LGB 21382 Streetcar with MTS and sound being used on analogue has interior light problem

[beavercreek]

I had a good day testing right into the night and discovered something that is not quite right with my streetcar. It is the one with MTS and sound.
I run analogue with TE (using on linear not PWC). The inerior lights flicker at low or high voltage but not in any particular piece of track. Other locos do not exhibit this problem except for when crossing one or two of my switches (points).The street car just does it anywhere but not consistently!
Sometimes the interior lights go off and do not reappear for some time. The head light is always fine as is the sound (except for one or tewo points where it rings the bell and starts up again).
I cleaned the track, the skates and checked the wheels.
At times the flickering is very slight but at others it is practically continual. This, as I said earlier, happens at low voltage or high (slow or fast).

Is there a way of using a back-up super capacitor with the lights? I do not want to rip out the incandescent bulb wiring and change them for LEDs as it will mean a lot of amending of a good LGB item. But if this is the only way to go then has anyone done this?

 

[dutchelm]

The first thing to check is how many wheels are actually picking up power. The one I had was only picking up on 2 wheels (As manufactured). It took a lot of twisting of metal bits & paper packing before it was picking up on all wheels.

 

[beavercreek]

Thanks for feedback Michael.
I will check that out. You say only picking up on two wheels as manufactured. Is that two wheels in each bogie or only two wheels for entire streetcar? Which bits of metal did you twist, the pickup shoes or the other?

 

[Cliff George]

If the headlights do not suffer a problem, the sound keeps going and presumably the motors dont stutter, then I would suggest that the problem is unlikly to be one of pickup problems or one that some kind of capacitor could solve. I would check the lighting circuit for loose/dry connections. What kind of bulbs does the lighting use and is there perhaps a problem with one/some of them? Otherwise I would suspect some problems with the function outputs of the decoder. I don't know if you have the cabability of programming the decoder, but setting it back to its defaults might be something to try. It if comes down to decoder reprogramming then I can help. Do the lights work OK when used on DCC?

 

[dutchelm]

Thanks for feedback Michael.
I will check that out. You say only picking up on two wheels as manufactured. Is that two wheels in each bogie or only two wheels for entire streetcar? Which bits of metal did you twist, the pickup shoes or the other?

It was a long time ago but my tram wasn't running very well from new. I checked with a test meter & found only 2 wheels & the skates were doing any work. Everything was inside the bogies but were so badly assembled that the metal rods were not making contact with the plungers. After bending the metal rods without any improvement I seem to remember jambing bits of folded paper between the metal bits & the cover to push everything together until I had all 8 wheels picking up. Complete lack of quality control in China. After adjustment the tram runs fine & I have not had any problems with later ones.

 

[stevedenver]

i have one just like you
sometimes the brushes get stuck or hung up in the cases-a go around the inside lip with a fine round jewelrs file will take care of this-btw if you do monkey with the trucks be very careful as i understand replacement parts are absolutley and completely unavailable anywhere

i had a similar issue only yesterday with my factory decoder equipped porter and its lighting
-i had a couple of area with poor conductivity, and while the loco ran, it was a bit erratic-and as a result - i noticed the head light and cab light would go off, flicker and then come on- (other non-decoder locos seemed to run fine)-the porter btw had no brush or other issues -just the track and a ratehr loose joint that shifted just so under its weight etc

with a complete power down, and re-start-the decoder seems to re-set itself (or whatever happens) and the lights work fine

im guessing youre experiencing something similar-i think the decoders need nice consistent voltage to not get confused-i think if there is a very quick off/on-the decoder thinks its getting a decoder signal

i might bench test it first to see how it runs on an inside track with good connections

 

[themole]

Hi, Beavercreek, the problem may be the leads to the lighting PCB;- to get the roof off remove the vents on the trolley's roof, and undue the screws. At each end of the PCB are some fly leads, make sure they connect to the PCB . Pictures below of my streetcar which I converted to live overhead note the new trolley poles. Alyn

 

[beavercreek]

Thank you lads for all the info and possible sources of the fault.
I run analogue but will try to use the Sprog system to set it back to factory default.

First I will:
As the headlight does not flicker except for two sets of points, and the motors seem to be running fine, as Cliff says, it is probably not soemthing to do with pick-up BUT I will check that out Michael. I will also check the brushes etc so thanks for the heads up, Steve.

I will take the roof off, Alyn, to make sure that the pcb is connected firmly to the leads and also check the bulbs for security.

Again many thanks lads