Varipulse 852B (My take on it.)


So im going to add to this thread again. Im pretty sure i had made mention of this in the coffee shop the day it happened. What my issue turned out being wasnt even the throttle itself. I was having a back feed issue from my Troller throttle. My guess is something gave out in it somewhere along the lines. It actually burned out a week after my last post on this thread. I connected another one i had on hand and not even 30 seconds after connecting it. It too burned out. My guess is it was my Life Like throttle that was giving me fits. So i removed it from the layout. Havent had any other throttle related issues so im guessing i found the problem.
 
Not sure I understand So the Life Like throttle was doing something to all your other throttles including the Varipulse one Not sure why that Life Like would burn out a Troller What is the Life Like throttle ? And you can still adjust the 852 throttle just take the board out and adjust from the other side Did you look at the inside of the troller to see if you could tell what burned up Maybe a simple fix
 
MikeGTW said:
Not sure I understand So the Life Like throttle was doing something to all your other throttles including the Varipulse one Not sure why that Life Like would burn out a Troller What is the Life Like throttle ? And you can still adjust the 852 throttle just take the board out and adjust from the other side Did you look at the inside of the troller to see if you could tell what burned up Maybe a simple fix
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Ok let me try to clarify here. So I reached out to Ken Stapleton on what my issues were. After viewing the same video he had never seen anything either. So after some troubleshooting of my current varipulse. Which included isolating the throttle. That gave a good improvement in the audible noise of the locomotive. Now back at the layout. With the troller. It started doing something that up to that point had been unforeseen. It would start out fine. Then without warning any locomotive i was controlling with it would fall on its face. It was a massive voltage drop. One that included dimming of the headlights and they would stutter down the rails. So in lihht of that i did what anyone would do first off. Cleaned the track and did a good wheel cleaning. This offered no change in performance. So looking at the throttle setup. I have the troller connected to a life like blue power pack. The ones that came in their train sets. I left it plugged in at all times. Which is probably a no no in itself. Now the layout is common rail. So all throttles share what i like to call the common ground. After my troubleshooting i found that somewhere along the lines the troller had to be back feeding. How? I have no idea. However i havent gotten any other issues since i removed the life like throttle and troller from the layout. Is the troller fixable? Probably. I have another troller on the layout now that is powered by my mrc tech 4 pack. Works just as good as the other before the issues started. With that being said. The troller still doesnt perform as well as the varipulse. So it spends most of its time off the layout than on. And I am currently awaiting a second varipulse to arrive any day now. Hopefully this gave a little more clarity to the situation. As to what actually caused said issues I dont know. I just know that when everything was removed things improved. So its just a guess. I cant use the previous troller as even connecting it to my mrc pack it doesnt improve. So its down and out until I feel up to looking into it.
 
So it was something with that Life Like Not sure which one you have but probably no more then 1/2 amp output probably less It may have overheated at some point and shorted out the internal transformer Not good So then if it did some damage to the Troller I hope you pitched that Life Like So Ken was kind of surprised at your video so was I since I didn't get that kind of sound
I power my throttels from stand alone transformers (not switching power supplies) One question were you powering two of the hand held controllers from one supply ? I use common rail also so that is not a problem
this is the Troller that I did use have three of them
DSC_0229.JPG
 
MikeGTW said:
So it was something with that Life Like Not sure which one you have but probably no more then 1/2 amp output probably less It may have overheated at some point and shorted out the internal transformer Not good So then if it did some damage to the Troller I hope you pitched that Life Like So Ken was kind of surprised at your video so was I since I didn't get that kind of sound
I power my throttels from stand alone transformers (not switching power supplies) One question were you powering two of the hand held controllers from one supply ? I use common rail also so that is not a problem
this is the Troller that I did use have three of them
View attachment 127586
Click to expand...
I use seperate stand alone throttles for each walk around. I was going to do up two of the life like throttles to power both instead of using my tech 4 for power. However after the issues i had that will never happen. Since all of this happened i reworked the connections on the layout as well. Installed circuit strips so that itll be easier for me to isolate an issue. So instead of cutting wires i can just loosen a screw and pull wires that way. Now with my wiring the throttles share the common. Thats the only thing they share. Otherwise they are completely seperate. Then i use atlas switches to control my blocks. I have one of the troller black box throttles. Its a decent throttle but awkward to hold and control with one hand. I have the silver can looking trollers as well. 3 total. 2 are down and out and one that needs the throttle knob secured.
20210430_160646.jpg

According to the instructions these are 3 amp throttles. I wonder if that played a part in the failure? Eventhough i still have no idea what went wrong. I just know i wont ever run the same setup again.
 
I think I need to a redo of my review. Recieved my new Varipulse today. Hooked it up to my layout and it works flawlessly. I dont need to adjust a thing. Ofcourse theres a hum but it performs really well. Thats the update on that situation.
 
So dos the new one work with all your engines ? I'd sure like to know why or how that Life like throttle messed up things
and those 3 amp trollers that 3 amp is what they are rated to handle I'd like to know what failed in them There's really not much to them a bridge rectifier maybe one transistor and a control pot you should be able to fix them I did have the scematic for some of those here someplace
 
MikeGTW said:
So dos the new one work with all your engines ? I'd sure like to know why or how that Life like throttle messed up things
and those 3 amp trollers that 3 amp is what they are rated to handle I'd like to know what failed in them There's really not much to them a bridge rectifier maybe one transistor and a control pot you should be able to fix them I did have the scematic for some of those here someplace
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It does work pretty well. The throttle is a little more responsive than the last one. So its a bit of a learning curve. Overall works well with my locomotives. As with my trollers. I still havent looked into them. One the previous owner drilled out the rivets and did something in there. When i looked i could tell its a simple setup. Much like the cab control 55. I didnt dig into it however. It was the one i actually saw the smoke come out of. Now given the trollers still work. If you can remember the video i posted with the sound. Well thats how loud my locomotives are with those. Ofcourse the original one has a voltage issue. Itll work but continued use causes my locomotives to bog down. Like its a huge voltage drop. So unknown what is wrong there. Im not as electronic savvy as i probably should be. Something i should probably work on.
 
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