Is this normal?


Gregjl

Member
Hi All, I'm wondering if it's normal for some locomotives to be a little louder than others. To narrow it down they are two bachmann ho scale and brand new, one is the emd ft-a and is just about silent and the other is the emd gp40, gp 40 is the loud one. I ran it without the shell and everything is moving. The box was obviously dropped, I had to replace both wheels on one truck and glue the windshield back on the ft-a. (But that's the quiet one) this was from day one so it was nothing I've done, yet.

Thanks, Greg
 
I wouldn't say it's normal, but I do have the same thing with some of my Athearn's with factory fitted Soundtraxx Tsunami sound. One, even after having increased the volume via the CV's, still doesn't come up to the volume of others that are set at quite a lower value. Yours, being Bachmann, would also have Soundtraxx decoders, but with a reduced number of CV functions (known as "Sound Value"). Is there a manual that came with your Locos? I would think there will be some instructions on adjusting CV values you could try.
 
Greg - I am assuming that by louder that you mean running louder as opposed to the engine sounds being louder that Toot describes. Yes it happens, even with identical engines although not normally if both are purchased new. Maybe you could be a bit more specific regarding "louder". Vibration, rubbing sounds, gear noises, lots of things, each of which have their own remedies.

Willie
 
I realized that after the fact, I don't have sound decoders yet. I meant noise, a cross between electrical humming and I don't know what else.
 
Normal? Yes and no. I bought a brand new Bachmann S2 and S4 a few weeks apart this summer...one is dead quiet, the other made a loud hum and gear noise...quite disappointing really and no apparent reason for it considering they are both the exact same decoder,mechanism and running gear. So no it isn't normal but it does happen.
 
Now that I'm re-railed, I too have some like that. Two in particular are identical Athearn Genesis ES44AC's. (with Tsunami sound as well). One makes no extraneous noises, the other, the motor growl is noticeable above the artificial diesel motor. Crandell (Selector) wrote quite some time ago about noise problems with Can motors and how to correct it. He said the problem is caused by mis-alignment of the motor shaft bearings in the casing at factory assembly, possibly putting load on the shaft. His cure was to remove the can motor from the frame, hook up it's power wires to a DC power source at full voltage and give the sides of the can near the bearings a smart whack, while listening to the sound (revs) of the motor which will hopefully increase to indicate the re-aligning of the bearings and the freeing up of the shaft. (I hope fervently that Crandell spots this post and confirms my words, 'cause I haven't got around to trying this yet. :eek:
 
That makes sense about listening to the motor. Are these just small brushed motors with a longer shaft to accommodate the other driveshaft?
 
I haven't got any Bachmanns to be able to tell you, but can type motors i.e. all the internal 'workin's' are contained with nothing visible or serviceable. Athearn's Ready to Roll line of locos is still using the same open type motor with exposed brushes/armature that has been in use since the BlueBox models were discontinued. Most, if not all motors that drive diesel models nowadays have double ended shafts with brass flywheels pressed on that have connections of some sort to the driveshafts to the trucks. An exception I know of is the Proto 2000 models w/sound that only have 1 flywheel at one end but with double end drive.
 



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