Conductive grease and enhancing pickup.

I recently repainted my BLI NW2. I completely removed everything from the frame for paint. I assembled everything to test it out and now it runs crummy. Stalls requently and not very smooth at all. I believe it might be a pickup issue.

I was thinking of adding some silver conductive grease to where the pickup touchs the wheels. I was wondering what peoples experience is with conductive grease and if this might be a good solution.

I don’t use grease for this, I use CRC 2-26 contact cleaner and lube. It’s made specifically for this sort of thing and takes just a tiny drop for things like this. Also works great on improving contact with the rail by putting enough to wet the end of a cork, then rubbing the track and letting dry overnight.

I use No-Ox on wiper contacts and pick ups on all my equipment. Just the very thinnest film.

I do the same thing as Mike, except I use WD-40. However, the CRC 2-26 is a better product if you can get it.

All surfaces need to be squeaky clean first. if the engine is stalling, conductive grease won’t make it better. Conductive grease will help keep a clean surface from getting dirty.

Amen on the squeaky clean! But Booo on the CRC stuff. Spray can have such poor control, and cost too much for what you get. I use Dexron II or III automatic trans fluid. Apply it with a toothpick. It wont hurt plastic, has a high detergent level, lubricates well, never cakes up, and can also be used to keep your tracks clean. And a quart at the dollar store will last years without breaking the bank.

Take the shell off and look for a loose or broken connection. The key to this is disassembly and reassembly. You didn’t do anything that conductive grease will fix.

In particular, get a meter and check continuity between all the pickup wheels on each side as you wiggle the trucks. All wheels should be connected to each other on each side.

CRC 2-26 is available at Home Despot.

I suppose it could if used wastefully. But you never spray this stuff directly on the tracks. That would be a disasterous “hazmat” incident in those quantities.

What you do with this stuff is take a small container – metal or glass works best – and “decant” or spray it briefly into the jar. You only need enough to wet the end of the cork, for instance. You don’t even really want a pool across the bottom of the jar, just enough to wet things when swished around. For spot applications, like between points and the stock rails, I’ll take a small stick, like a popsicle stick, and wet the end in the CRC. Putting a lid back on the container will help keep it clean, but I’ve had it in open jars and seen it stay liquid for months, so there’s not a lot of evaporation.

I’ve only ever owned one can of the stuff. After 4 years, it’s starting to look like a lifetime supply for under $5.

I like ATF for this application too as well as rails. But prefer a full syntehtic like Mobil 1 ATF since it’s easy on plastic. CRC2-26 is an excellent cleaner as is WD-40, but not sure how plastic friendly they are.

Richard

Conductive Grease ???

I see a lot mof mysterious electrical gremlins in your future.

ROAR

Richard,

I suppose it might have potential to damage some plastics, especially when first sprayed. The quantities used are so minute and on the track, mostly, that it shouldn’t be an issue. I know it doesn’t bother anything plastic on the track like ties, gap insulators, etc.

Applying it directly to equipment would be the best chance for it to damage something and I’ve noticed nothing there. I have a lot of passenger car lighting and apply the CRC to wipers and axles without issues.

I believe you are refering to thermal conductive grease, which is used in heat sink applications. This grease, depending on the brand may have some metal particles suspended in it. But do you really want to use this where metal rubs metal? Dielectric grease is used to prevent water intrusion and as a lubricant / release agent but it would not be my first choice.

The absolute best connection is clean, bare metal. If wear or corrosion are a concern, a lubricant / corrosion inhibitior is what you want. The 2/26 is a fine product and I would use that.

The mention of “silver conductive grease” makes me think the same thing - like Arctic Silver used for computer heat sinks. Do NOT use this stuff on your loco.

If it doesn;t run so well after taking it apart, perhaps you knocked a wire off. Especially on the plug in the tender. Or just have one pushed through the plastic shell, so istead of going on to the pin when you plugged it back in, it pushed that one connector out of the shell.

