is that we are shelling 15X more money for the privilege.   If they never release an improved Acela III model, hopefully they will issue tech bulletins or mods containing improvements to this one. Maybe a third party can step in with some ideas (e.g kit of Acela micro-screws, improved couplers, software, engine coupler pressure sensor, etc.) There are enough reports in this forum for one to conclude that this set may be challenging to run for those just operating an O-72 layout. It will be interesting to see how Eric S (OGR) and Bob K (CTT) approach their product reviews.

Sounds like quirks like the first set.  I have the 1st.  Took some work, but now perfect.  After some work I hope things shake out for you. Beautiful set.  This time QC is the buyer.

Yeah, honestly the set seems to be working for the most part, just seems kinda finicky/fickle. I had a couple derailments during the initial setup and one might have scrambled the sound board. Guess when a set has as many parts as this one a couple things are bound to require troubleshooting haha

@Bruce Brown posted:

Roger,

Well, look at it this way....We all are Acela Beta testers for Lionel just like we did for Menards with their Santa Fe release. Only difference is that we are shelling 15X more money for the privilege.

There's 1 other difference.

Lionel is a train manufacturer that has been making trains for 122 years.

Menards is a hardware store that's only been making trains for 3 or 4 years.

@Bryant Dunivan 111417 posted:

Sounds like quirks like the first set.  I have the 1st.  Took some work, but now perfect.  After some work I hope things shake out for you. Beautiful set.  This time QC is the buyer.

Bryant,

On the 1st set, how did you avoid the problem of the trailing engine running occasionally faster than the lead thus squeezing the cars together forcing a derailment? The far-fetched analogy is squeezing the top and bottom of a McDonalds hamburger and not having all the mustard and catsup ooze out the side. 

The original Acela set had only one powered engine. I too am having the out of sync issue. Anyone noticing better results with programming the engines using the same ID versus separate IDs? I haven’t tried Bluetooth or the universal remote yet, anyone try it yet?

@Keith Crook 020419 posted:

I haven’t tried Bluetooth or the universal remote yet, anyone try it yet?

Keith,

Bluetooth with the LionChief app worked great once you got everything working with the CAB2. It provides only very basic functionality on the iPhone...horn, bell, speed, reverse, crew talk... This LionChief app makes trains so easy to use and appealing to folks just wanting the most popular features. (If the Acela doesn't work correctly with the CAB2, it won't work properly with the LionChief Bluetooth.) I didn't have the Universal Remote to test.

thought I would add to this post. when I was lubricating both engines.I noticed that the rear motors on both engines would not start to move the gears until about speed step 25 or higher. the front trucks start everything moving at speed step 1. this could be the issue with the engines being un matched in speed.

just my 2 cents. since my rear engine coupler is broken I could not fully run my set on my 072 fastrack test loop. waiting on lionel for the response back as to my coupler.