TAS Driver Board problem

NortonOGR Forum Member

My "New" old stock 3rd Rail Niagara has developed a problem. This engine was made in 2002 but not run until last month. It has what looks like an EOB board but does not have EOB (missing some circuitry and a tach sensor and tone wheel). It ran fine for about thirty minutes. Yesterday it developed a condition where it would wake up after addressing and all sounds and lights would work until until the Cab1 wheel was turned to make it move. Lights and sound immediately die and zero movement. Turning power off and on will produce the same conditions. It did it intermittently yesterday while pulling a train where it would run for a while. Now it does it all the time. Power to the track is fed through a TMCC Lock-ON with a millisecond circuit breaker and it is not tripping.

Is there some sort of circuit breaker on the driver board that would cause this to happen?

I removed the boiler shell and the motor turns freely. Also it operates fine in conventional.

Pete

7/9/1211:50 AM

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NortonOGR Forum Member

OK,

I may have found what caused the initial problem. It appears to be caused by pitted rollers. Most likely caused by pulling a long train on somewhat dirty track. Cleaning the rollers has restored normal operation.

I know this can be exacerbated by weak spring pressure on the rollers also. Has anyone found this to be the case on early 3rd Rail engines and if so have they found a simple fix including replacement roller assemblies?

Pete

7/9/1212:30 PM

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albrechtfuttererOGR Forum Member

Norton,

in the beginning of TAS were some boards like SAW or 8 & 15 Amp DC motor drivers without cruise control. I guess, you have 'detected'one in an older engine. These devices were as reliable in operation as the EOBs later developed.

Depending on the tolerances of the hole in the roller and the shaft it could be that you might have some dirt in between roller and roller shaft that prevent continuous flow of electricity. In such a case, I take some drops of oil and turn the roller manually.

In the case that the spring is weak, only chance is to change the roller pick up, if you want to avoid the work to replace the spring(under the condition you can get it separately)

Regards

Albrecht

7/9/123:54 PM

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NortonOGR Forum Member

Thanks Albrecht. I am thinking of upgrading to EOB now that I have some spare boards. Its mainly a meter of figuring out what the proper spacing should be on the tach strip.

Pete

7/9/124:38 PM

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NortonOGR Forum Member

Thanks again John. I downloaded this from a previous post.

Pete

7/9/125:48 PM

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