Vale of Ffestiniog

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River Lin
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Vale of Ffestiniog

Post by River Lin » Wed Apr 17, 2019 7:38 pm

Hi all.
Has anyone else got a Yatton Engineering Vale of Ffestiniog. I am having trouble with the radio control side of things.
1. Running two motors i cannot get it to run for any length of time with 6v or 12v sla battery before the motors stop, although the motor sound card is still working. After a minute or two it will run again before stopping a minute later.
2. I have had to add an on/off switch to the front and rear light setup as the loco will not latch to the tx with the light circuit active, even though during latching the lighting circuit is not active. When latched, i can turn on the lighting circuit and they work as they should.
3. With the horn wired in, it emits a constant sound whether or not the horn button is being pushed.

I have tried to contact Peter L. At Yatton since before Peterborough but he did not attend the show and his phone just puts me through to answerphone. I don't like to bother him too much in case there is a problem.

David.
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tom_tom_go
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Re: Vale of Ffestiniog

Post by tom_tom_go » Wed Apr 17, 2019 8:38 pm

Do they use Deltang components or is their RC stuff custom made?

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River Lin
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Re: Vale of Ffestiniog

Post by River Lin » Thu Apr 18, 2019 9:25 pm

Hi Tom.
Thanks for your reply. I'll have a look and see if i can find out.
D.
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ge_rik
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Re: Vale of Ffestiniog

Post by ge_rik » Thu Apr 18, 2019 9:54 pm

I think Yatton stuff is Deltang unless things have changed recently. If the rx is cutting out it sounds as if the two motors are overloading it. Does the rx feel hot after it cuts out? How recently did you buy it? It might be using one of the new Rx66 receiver / controllers or the Rx65c. Does it have a heat sink fitted (black metal thing with cooling fins)?

Rik
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Re: Vale of Ffestiniog

Post by Phil.P » Thu Apr 18, 2019 10:52 pm

If this is a recent acquisition, it should either be a Re65c or a Rx66a. - Supposing it is Deltang gear, of course..
y guess,
If it is a Rx65c, and you have used a 12V SLA battery, you will probably have damaged the receiver controller..

To prove this, you need to be able to see the Rx..

1. Switch on loco. - You should get a decent brightness onboard LED, solid ON.
2. Try the loco in REVERSE. - It may well run, or if not, the LED will go to 'half-brightness' and may flicker at a very high rate.
3. If loco ran in reverse, go back to OFF. Then try FORWARDS. - My guess: the LED will go half-brightness / fast-flicker, and you will have no control in either direction.
SWITCH OFF the loco immediately.

Try same on 6v. - Which should work, if the problem is too high a supply-voltage, and you have not fried the Rx.

I will look in again tomorrow.

Phil Partridge.

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River Lin
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Re: Vale of Ffestiniog

Post by River Lin » Fri Apr 19, 2019 8:25 pm

Rik.
The Rx was bought just before Christmas from Peter Lane at Yatton. I was running 2 motors on 8 rechargeable AA batteries (10.4 volts tested) initially and then a 6v SLA. and the problem was the same. The information given was that the rx would take 4 motors on a supplied voltage of between 6-14v. 4 motors and gearboxes were with the kit as standard. I then disconnected 1 motor so then ran one on 6 volts. It did run on this one motor. There is a metal tag sticking out of one side of the board but there is no heat sink attached.

Phil. Thanks for your suggestions. I have the family staying over Easter so will try them after the weekend. I'll let you know how i get on.
D.
David T.

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Re: Vale of Ffestiniog

Post by River Lin » Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:13 pm

Hi all.
A belated update on my Vale of Ffestiniog. After returning the receiver board to Peter at Yatton there was found to be no fault with it. On re-installing it, the stopping problem was still rearing its head. I was getting near to giving up when it happened yet again during a cool day on my local society layout. (I don't have a layout of my own). After yet again opening up the loco to check connections etc. I let it run with the body totally removed and it ran for 20 minutes before i brought it to a halt. Following a hunch i replaced the body and low and behold it stopped after a couple of mintes. I quickly did a finger test and found the large ic. quite warm to the touch.

I spent the next few weeks buying and trying small fans in the engine compartment. The final configeration is with a 6v tablet computer fan wired into the main power switch held at an angle over the warm ic to blow air across it. It now runs as it should, with the last test being a couple of months ago when I let it run pulling 4 bogies coaches for an hour before I brought it to a halt.
IMG_20190930_154950.jpg
IMG_20190930_154950.jpg (139.89 KiB) Viewed 3844 times
The test configuration before final tidying up in the engine bay.
I am now very pleased with the loco.
IMG_20191118_201043.jpg
IMG_20191118_201043.jpg (233.96 KiB) Viewed 3844 times
David.
David T.

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