Engine Break-in Time

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B

bigB

Active Member
Hello,

Ive heard of engine break-in time, but I dont think I ever really experienced it until today.

I recently put in a QSI-universal in an Athearn/Walthers P42-amd103. For awhile i was only pulling 2 cars behind it until some others came in. I now have 3 coaches, a diner, and a freight car. I have a 2% grade that starts at an elevation of 1" and goes up to 3" before going back down to 1". Anyways, at first it was having a hard time pulling that all uphill the first couple times. After a little while, it started to pull them well with very little slow down. It was like the engine got used to the original load, then had to adjust to the new load. This was while pulling it at max voltage (speed 28, and I had previously adjusted vmax cv to 255).

It runs pretty well now; for awhile there I thought i might have to buy another loco or remove some weight from the cars.

Anyone experienced anything similar or have an explanation?

Thanks,

Brad
 
anything mechanical (gears, etc) has a break in time. the difference isn't always as noticeable or dramatic as yours, but the laws of mechanics says it does happen to some degree.

gears have to "mesh" (wear down small interferences), motor brushes have to seat to the armature, etc.
 
Also sometimes there is a film and/or oxidation on the wheels that has to wear off before it starts conducting fully. When running at max throttle you will also see variations due to voltage drops if there aren't enough feeders.
 


I guess I should have put an emphasis on the difference in this engine since switching it over to DCC. It doesnt run as fast as it once did (it still gets around quickly) despite adjusting some CVs, namely Vstart and Vmax.

I know mechanical things need some break in periods, but I have never noticed one as pronounced though. I think I have plenty of feeders and I have good running track. And I am not really complaining about the way the engine runs; it runs well, but its just since the conversion to dcc, it seems to have changed its characteristics a bit, thats all.
 
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