So I've had these F7 Spectrum units for about 6-7 years. They were never run much...a total of maybe 20 minutes...up until recently when I finally got my track laid tried putting it through some paces. It did not run as good as I'd expected back then, but I wrote it off as poor wiring to the rails at the time. So I tried them again this past weekend...
And so far they have failed miserably. wall1
They are both DC run.
The B unit runs fairly ok. But it's rather choppy and only runs decently when the throttle is at full power using my Railpower 1300. I also have a cheapy throttle that came with a Bachmann starter set. Strangly, it runs better with the cheap throttle, but still not at a level I would consider acceptable.
The A unit on the other hand runs even worse. With the Railpower throttle, even at full power the unit creeps along and stalls frequently. With the cheap throttle, again, it runs better but still nowhere near a quailty level.
So, thinking that they may a little maintenance from sitting in a case for several years, I took the units apart and verified there were no frozen parts. I greased up the worm gears and axles (using Labelle 106 and 108). Put everything back together and gave them another try.
There's no change in the B unit...but even worse is that now the A unit doesn't run at all. I even took it apart again, figuring I jammed something up. I carefully put everything back together and verified everything against the schematics...but still nothing.
Has anyone had a similar issue? Any suggestions before I ship the units back to Bachmann and shell out $20 to replace the engines that have run less than 30 minutes in their lifetime?
Thanks!
And so far they have failed miserably. wall1
They are both DC run.
The B unit runs fairly ok. But it's rather choppy and only runs decently when the throttle is at full power using my Railpower 1300. I also have a cheapy throttle that came with a Bachmann starter set. Strangly, it runs better with the cheap throttle, but still not at a level I would consider acceptable.
The A unit on the other hand runs even worse. With the Railpower throttle, even at full power the unit creeps along and stalls frequently. With the cheap throttle, again, it runs better but still nowhere near a quailty level.
So, thinking that they may a little maintenance from sitting in a case for several years, I took the units apart and verified there were no frozen parts. I greased up the worm gears and axles (using Labelle 106 and 108). Put everything back together and gave them another try.
There's no change in the B unit...but even worse is that now the A unit doesn't run at all. I even took it apart again, figuring I jammed something up. I carefully put everything back together and verified everything against the schematics...but still nothing.
Has anyone had a similar issue? Any suggestions before I ship the units back to Bachmann and shell out $20 to replace the engines that have run less than 30 minutes in their lifetime?
Thanks!
