Discussion related to everything about model railroading, from layout design and planning, to reviews of related model tools and equipment. Discussion includes O, S, HO, N and Z, as well as narrow gauge topics. Also includes discussion of traditional "toy train" and "collector" topics such as Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, and others. Also includes discussion of outdoor garden railways and live steamers.
Discussion related to everything about model railroading, from layout design and planning, to reviews of related model tools and equipment. Discussion includes O, S, HO, N and Z, as well as narrow gauge topics. Also includes discussion of traditional "toy train" and "collector" topics such as Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, and others. Also includes discussion of outdoor garden railways and live steamers.
Just some info for you all if you have not read already.
Have just been reading on the Trainorders.com HO Scale board, a post aboard a problem occuring with the new AC4400's.
Seems to be a few people have had the loco's slow down and then stop as the power pack is set to full throttle. Eventually the locomotive starts to smoke. Open up...burned circuit board.
One person commented that he was told by a representative from KATO that voltages up to 12volts can only be used. Anything above will cause it to burn out.
Kato's cost decent money, and you tell me they can't afford to put a voltage regulator in the circuit? It's obvious that power supply systems can fluctuate over 12V. Leaving out such a simple circuit, which lack of is known to cause problems, is borderline criminal corporate culture
However, before I go off on a real rant demanding product recall, can anyone else verify this?
A couple of years ago I bought an SD45, from the old run (still had yellow LED headlights). I ran the locomotive the day I got it with a Railpower 1370 transformer for about 10 minutes. Suddenly, the locomotive slowed down going around a curve and stopped. My light indicator showed that I had a short in the system, so I shut it down. I sent the locomotive back to Kato, and they said the circuit board had burned up.
Since that time, I have run that Kato and a new SD40 for hours with a MRC Tech II 2500 transformer with no problems. I forgot and ran the pair with the Railpower 1370 for a few minutes before I remembered and switched them back to the other track.
I have a 5 year old Kato NW-2 that I have run on the Railpower 1370 track for years as well as my switch yard, powered by a Railpower 1300, with no problems.
I look forward to hearing what other people say about this!
Go to www.trainorders.com
Click on model discussion and you should see a couple of topics (16 posts all together) on this problem. (You do not have to subscribe to read the current posts.) also understand the Atlas train forum has some discussion on it.
GEEZ!!!! Just checked out that link. Not only do they(Kato) make insufficient quantities of highly overpriced models, now they make highly overpriced models that blow/burn up!!!! And I just love the "It can't be OUR model...YOU must have done something WRONG!!!" attitude. Now, all of a sudden, I'm feeling nervous anout that 80MAC I bought.....I'm almost afraid to put the thing on the tracks now. Espescially when you consider what thease darned things cost these days.And Kato seems to have a bit of an attittude problem towards its customers. This is where a good ol' fashioned lawsuit really comes in handy. Where's there a crooked lawyer when you need one???...(LOL!!!) :D
After reading the Trainorder posts on this subject (I usually read the Amtrak and Eastern Railroads forums there - rarely the Model Railroad forum for some reason), I am returning to my original position that this is pathetic. Any decent engineer should allow a safety margin, so assuming baseline power pack is 12V output (which is usually higher), they should have it either rated for 18V or so, or else put a protection circuit (voltage regulator).
Odd that similar Kato boards in other models do not seem to burn out like this - I wonder how the quality control was on this particular run of boards?
Is the problem with these locomotives that bad?
because I have on pre-order 3 BNSF AC4400CW's in kato....what should I do? BNSFfan/mrlove.
Can someone send me an e-mail to what I should do now.
Should I continue my order or should I cancel them?
I thought it was interesting that the July Model Railroader had a glowing review of this locomotive with no mention of any problems. I have 2 SD80Mac's and 1 SD70Mac and they are supurb runners but I am hesitant about buying the AC4400 even though I would love to have one.
Don't own one, never will but the consenus is, operating in excess of 12 volts DC may be a contributory factor, thus the warning on the loco carton.
Obviously most packs don' t have the volt meter feature built in like the
MR 9500 series.
This warning is also on the Kato Business Car lighting system so I hold it down to 12 otherwise risk a burnout.
:D
