Odyessy 1 Lerch Solutions?

I have 2 Lionel engines with Odyssey,an EM1 and a scale B&O Pacific. Only the scale Pacific had the lurch,it was as if the engine was getting pulses of surging current on start up. I run conventional only,dont know what it would do in TMCC mode. Lionel customer support was 0 help in resolving the problem and had a bad attitude on the phone.  How they could sell an expensive engine like this and not address the problem does not speak well for them. I was going to buy and substitute a non Odyssey board but this would require some considerable rewiring and expense. I experimented with the diode solution,I think I had to use 3 amp diodes to fit it in the small space in the engine. See link below

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=488&categoryId=426

 I added paired diodes until the problem went away,(I think 3 pairs) and when I added additional pairs after that, the problem started coming back again. Almost like a wheel out of balance. Dont know why it worked on this engine and not saying it would work in another case.

Dale H

I'll have to try it in conventional mode and see how it acts.  Since the track voltage is always 18 volts using TMCC, I'm not sure this is the same issue.  I've heard about conventional mode issues with Odyessy 1, but I was under the impression that they worked much better with the Legacy system.

The interesting thing was the adding the additional track common made such a difference.  It's much less common now, but it still happens.

I was told on the phone there was no way to permanently disable the Odyssey feature other than board replacement. I remember the early Odyssey units had reports of some strange issues. I forgot to mention that the lights also blinked on start up.

Dale H

Lionel used to have a software fix for the Odyessy jump on start-up. I believe it required a board replacement. I would contact their service department.

Al

Theres no excuse for a bad attitude but if you want the "good" customer service" like MR and "the boys" you MUST email LIONEL TECH SUPPORT, those that answer the phone do only that.They will have the answers you need,good or bad. I've had "lurching locos perform better at reduced voltage, however,generally speaking early oddyssey locos start out at like 5 mph, as opposed to the modern legacy stuff which starts at 1. This is the brunt of the problem,  the flywheel magnet is not as good as a tach reader. Ask Lionel tech about the "taking off"  John, this sounds like the loco is possibly going into conventional,somehow losing the command signal. I want to say I remember posts about cracks or breaks being found in the magnetic flywheel causing issues as well.

The thing is, it only briefly "jumps" when it crosses over some switches, and not all the time.  After the "jump", it returns to normal operation at the set speed.  The startup "jump" also doesn't happen all the time, and when it does, it's a whole lot more than 5mph!  Again, it returns back to the set speed right after the event.

I guess I'll try Lionel tech support, and if that fails, I'll probably consider sticking the ERR Cruise Commander M in it.  I've never seen them do anything like this.

Since this is long out of warranty, I doubt I want to buy a new board.  If I do that, I'll go with the ERR Cruise Commander M, I have a number of those installed, and I know and like how they operate.

Gunrunner,

I have an old NYC "Mike" that does exactly the same as your's. Crossing a

switch at slow speed, once in awhile. I have both Atlas and Ross switches.

This problem only happens on the Atlas switches. I'm thinking that it

momentarily looses power not ground(too many wheels in contact with the

rails to loose a ground) I extended the power rails on my #5 Atlas switches

and this really reduced the problem. It only happened once yesterday, right

after pulling out of the station and it was only on the 1st or 2nd speed notch.

I'm interested in hearing what you find, that resolves your problem.

Joe

I'm also thinking it's power.  Since this locomotive only has four driving wheels, and two of them have traction tires. it didn't take much for the outside rails to loose contact.  After I fixed the contact on the trailing truck, it greatly reduced, but did not eliminate it.  The center rollers are pretty close together, so that's another point that may be an issue.

I'm thinking of doing a couple of things. 

• Put a ground wiper on the leading truck and a wire to the frame to add more common connection.
• Install a TVS to control transients coming in when it gets a momentary power glitch.
• Run a wire from the tender to combine the roller contacts from the locomotive and the tender.

I thought I'd do that too. But then, what if others come over and want

to run "stubby steam" across those switches. I didn't consider a 2-8-2 "stubby"

until I checked the roller spacing and the space between the power rails on those

switches. So I chose the switch mod route. This is what I did to the Atlas #5s:

Joe

I have Fastrack and 022 switches.  This is happening on the Fastrack stuff.  It was happening on a 90 degree crossing until I fixed the trailing truck ground strap, now it just happens occasionally on a switch.  I still also have the startup lerch, which isn't associated with any connection issue I would think.  Clean track, clean wheels, still have the issue.

Hmmm, my solution is of no help to you, sorry. The "mike" doesn't lurch

on startup, but my EM-1 does. May be someone on the forum will figure it.

Joe

If I figure it out, maybe it'll fix your EM-1.