Overloading Engine

[slopes09]

Alright guys, I've got a relatively new Athearn RTR GP60M (less than a year old) that keeps overloading the powerpacks at my club. It only started doing this within the past two weeks maybe. Before that it ran fine. What could cause it to do this? What causes an overload in the first place? We're using mostly MRC Tech 4 controllers.
Thanks,
-Mike

 

[GN.2-6-8-0]

Is it one particular power pack being effected or differernt ones around the layout?
try using a pack with meters and see what kind of current draw they show
.Newer equipment with can motors shouldn't draw much over 1/4amp.
Could it be bad motor winding raising the amperage ?
You don't say but I assume other members are not having this problem eliminating the powerpack as a source of your trouble.

 

[ThoroughBreed]

Check the motor itself, as sometimes the copper clip across the poles comes loose and that allows the motor to spring open a bit. This usually results in bad motor runnage, higher amperage draw as the motor tries to turn, but cant run good as the shaft is now bound.
I have a rtr sd38 that came with 1 of the driveshafts completely loose in the shell. I opened the unit and connected the shaft and it worked great for about 4 months, then the dcc board went out and took my decoder and the motor with it. So now it sits, I'll probably put it in the engine shop area as a unit being repaired.

 

[FunValleyLine]

What causes an overload? Anything that shorts the circuit. Like something metal across the tracks. Something metal in the loco touching that shouldnt be. A wire from the motor or light touching something metal in the loco. Things like that in addition to above. Tom

 

[slopes09]

Thanks you guys! It turned out to be one of the metal weights that I added in the shell. It seems to be running better now.

 

[jbaakko]

Thanks you guys! It turned out to be one of the metal weights that I added in the shell. It seems to be running better now.

Ahah, user error. Glad to see you got her working!