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'Bachmann' Controller ... Thought It Was Faulty & Got Rid Of It
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 Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 07:54 am
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Murray McPhie
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 Many moons ago I got a Bachmann controller in a set I bought.
Because it was made for the American market, the transformer was useless.

I tried numerous power sources.
It would work fine. In one direction.

To make it work in both directions, I had to wire it to a 240 Volt transformer/controller.
It did give me very fine control, but was very Heath Robinson.
I just thought it was a faulty unit.
I got rid of it.

I was given some track and bits and pieces recently.
It contained another one of these controllers.
I tried it and guess what?
It works perfectly, in one direction.

Can anyone explain why they only work one way?

I reckon they would be useful, if they worked.




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Murray.

I love steam locomotives. Big ones, small ones, real ones, model ones........
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 Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 07:57 am
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Murray McPhie
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 Here's a picture, for the very few who have never seen one...







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Murray.

I love steam locomotives. Big ones, small ones, real ones, model ones........
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 Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 09:19 am
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2foot6
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 The only reason I can think of is a faulty switch, or not wired correctly (unlikely).

They are basic units.

...........................Peter.





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 Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 04:13 pm
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Si.
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 Hi Murray  :wave:



Congrats on the worlds most hideous ^^ photo of a Bachmann controller !  :P

With that florescent pink dial, it looks like it's from Barbies(TM) train set !!  ;)

(oh come on ... I want one !)  [whack]



I used one of these controllers briefly (not in Barbie pink) ...
... playing with my mates 'Train Set' his railfan father in law got him for Christmas.  :old dude:

(he hates & loathes trains BTW)  :f:



They are not too bad, was my general conclusion ...  :thumb:

... from a guy who is pretty accepting of basic resistance controllers, as long as they are well made.  :cool:



Murray, I don't know this for sure, but my guess is that both your Bachmanns weren't faulty or wired wrong.
I think the issue might be to do with 'rectifiers' (or lack of !) ...  :brill:

.... & whether you plug in an A.C. output, or D.C. output 'wall-wart' into the controller.  L:



I'm not sure if the actual Bachmann controller has a basic 'rectifier' inside or not ...

... probably not ...

... so the reverse direction-switch probably relies on getting D.C. straight from the 'wall-wart' P.S.U.  :!:



Perhaps you've been using A.C. output 'wall-wart' P.S.U.s ?  ???



[whack]



Si.




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 Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 04:23 pm
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Michael M
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 I've got a Bachmann Controller sitting on a rarely used N scale layout. 
It does use a wall-wart for power.  16v AC input. 
Never had a problem with it.

The Controller seems very basic. 
Hard to think that two units would be wired incorrectly.

I suppose you could always take it apart.




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 Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 04:45 pm
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Si.
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 Hi again Murray  :wave:



Here's mine, from the 'Tri-ang' swingin' '60s My Little Pony set !  ;)





No rectifier inside & no direction-switch either, just a centre-off dial & reset-button in case of OVERHEATING !  :shocked:



[whack]



Si.




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' Mysterious Moose Mountain ' - 1:35n2 - pt.II
http://www.freerails.com/view_topic.php?id=7318&forum_id=17&page=1

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http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59295&st=0&a
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 Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 04:56 pm
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Si.
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Added a nice 1950s 'Hornby Dublo' transformer ...  :old dude:

... a couple of ex-Soviet Military stud-rectifiers, from my Bulgarian eBay contact in the Russian Space Program ... 

(I kid you NOT ... He has some great Teflon(TM) cable, originally used for Uri Gagarins electric-toothbrush as well !)  :shades:

... a nice big, high-current, screw-terminal smoothing-capacitor ...

... & of course the essential RELCO high-frequency track 'cleaning' gizmo !



A kinda 'Hot-Rodded' resistance-controller, for maximum 1/4 mile performance !  :P



:cool:



Si.




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http://www.freerails.com/view_topic.php?id=7318&forum_id=17&page=1

' M:R:W Motor Speedway !!! ' - 1:32 Slotcar Racing Layout
http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59295&st=0&a
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 Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 05:23 pm
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Si.
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OK ... So it looks like my 'no rectifiers theory' is wrong ... These are supposed to be powered by a 16 Volt A.C. 'wall-wart'.





Mmm ...  L:










Anyone else got any bright :!: ideas ?  ???



Gone to lunch .  .   .



:pop:


Si.




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' Mysterious Moose Mountain ' - 1:35n2 - pt.II
http://www.freerails.com/view_topic.php?id=7318&forum_id=17&page=1

' M:R:W Motor Speedway !!! ' - 1:32 Slotcar Racing Layout
http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59295&st=0&a
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 Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 05:27 pm
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Michael M
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 Si,

No new suggestions. 

It's all pretty straight-forward so can't imagine what could go wrong.

Maybe the engine has a problem.  


???  ???




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 Posted: Wed Mar 13th, 2019 05:43 pm
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Eric T
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 Michael M wrote:
No new suggestions. 

It's all pretty straight-forward so can't imagine what could go wrong.

Maybe the engine has a problem.


That could be easily checked by disconnecting the controller from the track,

and touching the terminals of a 9v battery to the rails.


If the engine moves forward and backward using the battery,

we'll know it's the controller.
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