I purchased a Factory Direct Trackmobile a couple of years ago but not used it but 3 times in that period. When I went to show a friend how it works, it stops on the frog at the turnouts.
I ran it in both directions but it stops on the frog but only stops when one wheel seems to cross a frog…
I have tried everything? I have checked, rechecked, and checked again things like contacts, wheel cleaning, vehicle weighting, clearances, wiring etc.etc. over the past two days. I’ve added shims under the contacts to ensure that the wheels are getting maximum electrical contact.
You would figure if it stopped on say the right rear wheel on the frog (frogs unpowered) that the right front wheel would not be getting power as it is already on the main rail on it’s way out of the turnout and the unit should continue? but stops!
The only thing I havn’t gone into is decoder programming but it runs great everywhere else on the layout… Just not turnouts…
It’s never the same frog nor the same turnout, but always the same side…of the unit
Could it be that the back of that wheel, (where the pickup is) is lacquered? Take some strong thinner on a micro brush or very small brush & polish off the inside of that wheel. Also you can take an Ohm Meter to it & see if in fact it has conductivity. I had one with poor tension on the contacts, & another that got ‘my own’ weathering built up & it did the same as yours is doing. -Just a thought, hope it helps.
You may never solve the problems. That is why I don’t buy anything like that.
Unless you run it only around a simple loop of track, it will likely give you problems somewhere along the line, especially when guests are present!.[:^)]
It is a built-in problem - the trackmobile with its short wheelbase just does not have sufficient electrical pick-up to run over switches, even if they have “live frogs”. DCC even makes it worse.
They are just good for running on a straight piece of track.
I have to disagree. I loved mine, short wheelbase and all. Why the past tense? Some moron though directional lighting wiould be fun and doable…
Try this: Taje a Kadee spring. Cut it in half. cut thmose in half. Soinder them in discreet locations to the contact strip that the power pickups for the wheels go to. Now aim them so they wipe the top of the rails. More power pickups. You may still die on long switches, but it’ll do better.
Wolfgang makes a valid point. Rigid frames and 4 wheels don’t work well together. Invariably, only 3 wheels are touching a good part of the time. While that’s great for Pinewood Derby cars, it’s not so hot for electrical pickup on our trains. If there’s even the slightest warp in the rigid frame, the problem is that much worse. The correct solution (which the Grandt has) is to have slight vertical play in at least one axle, or the ability for the axle to rock in the vertical plane. This is called equalization, and allows all 4 wheels to touch over very minor irregularities.
I would carefully check the Trackmobile on a piece of flat glass with a magnifying glass. Are all 4 wheels actually touching equally? Can you rock the model diagonally, even ever so slightly? If it will rock diagonally, all 4 wheels are not touching equally.
It’s not uncommon for some Atlas turnouts to have slightly raised frogs, or flangeways that are a little shallow. This will also cause at least one wheel or axle to bump up going through the turnout. If the other wheel has a troublesome electrical path or is on the dead part of the turnout, you have just stalled. Powered frogs do help with short wheel base, 2 axle engines.
If you go to FDT,s web site and see the demo video off them running the HIGH RAIL VEHICLES, that I beleive to have the same drive mechanism as the Trackmobile. You will see that they never run it over any switch tracks. I have a Trackmoblile and all my frogs are live, not very often but every now and then it will stall. It is the nature of the beast.
I have one and have only experienced occasional problems with frogs(expected it to be as you describe). Just normal track, wheel and pickup cleaning required. I did change a few CVs to help, but just can’t remember which ones they were.
It makes sense to check the vertical movement of the wheels. I checked mine and would say it is about 1/32 to 1/16.