If it’s more of a mechanical hitch, perhaps you twisted the drivers slightly out of quarter, or, if they are still doing it, the front and rear drivers are often sprung, the bearing cap could be the wrong way, or you are missing one of the springs.

Both the electrical connector and the upside-down bearing cap were problems I had right out of the box with one of my PCM T-1’s. The loose connector pin caused it to stall where the other one ran fine - basically it was picking up power with both sides of the tender but only one side of the loco, or the other way around, I forget. The messed up bearing jammed one side of the front drivers down enough to slightly lift the next wheel behind it, and made it derail easily where nothing else had a problem. Both easy fixes.

–Randy

Don’t think much of that applies to an NW2 Randy ! [swg]

I’m of the “clean and dry” camp. ANY kind of liquid, fluid, grease will eventually attract dust and dirt, which eventually gets ground into gunk that accumulates on the contact points and you end up with an even bigger mess to have to clean.

Applying any kind of liquid to improve contact is just putting a band-aid on the problem. It’s a quick fix and by no means permanent. I haven’t cleaned wheels, axle journals OR track in over ten years now, and I have no contact problems. I’ve also spent a great deal of time polishing all the metal surfaces (wheels, track, etc.) so I DON’T have any of those problems. And when I say polish - I mean polish. I use a buffing wheel and polishing rouge on my wheels and I’ve burnished all my track.

Keep the liquid crap away from ANY electrical contact surfaces …

Mark.

I believe the discussion is about a Broadway NW2. [:)]

I’m not familiar with that loco, but if it uses wipers on the wheels (backs or treads), then there should be some means of taking the current from there to the motor - wires would be the most usual method. If a wiper (usually phosphor bronze or nickel-silver) is making contact with a plated wheel, the problem is unlikely to be at that point - by its very nature, that contact is generally self-cleaning, although can collect debris - usually fuzz of some nature.
You say that you removed everything from the frame to allow painting - perhaps you’ve painted a point or points on the frame which are used to conduct current? The old Athearn Blue Box diesels, for instance, used the truck pivot pins, moulded as part of the metal frame, as electrical contact points. You make no mention of DCC (outside of my knowledge base) so I can’t say for sure if your problem may be related to that.

If you’ve not painted-over an electrical path, then you’ve either broken something (most likely a wire or a soldered connection) or you’ve re-assembled something incorrectly.

Wayne

Edit - Sorry, all I had in my mind was NW2 and was thinking Kato …

Mark.

Flyn96,

I have used a product called Electrolube. Does wonders for end of axle contact in Bronze bushing/bearings on Athearn Genesis DC engines with great results. Will not harm plastic. Just clean all parts throughly with 91% alcohol before applying. I have used it in many Electrical apps. switches, solenoids and the like:

http://www.electrolube.us.com/products/contact-lubricants/104/21/

Take Care !

Frank

BTW: Also does wonders for capacitor start contacts on any central air conditioner condenser. Stops arcing and welding of contacts without losing it’s electrical properties. Learned that tip from the person who sold me the capacitors. Cost me 14.00 for the capacitor, instead of paying a service man to come out for 150.00 only to replace it again 2yrs later.

Maybe not wheel bearings or quarter, but loose wires ALWAYS apply [:D] Gear towers not snapped all the wy on can cause the truck to not sit flat on all wheels, hurting the pickup. Bent pickup when taking it apart or putting it back together. Lots of places for things to go wrong.

–Randy

28 wheel pick-up works wonders on my railroad.

Double crossovers are just left unpowered, and the train just glides across them.

ROARING for 28 wheel pickup!

Thanks all. The BLI NW2 uses a metal bar that contacts the outside of the wheel face. This bar has a wire attached and is then directly attached to the decoder. I did remove the entire gear tower/truck mechnism so as not to get paint anywhere near the point of contact. I wil try a good cleaning and let you know if I get any better results.