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 Kato HO P42s at one year...
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 05/05/2015 :  07:42:19  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Same problems are coming back. Enough of this.
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 05/08/2015 :  01:24:04  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Things are going better now with these engines. Some of them had gone "out of tune"... had to retorque some of the motors a bit. Aside from that, I don't know what the deal was with these things the other day. Now running 66 and 184, with motors turned flywheel-forward. Running started out rough and shaky, but has improved dramatically... same as all the others I've tested.

Had a problem with AMTK 145's rear truck. Its gears slipped while I was cleaning the wheels with the wire brush. I didn't notice any slippage when the truck was on the rails, but, with the wire-brush cleaning, the gears slipped. I'm thinking it was a wheel set that just slipped away from the drive gears. We'll see.

Even with the aggravating quirks and glitches that recur, the Kato running characteristics are better than the Athearn units, and now even more so with the twin motors turned flywheel-forward. I have fingers crossed that the good results will hold. But, as we've seen, these Katos are variable... and extremely touchy.

Might be good to reiterate a good point about these Katos. I absolutely LOVE the lighting on these things. They did a fantastic job with the lights.

Let's hope for continued good results. I think it really did make a difference to point the motors in the same direction.

I'll check back in if anything weird happens, or if there's some catastrophic failure. Hopefully, no more of those!

Until then...
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 05/16/2015 :  08:53:16  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Same problems are coming back. AMTK 184's rear truck failed completely. Motor will not spin in either direction. The 184's front truck is stuttering and sputtering, as are the trucks on 68, 66, 156, and 145.

I thought I had these problems solved. This latest fix lasted, what, maybe a week?
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 05/21/2015 :  18:20:37  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Started running them again last night. Same as before, everything seems to be fine now... except the 184. I do have to get a new motor for its rear truck. That engine has been iffy from the beginning.

I didn't stop to think that I may still have some motors fail, in the wake of a year and a half of them running in opposite directions... if this theory is correct, and it still holds. It makes sense.

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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 05/31/2015 :  04:21:25  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
More motors are sputtering and stuttering. Even with the change of motor configuration, the same problems are coming back. AMTK 66, whose original motors had started to sputter and hitch awhile back, is now bad-ordered again... doing the same thing. The tweaks didn't last. AMTK 68, whose motors have been replaced once already, are stuttering and trying to stall, as well. I had both these units on a train yesterday and today, and I had to pull them off, as both units were about to fail. I could physically see the stuttering and hitching, as well as the random spurts.

Too many motor problems and/or failures with these things. Entirely too many. Ready to give up again. Having to order replacement motors every time I turn around is getting old... and expensive.
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 06/15/2015 :  02:10:55  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Up and running again. Same as before, these things will be really good for awhile, and then they suddenly turn really bad. Right now, we're back to "really good". Running a 15-car train with three engines, and the running has been fantastic! AMTK 184 has its new rear motor. Haven't put that engine on the road yet. It still ran very slowly during brief testing, so I may just go ahead and change the front motor, as well.

These P42s are still quite variable. The "good" is really good, but the "bad" is annoying and frustrating... same as when any other locomotive acts up.
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 06/16/2015 :  08:48:34  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
It was a mistake to get these things out again. AMTK 184 started acting up, when I put it on the road this past evening. Rear motor is brand new. Front motor started to sputter and jerk (with clean track and clean wheels), so I went ahead and replaced it. The replacement motor sputtered and jerked, as well. The engine runs worse now, with BOTH MOTORS REPLACED, than it did initially.

Too many problems. Too many failures. It's ridiculous to have to keep replacing motors over and over again. Enough of this.
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 06/19/2015 :  05:35:13  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Finally managed to get the 184 running, and it's doing pretty well. Still the same overall results with these engines... they are extremely variable and extremely touchy. Constant tweaking required! On the good side, the motor-orientation thing seems to be holding. Locomotive performance is much better with the twin motors pointed the same direction. No surging. Of course, when these engines decide they want to act up, the motor-orientation thing goes right out the window. Trucks still do not match, when run independently, but they seem to equalize when mounted.

I run straight DC, so I am free to turn the trucks around. I don't know how well that would work with the DCC/sound units, or even IF it would work. I have no idea.
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 07/14/2015 :  05:41:22  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
All the P42s are running great now. I haven't had any more trouble. Just got the two newest units today, AMTK 91 and AMTK 150. Adjusted the wheel wipers, flipped the rear trucks around, lubed at the axle/wiper interfaces, and off we went. Both new units are teamed up with a ten-car train. Smooth sailing.

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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 08/17/2015 :  02:35:19  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Having trouble with trucks not matching again. Locomotive performance is starting to decline, because of it. Dang.
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 08/21/2015 :  00:55:14  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Running again. Some of the wheel wipers had "gone flat", thus interfering with current flow. These engines are still quite sensitive.
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 08/29/2015 :  05:29:01  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Got a motor failing tonight... first failure in awhile. AMTK 66's rear motor has failed completely in reverse, and is sputtering forward. Standard tweaks didn't fix it. Re-cleaning wheels didn't fix it. Motor is shot. The 66's motors are originals, and we're just about to the two-year point with the oldest of these engines.

A two-year lifespan for these motors???

EDIT: Oops! AMTK 66's motors had been replaced... back in late April.

Edited by - swchief3 on 11/09/2015 05:14:46
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 11/08/2015 :  06:03:53  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I hadn't anticipated posting any more about these things, but there's more to report. I went ahead and replaced both motors on AMTK 66, and the unit is now running fine. But, now I've got other motors failing. AMTK 145, my newest unit (received June 2014), has just about lost its front truck. It doesn't run now, unless you jiggle the flywheel. AMTK 156's front truck is showing signs of impending failure. It sputters badly in reverse, and is quirky going forward. The usual tweaks, including wheel cleaning, did not work. The 156's motors have been replaced at least once. (Got 156 and 66 in February 2014.) These engines are not that old.

Here's the interesting part. I looked on the Kato website just now, and saw that they are SOLD OUT of the front motorized trucks in the dark gray, as seen on the phase V units. A status of "sold out" is odd, and makes one wonder what exactly they're saying. "Sold out", as in "no more coming"? "Sold out", as in "discontinued"? Really makes me wonder. How many of these things have they actually sold over these last two years? Why have they sold so many of these trucks? Conversion projects, or replacements for failed motors?

It'll be interesting to see what happens down the road. Motors that only last a year, give or take? Not good.

EDIT: I am assembling a letter to Kato, outlining all these failures. I will also ask what their intentions are, re: parts. I'll report back with their reply.

Edited by - swchief3 on 11/10/2015 03:03:52
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swchief3
Passenger

USA
142 Posts

Posted - 11/23/2015 :  22:45:02  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
No reply from Kato. I have since disposed of all nine units.
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