"Keep alive" for ERR Control Boards

First of all, …what are you working on?……brand, model, item # ??………if you know you’ve got a switch and or track issue, and you don’t want to fix that, but you know that’s the culprit, then it’s going to be a case by case study on how to get a locomotive through that area,….there is no AC “keep alive” that I’m aware of, in DC, sure, …..so condemning the many because of the one,  sure sounds like the hard road to me,…..I’d be climbing up there and fixing the switch,…..😉

Pat

You should also put wipers on the axles of the pilot and trailing trucks. ERR likes to have a good/solid/not flaky pickup on the outside rails.

Royboy, Outside pickup is not the issue, its the center rail.  Harmonyard, My days of climbing up on the layout are behind me. LOL

@Michael 100 posted:

Royboy, Outside pickup is not the issue, its the center rail.  Harmonyard, My days of climbing up on the layout are behind me. LOL

Honestly, I could tell you how to make a simple supercap add on for the 5 volt logic of the R2LC, 5V bus is exposed out, but the bigger problem is, that likely would not help as motor power is typically way too hard to sustain.

I know you are trying to avoid another pickup but I'm seriously doubting the 5V logic dropping is the least of your problem and thus not the solution.

There is no keep-alive for the TMCC or Legacy boards.  I fixed one of these with a secondary roller. The trick is to replace the projecting truck mounting screw with a lower profile screw.  The roller mount is fiberglass, and the roller is the MTH BD-0000042.  You could also make the roller mount from a 1/16" piece of styrene.  I extended the truck assembly screws to allow for my mounting nuts that hold the insulating plate.

Keep in mind those tender wheels are fully isolated and will not pick up ground unless you make some wipers for them. My habit lately is to try to improve ground as much as possible. I'll even make ground jumpers for the pilot and trailing trucks on my steam projects. A lot of engines really suffer from poor grounding and can still konk out on switches even with additional rollers. This could help if you don't want to fab a roller mount for that truck although it wouldn't be terribly hard (especially with a 3D printer).

It depends on the specific make/model Norm, the one I pictured did not have insulated wheels.  It also wasn't difficult to fabricate my simple roller mount, I don't have a 3D printer.   I do agree that I try to get as many wheels in the picture as possible in addition to the extra tender roller, no argument there.

My reply was to the OP. From the pics, it looks like he's working on a 3rd Rail. They can be a little sneaky with their fully floated tender shell TMCC antenna setups.

You're right Norm, I got bit by one of these 3rd rail models recently.  All the wheels on the tender, and even the pilot wheels on the locomotive were insulated!  I'm not sure how they thought it was going to run that way!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

You're right Norm, I got bit by one of these 3rd rail models recently.  All the wheels on the tender, and even the pilot wheels on the locomotive were insulated!  I'm not sure how they thought it was going to run that way!

Could be those wheel sets were meant for 2 rail units, though I would think 2 rail would have scale wheels that wouldn't work on 3 rail.

They were pizza cutter wheels, so I don't think they were 2-rail wheels.

Several of Norm's videos show his ingenious roller mounts and installations:  

https://www.youtube.com/result...ery=norm+charbonneau

If you don't have a 3D printer and the skill set to operate one, some styrene and additional ingenuity would certainly solve that problem.  Perhaps Norm and Mario could team-up, as they often do here at the Forum, and offer some mounts through Shapeways.  Defeating insulated wheel 'n' axles is another matter.  Does Scott carry uninsulated replacements?

If nothing else, Norm's videos are highly entertaining and "inspirational".