Getting a lot of sparking on middle, power rail. Any causes or solutions. Power is a Lionel RW.
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some sparking is normal with these. Make sure pickup roller is clean and rolling freely and make sure track is clean, this will minimize sparking. Lenny
I have two of them. "some sparking" is an understatement with these mobile ozone generators. My theory is that the entire product is made from inferior materials versus an original #69 or even a #50 which leads to conductivity issues/ arcing throughout. New rollers, new brushes, stronger springs, clean chassis, clean armature, clean track, clean wheels...nothing makes a difference on my layout.
Uber, you are correct - it is not a hot problem. It is a common problem (pun intended)
Cleaning the contact points of the direction changing bar where it slides on the frame and motor contact made a big difference in my #50 PW Gang car. The common or ground wire to the motor is attached to a contact that rubs on it. The ground passes from the wheels, to the frame, to the direction slide and touches the contact to the motor.
Sometimes it's paint, sometimes lube and crud. Sand off the paint on the frame and the slide where they contact and clean it well with solvent. The Atlas conducting lube or a similar product would be good for aiding smoothness. I just used a simple plain no additive 10W sewing machine oil.
Clean the contact and where it rubs on the slide and that area of the slide.
You can see the parts in this diagram nos. 29,22,21. and 39
The current required to run "sparkless" on my gang car, even with new rollers and cleaned, makes it run too fast. It just sits around now. The gang is on a loooong break.
