maico Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 (edited) Watching Sam's video he says there are no pickup prongs on the wheels. How does the juice get to the motor, does the axle make the whole metal chassis live? Edited April 23, 2020 by maico Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Roy Langridge Posted April 23, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 23, 2020 All decribed in the main Class 73 thread: There are pickups on the axles through the bearings. Roy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Br60066 Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, maico said: Watching Sam's video he says there are no pickup prongs on the wheels. How does the juice get to the motor, does the axle make the whole metal chassis live? Power is transferred via the bearings as Roy Langridge mentioned. The bearings then touch some copper strips inside the plastic bogie frame to take the power to the model. I’ve put in a few pictures since that’s the easiest way to understand how it works. The problem with this mechanism is the bearing-pickups need lubrication since it’s a moving part. The lubrication however reduces electrical contact making the connection intermittent, thus poor running. This gives you 2 options. Run the model dry and risk damage to the drivetrain (not a good idea) or find a lubrication medium that’s conductive. I’ve played around with ground up graphite (normal pencil lead) since its surprisingly good at reducing friction and is conductive. Try putting some on your finger and it’s amazing how slippery it actually is. You need quite a bit of it though and it needs to be very fine. I’ve seen people use graphite powder to lubricate downhill model race cars so you can also buy it as a commercial product. Only problem is it needs to be applied frequently as it tends to dissipate from the axle quickly so I’m not sure if I can recommend it for continual use on a model railway. Hope that clears it up a little for you Edited April 23, 2020 by Br60066 Spelling error 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
letterspider Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 Sadly I have still not enjoyed a single running session with a 73 on my layout. Not had a single Class 73 run well out of the box - I have already returned 2 to the retailer over the livery issues of the first batch. Now two brand new models are waiting to have modified pickups as suggested in this thread. For many customers it must be frustrating to have to modify an expensive RTR model like this and even more frustrating if you can't. I wish that the bogie had been modified by Dapol as well as the PCB when they released their 2nd batch - c'mon Dapol. One positive news if you have a Dremel* - is that they can be picked up nearly 50% less than the original RRP *(other powered cutting tools are available!) 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_l_jones Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 (edited) I've decided to add normal pick ups to the two I have. I'm going to leave the originals in and wire back to the pcb. Edited December 30, 2020 by martin_l_jones Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Walker Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 I too had running problems with all my 3. But there's details on here somewhere about fitting extra pickups to the bogies. I converted all my 3 and success, no running problems whatsoever, worked a treat. So now whenever I run them they run perfectly straight away. Tony. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_l_jones Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 On 02/01/2021 at 10:35, Tony Walker said: I too had running problems with all my 3. But there's details on here somewhere about fitting extra pickups to the bogies. I converted all my 3 and success, no running problems whatsoever, worked a treat. So now whenever I run them they run perfectly straight away. Tony. I’ve now added additional pickups to both of my GB 73’s and what a difference in performance. I used a slightly different method as per my post above. Glad I persevered with them in the end, really pleased with the results. Going to move on to adding pickups to my older Bachmann 66’s. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Markwj Posted February 13, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 13, 2021 While the extra pick up route seems to be the best way to go would a dcc decoder with stay alive be effective? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Roy Langridge Posted February 13, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 13, 2021 3 hours ago, Markwj said: While the extra pick up route seems to be the best way to go would a dcc decoder with stay alive be effective? It has been a huge help on my Bachmann Peaks and it is a route I will be trying on my 73 as soon as my PowerPacks arrive. Roy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_l_jones Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 (edited) On 13/02/2021 at 05:43, Markwj said: While the extra pick up route seems to be the best way to go would a dcc decoder with stay alive be effective? If the pick ups are working correctly it's not an issue and this will only improve the running. The problem is the original pick ups are poor in design and don't work that well, so a Stay Alive won't make a great deal of difference IMHO.. Edited February 14, 2021 by martin_l_jones 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted March 4, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 4, 2021 On 13/02/2021 at 05:43, Markwj said: While the extra pick up route seems to be the best way to go would a dcc decoder with stay alive be effective? Whilst I believe that making sure pickups work (as important as clean track and wheels) before fitting stay alive units, I have two locos in my exhibition roster of 40 locos or so with that particular aid. One is a sound fitted Hornby 08 (not the best pickup arrangement) that is "front and centre" on my layout and needs to perform faultlessly for 8 hours at a time. The other is a Dapol 73..... I could have fitted extra pickups, but I had the chance of fitting a SA unit as an experiment and it transformed the loco from a sow's ear to a silk purse 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Markwj Posted March 5, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2021 8 hours ago, newbryford said: Whilst I believe that making sure pickups work (as important as clean track and wheels) before fitting stay alive units, I have two locos in my exhibition roster of 40 locos or so with that particular aid. One is a sound fitted Hornby 08 (not the best pickup arrangement) that is "front and centre" on my layout and needs to perform faultlessly for 8 hours at a time. The other is a Dapol 73..... I could have fitted extra pickups, but I had the chance of fitting a SA unit as an experiment and it transformed the loco from a sow's ear to a silk purse So I bit the bullet a bit and managed to modify one bogie and fit a stay alive which has given me acceptable running. I was really uncomfortable taking a razor saw to the model hence only one bogie modified. I did try the stay alive on its own and while it improved running it wasn’t good enough. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Roy Langridge Posted March 5, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2021 39 minutes ago, Markwj said: So I bit the bullet a bit and managed to modify one bogie and fit a stay alive which has given me acceptable running. I was really uncomfortable taking a razor saw to the model hence only one bogie modified. I did try the stay alive on its own and while it improved running it wasn’t good enough. What stay alive did you fit? I have a SPP-N PowerPack in mine and that seems to have fixed the running issues. Yes, I know I still need to keep it clean, but I think the PowerPack overcomes a lot of the problems. Roy 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Markwj Posted March 5, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 5, 2021 9 hours ago, Roy Langridge said: What stay alive did you fit? I have a SPP-N PowerPack in mine and that seems to have fixed the running issues. Yes, I know I still need to keep it clean, but I think the PowerPack overcomes a lot of the problems. Roy I got one of the cheap laisdcc chips and power pack from eBay for 20 quid as it it didn’t work I wouldn’t be too far out of pocket and it works ok. cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowlander Posted March 6, 2021 Share Posted March 6, 2021 On 04/03/2021 at 23:29, newbryford said: Whilst I believe that making sure pickups work (as important as clean track and wheels) before fitting stay alive units, I have two locos in my exhibition roster of 40 locos or so with that particular aid. One is a sound fitted Hornby 08 (not the best pickup arrangement) that is "front and centre" on my layout and needs to perform faultlessly for 8 hours at a time. The other is a Dapol 73..... I could have fitted extra pickups, but I had the chance of fitting a SA unit as an experiment and it transformed the loco from a sow's ear to a silk purse Hi Mick Which stay alive did you use? Thanks Stephen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted March 7, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 7, 2021 On 06/03/2021 at 01:59, ayrmrg said: Hi Mick Which stay alive did you use? Thanks Stephen I've used DCC Concepts ZNSSA in my 08 and 73. (Tight fit in an 08!) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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