I finnaly got my acela set. still wating on the add on set. I finally got to test everything out over the weekend.
first the issues out of the box.
my nose cones were fine. the only major issue was one passenger cars truck set. one wheel set was not rolling right. turns out the side frame part was not put together correctly. It was below the hooked part that keeps the spring in place. Since these trucks are die-cast I did not want to force and break any thing getting it back into place. I was on pins and needles but I finally got it in the correct place without breaking any thing or paint damage.
now on to the the track testing.
my engines were all ok. no boards fried or loose metal inside. programed them into my cab two and they work 100%. one is slightly faster than the other so we will see how they handle the passenger cars when in action.now on to the cars.
cars tested ok except the number two car one door light would not light up at the bottom when the door was open. then the opposite door opened and shut for about 5 or 6 times then would not lock close again. all other cars were ok.
I took a big chance and rather than lionel sevice and some shipping service ups,fedex ect. doing further damage. I opend up the car and tried to fix the issues.
I do not recommend this at all as they are a bear to get apart. I did not break anything,but did not fix anything either.the unfuntioning led was caused by a wire on the pcb not attached. turns out the pcb solder pad and all had came off. no solder job would fix that.
as for the door not locking I just wedged a small scew between the back of the door and car body to keep it permanently closed. bummer yes but it looks fine from the outside and I dont plan on opening all the doors anyway.
In my opinion the door closures are not the best design,but they are less troublesome than the originals. just dont open the doors a lot and they should last and perform ok. I for one do not t plan on opening my passenger car doors all that often anyway. so my one door issue not closing albeit sucks, but I can live with it.
another gripe about the passenger cars is not the detail as they are phenomenal. the led lights and capacitors work great. my gripe is the routing of the wires inside the cars. the sets of wires that connect the top of the shells lights with the bottom of the shells lights. In my opinion could have been disguised better. with such fine interior detal the wires and molex plugs that are visable through the windows is a real eye sore.
the kinematic couplers are ok. I just made sure they swung either way and came back to center ok. a little ajusting and some very very small light oil on the moving and sliding parts and they work as they should.
btw when I say very very light lubrication of these parts I mean it. you do not want dust and whatever building up on these parts gumming them up over time. just enough the help everything move freely seemed to help them work better.
now back to the engines and programing them to work together. I added each one as an engine in my cab2 set to electric type. then I built them as a train per dave olsons video. I had the unit pair switches set to pair.
with 2024 as the lead engine the sounds would not not play right. when in forward the sounds came out of the rear engine and in reverse they came out of the front engine. this was not right. I tried several times to delete and reprogram these in the train builder,but same thing everytime.
so then I programed engine 2021 as the lead unit and then the sounds came out of the appropriate engines correctly. I guess that is how they are suppose to be set up. 2021 in the lead and 2024 the tail engine.
the manual nor does daves video mention this. not sure why this is,but they only work correctly set up this way. at least for me.
in conclusion all issues aside this is a phenomenal set and very gorgeous also. the sound sets used this time around are outstanding imo. the overall sound volume is very loud wich is nice and the sounds are crisp and clear to the ear. the sparking Pantagraph sound is a real treat also. the redesigned engine trucks are very detailed and traction tire friendly over the original. kudos to dave for this upgrade.
so would I buy this set again. yes 100% in a heart beat,but thats just me though.I have always wanted this set. I hope my add on set arrives with no issues. cant wait to test out the full set.
