Ripley's TnA (Talk n Action) Repair Thread

MuddyPoppins · MuddyPoppins 09-27-2017, 03:10 AM Collector

Amazing!

**ripley802** · **ripley802** 09-27-2017, 11:18 PM Moderator

Dang... that was short lived.

I put it all back together and let it go around the track, also managed to get the sound to work. No issues with sound after shorting out the capacitor, but.....

The batteries drained very fast. In addition it made the circuit board super hot to the touch, which was no good.

Tramp or someone with more electrical expierence than me, would purchasing new capacitors or larger ones work to increase the power/voltage provided or would it not help at all?

They appear to say 50v 1uF.

Thoughts?

**Super** · **Super** 09-27-2017, 11:30 PM Track Engineer

Did you send Tramp a PM in case he misses your Post?

**ripley802** · **ripley802** 09-28-2017, 12:12 AM Moderator

Just sent one. Big Grin

Tramp · Tramp 09-29-2017, 04:56 PM Senior Member

Hey ripley, yeah it sounds like the capacitor is the problem, I would replace it for another one of the same size as the original, really the construction of a capacitor means that they aren't actually continuous between one leg and the other - if you've put a short on that will be why the board is getting hot, if the old capacitor is 1 micro farad I'd replace it with another of the same size and it should cure your problems,

**ripley802** · **ripley802** 09-29-2017, 11:34 PM Moderator

Thanks Tramp. Would there be any benefit or side effect that you know of with going with a larger cap? Like a 50v 100uF or 1000uF? I ordered an assortment for a few $$$ so may try some out on a spare I have but was curious. I also found a lot of the 50v 1uF very cheap (and US based too..) so will get them too.

Tramp · Tramp 09-30-2017, 12:52 PM Senior Member

Hey ripley, to be honest I think it will have been sized appropriately for its job, I don't think changing the size will change anything for you you've already shorted it out which would given a maximum rating, but feel free to change it and see what a difference it makes,

**ripley802** · **ripley802** 10-04-2017, 11:55 PM Moderator

Small update. Boy these things are tough to get a handle on. Cool

So I received the capacitors today (same size ones). I swapped it in and there was sadly no change. Dodgy

I got to thinking the only other thing really it could be is the transistor. This had gone bad on another one I had and there was no motor movement at all. I placed an order for some new ones on eBay which is a 600pc lot for $8.25 free shipping and is in the US, so even better. There are NPM which I need and PNP. The ones I needed are NPN 8050, but there is a 2222 that may work too?

I was a bit frustrated so I scavenged a transistor from a TnA Thomas circuit board and swapped it in the James I am testing with, to my surprise it was back to normal speed. WHAT, did I fix it? Well now it has some weird things going on. First the motor is very loud, like you can barely hear the sound now. Second, it is like the switch is no longer controlling the motor. Meaning if the switch on the tender is on and the one in the engine is too, it is working with sound and wheels moving fine. If I switch off the switch on the engine, the sound shuts off like it should but the motor stays on?? What the heck. My though, hopefully, is that this transistor is bad, maybe? Or maybe there is a short? This seemed to be what happened when I had shorted the transistor before with solder when testing.

So until the new transistors arrive, Tramp, or anyone else have anymore thoughts?

**ripley802** · **ripley802** 10-08-2017, 02:25 AM Moderator

Wow...getting intense now with my repairs/tests..lol..

So, I received my lot of transistors

Well the scavenged James I was testing with I had tried a couple different types of these and nothing was working. It would immediately turn on the motor?? I thought maybe the circuit board was hosed as I had been removing and adding things to it and maybe something else got messed up. I tried a second scavenged James motor, same thing... hmm we're my transistors bad? I then got the Japanese James (from the beginning of this thread out, is it still in parts awaiting a repair. I removed the transistor, and guess what... wrong one.. I removed the one for sound..grrrr. I put that one back, then removed the other. I swapped in one of the new transistors and it was working. I tried another one, and still worked fine.

So, I could not tell a noticeable difference in speed with swapping these but it is nice to have replacements. It could be the fix for some of the slowness issues though. TBD...

**Super** · **Super** 10-08-2017, 03:22 AM Track Engineer

I don't think you have enough Big Grin