What can I do to fix this????

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I was running my trains tonight when they suddenly stopped. I looked at my power pack( MRC Tech 4 260 ) and it had overloaded. I had a Proto 2000 SD60 and a Walthers GP9M running. I took the SD60 off and everything was fine, then I put the SD60 back on the tracks and it overloaded. I did this about 10 times with no luck of finding out why it was overloading.

Does anyone know why it would be overloading?? All I have hooked up is the track.

Thanks in advance.

ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

2

there could be a wiring problem with the sd60 also how long were the trains running? the p-p may have overheated. try em’ both after the p-p has had plenty of time to cool.

3

The power pack wasnt hot at all. I’m checking the wires tomarrow to make sure they havent come loose.

My friend has a Tech 4 220 and it gets so hot that Im surprised it hasent melted yet but it has never overloaded.

If it not the wires what do I do.

ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

4

if it isn’t the loco i don’t know what to tell ya’ except the p-p could be the problem however since it’s an MRC i doubt it. but you never know.

5

How long have you had the SD60? Is it new, or have you run it on your layout before? The reason I ask if it’s new is I’m thinking there could be a manufacturing defect. Has it run successfully before? Could something be shorting the wheels together?

6

Sounds like a low resistance short in the engine. If the power pack doesn’t overload except when this engine is placed on the track – it’s got to be the engine.

Take the shell off and look for a wire that has broken insulation and at that point is shorting against the frame or the wiring from the other side pickup…

John T. aka jawnt

7

I’ll agree here to! Sounds like the SD60 has an internal short going on! I have 2 of the GP9M’s like you say you have, and are basic wire hook up! So I would take the shell off the SD60 and give a good look at it! You may want to use a test track and pull on wires to see if they came loose while running, and apply smoe volts to test it. As far as the power pack is concerned, it could be over heating, but if the SdD has a dead short and you keep trying it it will take time for it to cool off! I use a mrc pack to and run three power units pulling 25 cars up a grade and have never overheated the pack to make it shut down, but every track setup and engine configure is different. Good luck to you on fixing problem and let us know what you find.

8

I have had the SD60 for one month. I will look at the wires in the morning.

Thanks for the info guys.

ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

9

by the way ICMR great illinois central pic on your signature are those sd40-2’s?

10

dingoix those are SD70’s. Thanks.

ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

11

I deleted my first response, because I misread the original question. How does the overloading loco do by itself? Do you have any others to try? If those are the only two you have, the problem may not be in the loco, but the power supply. The loco is probably the most likely place, but don’t rule anything out.

12

If he has a physical short in the engine, DCC will make no difference. If other engines work on the track, then it isnt the track or transformer, it’s the engine, and the problem needs to be found. It is probably something fairly simple.

13

Thanks. I misread his question, so I went back and changed my response.

14

Just ran the SD60 this morning and it is fine. I guess the power pack overheated. I dont know why it overheated because I have ran it longer than last night and it never overloaded or overheated. The power pack was slightly warm but it wasnt hot.

Thanks for the info guys.

ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

15

Try it the other way around. run the SD60, then put on the other one. If it still overloads, I’d look at the power supply. It may not be rated high enough to handle more than one.

16

I know it can handle more than one engine because I have ran 4 at once with no problems. I have ran the sd60 by itself and with the gp9, and the gp9 by itself and with the sd60. It overloaded again, so I didnt run it for a while and it was fine. It must not like Proto 2000 engines. It hasnt overloaded with my GP9 yet.

It has 23VDC.

ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

17

I have ran my SD60 on my friends layout and it didnt overload his powerpack which is a MRC Tech 4 220. Ran the sd60 and 2 more engines and all the power pack did was got really HOT but it didnt overload. I am planning to get DCC within the next few months so if it is the power pack I will just wait on DCC. I checked the wires in the engine and all are ok. No loose wires in the the engine.

ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

18

Just a quick question here, does the SD60 seem to take allot of power to get moving! Or ar you pulling a heavy drag with it?

19

The sd60 is fine on power and yes the drag is a little heavy but it is the same drag I have the GP9 pull and the GP9 does fine.

20

Im going to go run the trains now. I will be back with an update later.

Thanks again guys.

ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]