GG 1 pantograph operation

I don't know the answer to your first question, but I have an idea why the pantograph is leaning backward under the catenary.  The MTH catenary contact wire has a rough surface.  If you run your finger along the bottom of the catenary you will fell the roughness I am speaking of.  Also, if the catenary is set too low, it may cause the pan to lean back.  

A solution to the rough surface would be to take some very fine emery cloth and hand sand the underside of the catenary.  With a bit of fiddling, you can also wrap the contact shoe of the pantograph with emery cloth or get a track cleaner eraser and attach it to the pantograph shoe.  Now just let you locomotive do the work.  It will take quite a few passes for the catenary metal to smooth out.

Thanks, Dan.  I took a couple of pieces down and polished them with a stone - smooth as a baby's butt.  Unfornately, it didn't make any really difference.

I'm still leaning toward the springs but wondering if MTH replacements might be weak to work with the automatic raising and lowering.

On the display do you get Auto to show under softkey 3 and have arrows on the other soft key spots?  When auto is shown, the unit is in manual.  G

Yes, George, the softkey 3 comes up AUTO flanked by front up and down and rear up and down.  Pressing the associated button under the up or down has no effect.  Pressing the button changes AUTO to MANUAL and the up and down keys disappear.

Danr posted:

Thanks, Dan.  I took a couple of pieces down and polished them with a stone - smooth as a baby's butt.  Unfornately, it didn't make any really difference.

I'm still leaning toward the springs but wondering if MTH replacements might be weak to work with the automatic raising and lowering.

What about the height of the catenary ?  Did you check it for being too low ?   Years ago I tried operating my Lionel GG1 and my Lionel rectifier under the same catenary.  I had built the catenary system for the GG1 but the height of the pantograph on the rectifier made it impossible to run the rectifier do to the pantograph not being able to stay up on it's own.  The contact wire was too low and the rectifier's pantograph spring just kept releasing.  I couldn't find a happy medium to run them both.  The GG1 won out of course.

So they work in auto but won't raise or lower in manual?  Can you try a conventional reset?   Also, does the engine play shutdown sounds when power turned off (good battery) to ensure the resets were set in memory.  G

Good morning, George.

First, the battery is about 2 years old; sounds continue for 5-10 seconds after shutdown.

I did a conventional reset using the Z4000.  The engine responded as it should.

I added the engine back to the DCS remote.  When I press the pan menu softkey the display showed MANUAL (only).  Pressing the S3 button changed the display to AUTO with the pan up and down keys.  Pressing the S buttons got the associated message (pan up or down) but nothing happens.

Two things:

First, am I correct in assuming that, running under DCS, I can override the automatic pan instructions?  For example, run with both pans up or down.

Second, the main board in this locomotive is one you repaired for me about a year ago (one of the diodes was destroyed).  You had mentioned that this loco had flash code for the pans.  Is it possible that the code was damaged?  Will reloading the locomotive sound file help anything?

Lastly, I don't think I ever used the pan up and down feature in the past.  I only tried using it now because I have a partially completed catenary system and didn't want the pan to snag.

I appreciate all your help.

Thanks

I do not think it is the PS-2 boards if the panto work up and down in automatic.  No, the flash code would not be damaged.  Sound file probably will not help on this because it was board flash.  Certainly can try a reload though.  Wont hurt.  What I do not know is if the panto board (separate board) can have a defect where auto mode works, but manual control doesn't.  It is possible.  The board uses a combined signal from lighting plus data from MARS to control.  Would take a call to MTH to get more detail on how the circuitry works.   G

What dcs software are you using. G

5.0

Senior tech at MTH has not seen this before.  So your in new territory.  I would make sure all the wires are connected to the Panto board.  At that point I would try swapping panto board.  G

Thanks, George.

In the scheme of things this is not that important.  I'll just keep this GG 1 off this track until I finish the catenary.

I solved the problem of the rocking pantograph - there is a small wire at the bottom linking the lower extensions which helps keep the pan even.  It was broken and now replaced with a piece of piano wire.

Again, thanks for all your help.

When the recent MTH pans lean, it is because MTH left out a very important arm that connects the pan arms to the pan base so the pan will not lean.  I have had to put these rods in many engines that were missing them.  All the MU cars are missing them.  On later MTH products, the earlier double contact shoes needed to be installed.

The holes are in both ends of the pan.  You just need to make up a piece of wire to connect both ends.  Your pan will now stand up straight.  It does not need to be fancy.

Nice tip Marty, something to keep in mind.

Thanks, Marty, that was broken on my pantograph.  It wasn't apparent because the lower part broke.  When I took both pans off I saw the difference and made a replacement from piano wire.

The only problem remaining is why the pans work automatically but do not respond to the soft key.  Since they do work, I'm not too concerned.

Dan, try plugging your remote into the TIU.  Do you have another remote  you could try?

Pull your pans in the open position and then look inside the slot to see if your mechanism is moving.  Let us know.  I will watch  for you on this post.  

Marty,  they work fine in auto, so the panto mechanism is fine.  Question still is why they do not respond manually.  Dan is using the remote correctly for panto operations.  Interesting quirk and not seen by Senior tech at MTH.  G

George, that pan board will act funky.   I agree with you to change it out and see what he has.  I can remember changing two of them some years ago.  Early on doing the Wi-Fi beta testing I had a situation where the manual pans would work with the remote but not the Wi-Fi.  I reloaded 5.0 and the issue went away.   No reason for that.

Dan, I would love to see your catenary work.

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

When the recent MTH pans lean, it is because MTH left out a very important arm that connects the pan arms to the pan base so the pan will not lean.  I have had to put these rods in many engines that were missing them.  All the MU cars are missing them.  On later MTH products, the earlier double contact shoes needed to be installed.

The holes are in both ends of the pan.  You just need to make up a piece of wire to connect both ends.  Your pan will now stand up straight.  It does not need to be fancy.

Marty, can you go into more detail.  I'm trying to understand the photos.  In the second picture, which looks like it was shot from below the pantograph, the wire you speak of appears to be looped over the wide flat bar, then attached to what ?