Garden Railway Forum

I took delivery of my Accucraft 2-6-2 loco just before Christmas. I love the model and it looks great. A few problems with remote control and gas jet have now been sorted. Many thanks to John at Trackshack for his help and prompt service.

However now everything seems to be running okay I am having trouble with the communication between the remote controller and the loco. It works fine for the first 3/4 mins. and then control is lost. I have made sure that the batteries are all fully charged and have even replaced the controller batteries with new rechargeable ones.

The only thing I can think of is that either the onboard batteries or the receiver/speed controller are getting too hot as they are located in the side tanks which do get very hot. Once it is all switched off and left to cool for a few mins. then turned on again it all starts working again.

I was wondering whether anyone else has had the same problem with their new locos and if so has anyone manager to solve the problem.
Many thanks for your input/ideas.

Cheers!
Keith

Hi Keith,

A couple of thoughts:

Do you get the same symptoms when the Loco is cold i.e. Test the remote control setup longer than 3 to 4 minutes without steaming up. you should be to hear the servo motors working.

When the problem occurs is there any indication that the battery power is still present in the loco, any lights on? ( sorry I am not familiar with this loco). any noise from any servo?

Dave

Hi Dave,

Many thanks for your interest.

In answer to the first question - I don't know as I haven't left the power to either on when the loco is cold but I will try it when I am out in the workshop tomorrow to see what happens and let you know.

To the second question the answer is yes the servo is still running as you can hear a faint wurring even though it is not responding to instructions from the controller.

Cheers!
Keith

Hi Keith, I have no first hand experience of this particular model but I know someone who owns one and his went back to have the radio gear shifted due to heat, I believe it was fitted by, and then altered by Abbybach engineering and was not a one off. I have no idea who installed the radio gear for Trackshack but it might pay to give them a call and make some enquiries, cheers Rob

Do you get the same symptoms when the Loco is cold i.e. Test the remote control setup longer than 3 to 4 minutes without steaming up. you should be to hear the servo motors working.

Well Dave I fully charged up both controller and loco batteries this morning and left them both on for one hour and they still talk to each other so don't think it is a battery problem.

Have contacted John at Trackshack and am hoping he might have some ideas.

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers!
Keith

Hi Keith,

does sound like it might be a heat problem doesn't it. OK I hope you get sorted soon. Dave

Hi Keith,
Two of our members have this loco and they both needed the radio shifted due to heat.

A word of warning guys, watch out for the gas tank filler valve. One of the locos had a filler valve shoot out of it's own accord! Thankfully no one was near the loco (it shot out with some force) and it wasn't lit either...