Hello all. No, it’s not the kind of transformer that turns from a jeep or fire truck into a robot, but the electric box that makes my trains go… Anyways, I’m having problems with the control. When I turn it up to about half way, it goes dead. It’s an old Life Like, and worked fine until the other day. I guess I should probably just throw it out and replace it, but I figure if there’s an easy way to repair it or a trick to use to get a few more miles out of it why not… Any “good” advice would be greatly appreciated.
If you are planning to stay with DC, do yourself a favor and invest in a good MRC Tech 4 power pack. Your locomotives will run better and more smoothly than they did on your old LL power pack.
It’s taps for the Life-Like. There’s no way to fix it.
For DC operation, I use a MRC Tech4 280 dual control. This is basically 2 power packs in one housing. It allows me to control two separate tracks at once or I can control two blocks on one track completely independant from each other, as long as common rail blocking is not being used. I use 2 rail blocking, in which both rails are cut.
What you are likely to find in that controller is an arch shaped flat structure with wire wound around it. Kind of like an open chinese fan. A metal arm with a carbon wiper slides across the wires. You probably have loose, dirty or broken wires. You might be able to clean them with contact cleaner. The brush could also be worn out.
Some solutions.
Buy an MRC. I use a Tech4 and a pair of tech IIs. You can’t kill them and you will love how well the engines run. Tech II’s are fairly cheap on (dare I say it) EBAY.
Find another cheap pack at a yard sale or junk store.
Feed the old power pack through a solid state full wave fan speed control (not a light dimmer) and solder the wiper of the power pack to the high side of the variable resistor. This will cost nearly as much as a used MRC and the running will still be train set quality.