Isolated rail issue with MTH PCC Trolley

Keep the wheels on the trolley and the isolated track very clean.

I have the same problem with one of my three Railking PS-2 streetcars.  The other 2 work fine.  I sent it back to MTH several times and they couldn't dupicate the problem to be able to fix it.  To their credit they replaced everything but it still stalls on certain insulated rails.

 

 Don't forget that both wheels on the first axle have rubber tires.  The advice from the other poster to keep your track, wheels and pickup rollers clean is about all I can suggest.

 

 

Another Bill

Another suggesting is to remove the traction tires.  One little car doesn't really need them, and you'll have an extra wheel in contact with the outside rail.

I suggest that you do the following:

• Take a 10" piece of "standard" RealTrax and cut one outside rail in 2 places, about 2-3 inches apart
• Solder a wire to the isolated part of the rail, between the two cuts
• Replace the isolated RealTrax section with the "standard" track that you just modified.

That should solve the problem.

I will try to the traction tire removal, maybe that is the issue.  Strange is that either in the non-working forward facing direction (fwd/rev), the train comes to a complete stop as soon as it hit the isolated rail section, regardless of forward or reverse. It could be the that side has poor ground due to the traction treads.  It is like the left side is isolated from ground.

 

Barry, I do not think you idea will work in this case as the trolley stops as soon as it hits the rail section.  The lights go out and the sound stops as well.  

 

Project for later this afternoon I guess.

Bill

WAIT!

 

If the sound stops immediately, you have a battery issue.  Even if you lose power, the battery should continue the sound for a few seconds.

 

You need to first check the battery and replace if necessary, then proceed with the other suggestions.

 

Move the MTH Lockon to the other side is of the track.

 

I'll bet that corrects the problem.

Barry, if the sound cuts out as soon as the power cuts, I would think that indicates a battery or charging issue.  The sound should continue for a normal shutdown when power is lost.

 

Do you have a meter that measures resistance?

 

When it stalls, can you gently press down on the trolley and make it come back to life?  Perhaps the left wheels ride "high".  I recall a thread where guys added lead weights in the chassis over diesel trucks to reduce slipping and/or improve electrical wheel-to-track contact.

 

Separately, a simple experiment which costs nothing (and may prove nothing too!) is to take a thin piece of paper and put it over a section of right outer-rail where things normally work.  Drive the trolley into that section to see if the left-wheels have the ability to pick up the ground power.

I reversed the lockon to the other side of the track and moved the isolated rail.  So now it works in both directions.  There must have been a short being caused when it hit that rail.  Strange.  

 

Also, there are only traction tires on one truck, the front truck, front axle.  

 

Also, I think the battery is ok.  When you pick the trolley off the track the sound still plays the shut down.

John,

Barry, if the sound cuts out as soon as the power cuts, I would think that indicates a battery or charging issue.  The sound should continue for a normal shutdown when power is lost.

Perhaps. However, that's not what was the root cause of the problem.

Bill,

I reversed the lockon to the other side of the track and moved the isolated rail.  So now it works in both directions.  There must have been a short being caused when it hit that rail.  Strange.  

That's not strange at all.  

 

The lockon only puts Common on one rail. In your case, it was the rail that was insulated. It would be more likely to work in one direction than in the other.

I see what you mean, not having RealTrax, I don't normally think of how the lockons function there.

 

I still think he has yet another issue, but as you say, not the described issue.

When I flipped the lockon, I also flipped the isolated rail.  I verified that I did the isolated rail jumpers right, but I must have had it wrong.  Oh well, it works now.  

 

Thanks for the suggestions.  

Bill

A bit of a update, The small loop started acting up with stutters and weird operation.  I did a track cleaning and checked all the tabs.  There were several tabs on each side of ground that were bent and making intermittent contact. Bent all the tabs to the right position, now I get track signal of 10 all the way around.  I bet this is why the one side was not working.  Details, details...

 

Merry Christmas,
Bill