I am having trouble keeping the drabar/electrical connector together. There is a decided snap when pushed together but the closeness of the two halves makes it hard to tell if it is connected properly.
Does anybody have a cure for this?
Do you mean that you can’t tell if it’s connected? If you hear the snap & they don’t separate during operation, they are connected. Or do you mean that because they are so close you can’t connect them? Or do you mean that they come apart even after you hear the snap?
The connector separates when I put it on the track. I don’t have any cars on the layout to tell if it pulls or not.
Which locomotive is this?
The only Heritage 0-6-0 locomotive I am aware of is made by Walthers as part of its Proto Line, the Heritage steamers are the 0-6-0, the 0-8-0, the 2-8-4 and the 2-8-8-2.
Sorry for the error. Yes, it is a Proto2000 Heritage 0-6-0. When I try to connect the drawbar/electris plug together, there is a subdued click but not a decisive one. I put the loco/tender on the track and they separate immediately. I don’t know what to do, It worked well the one time I ran it before I sent it out for painting.
Bruce’s funny you brought that up, today I was admiring a Heritage 0-8-8 today. Did not buy it put sure was sweet looking.
Now on to your question. I had that problem with my PCM Y6 b when I got it. Called BLI and they told me the plugs in the tender was the same on both ends. Trying turning the wire around and see what happens. It did the trick for me.
Now I don’t know if this the same with the Proto’s but worth taking a look.
Cuda Ken
Ken.
The plug is also the draw bar on the little 0-6-0 and the 0-8-0. There is no separate wire harness.
Bruce.
I have 2 of the little gems. One had broken a wire from the pin to the headlight so I carefully took apart the connector and repaired it. When I reassembled the connector it too would not hold together any longer. What I did to fix it was to wrap a piece of electrical tape completely around the plug where it separates as tight as I could get it.(not the easiest thing to do) This was several years ago and it still pulls 12 cars without coming apart.
Pete
Bruce, I have the same locomotive, and I noticed that the coupling, the one with the two locking mini-tabs top and bottom, was getting sloppy and my electrical contact was becoming intermittent. I let it go, and let it go, and finally decided I had had enough. I inverted the loco, put on the Opti-Visor, and had a really good close look under bright light. I didn’t really notice anything except the pins and wire harness seemed to be ‘oozing’ out of the male end. I replaced them and tightened the screw retaining the cap for the vessel holding the wires and pin bases. Wow, it made a world of difference. When I restored everything into properly tucked-in position, clamped shut the lid, and screwed it tight, I could tell that the screw had been loose all this time. No more problems.
Crandell
I was having derailment problems at one turnout with this engine. Being a reasonable person, I of course assumed it was the trackwork, but on close examination I found that the mounting for the drawbar on the tender was actually broken. I fashioned a new pin mount, as I recall, and it’s worked fine ever since.
I don’t know any more. You would think that a model of this calibre would have a more reliable concept. The combination connector and drawbar is a sound one but…
For the price it costs, I expected more.
You may have damaged it when you took it apart. They aren’t really designed to be connected and disconnected numerous times.
I am glad this thread is still going. As it turns out I have a fellow club members P2K 0-6-0 on my work bench. He bought it new and had the selling dealer instal a decoder for DCC. The instal was far from professional by a very long shot. Even though there is an 8 pin plug in the tender the plug itself has mounting holes to keep it from moving around on top of the tender weight. The plug was not mounted and shifted. This in turn had blown the decoder and completely melted the tenders wiring harness. A couple of Emails to Walthers found that a replacement tender harness is $35 plus shipping. This seems excessive for 4 inches of wire and a half draw bar connector. I believe I will spend the time and make a new one. I’ll keep you posted on how it turns out.
Pete
Pete, my Heritage 0-6-0 came with sound and DCC. Didn’t your friends come that way as well?
I can’t see the reason why a dealer should have had his hands on it in the first place unless he had it out of the box to demonstrate it…
As far as a previous poster said about continuously removing and replacing the tender, Ii agree. but the connectior should last more that two times as in my case.
Pete, I expect that the cost for the item is probably closer to $4-$6 to Walthers, and like any parts for an item, they tend to sell them dearly. It isn’t mass produced, but they have to stock a bunch of them to serve warranty repair purposes and customer requests out of repair. They are made by hand, and Walthers has to ensure they have the wherewithall to continue to pay the factory to produce them in the future for future demand. That’s my take on it. I think it is a wise business practice, personally.
Crandell
Bruce.
They came both ways. The DCC ready units have a plug with a lighting board and the sound equipped had the QSI decoder. I have both types myself. I have yet to put a sound decoder in the non sound unit. Both units have a different road number.
Its funny how my friends unit only burnt the tender harness. The locos wiring is perfect and only a couple of the pins got hot and came loose. The locos do not come apart too easily. The detail parts like the injectors have to be removed. I disassembled it, inspected the wiring and ran the motor on DC. After I was satisfied with my inspection I lubed and reassembled it. I think the best alternative to this problem is to make a new draw bar from styrene and hard wire a JST 9 pin harness in the tender. This should last many a year of happy railroading.
Pete